Research/Interests

My research interests are in Applied Statistics and Statistics Education.

Applied Statistics:

My Master's thesis investigated the analysis of two-factor fixed effects designs with non-negligible interaction. My advisor was Dr. Don Edwards.

Statistics Education:

I am very fortunate to have attended a graduate school that allowed me to grow not only as a scholar, but also as a teacher. As a graduate assistant in the USC statistics department, I had the opportunity to instruct students in an introductory statistics course which included an innovative statistics laboratory component. This laboratory component, developed by three professors in the USC statistics department - Don Edwards, Lori Thombs, and John Spurrier - under support of the National Science Foundation, complements introductory statistics courses offered at USC and elsewhere. It has made me a firm believer in the doctrine of learning by doing.

In the summer of 1998, I attended the Last "Chance" workshop at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. The workshop trained instructors of introductory statistics to teach a Chance course. Chance is a quantitative literacy course developed cooperatively by J. Laurie Snell and Peter Doyle of Dartmouth College, Joan Garfield of the University of Minnesota, Tom Moore of Grinnell College, Bill Peterson of Middlebury College, and Ngambal Shah of Spelman College, under assistance from NECUSE and the National Science Foundation's Undergraduate Curriculum Development Program. The goal of Chance is to make students more informed, critical readers of current news stories that use probability and statistics. I have implemented Chance components into my introductory statistics course here at Loyola (ST110) with much success. The students really enjoy applying their statistical knowledge to current news stories, and I enjoy seeing my students get involved!

During the fall 2000-2002 semesters, I taught an Alpha section of Introduction to Statistical Methods & Data Analysis (ST110). The Alpha program seeks to introduce first-year students to the academic rigours of college life under the Jesuit educational tradition of careful reading, critical writing, and scholastic conversation. This experience, along with experiences with my regular introductory statistics course, led me to present a talk on "Incorporating Careful Reading and Writing into an Introductory Statistics Course" at the 15th Anniversary Alumni Conference of the University of South Carolina Statistics Department at Columbia, SC in April 2001.

I regularly attend workshops and sessions on Statistical Education at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in August. I have acquired and incorporated many ideas from these workshops into my statistics courses and continue to seek ways to improve upon statistical education. I firmly believe that an effective educator continually evaluates and improves upon her or his teaching. Education is not static; rather, it is dynamic...just like the world around us.

Other Interests:

To read about what interests me when I am not holed up in my office or in the classroom, please see my bio.