Episodes
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Last academic year colleges and universities across the US struggled with whether to mandate COVID vaccinations for their students. While colleges often require vaccines, the political controversy surrounding the COVID shots made adopting a vaccine policy a complicated undertaking. But according to one study, it had a profound impact on the national COVID death toll last fall. That's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Riley Acton.
Riley Acton is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Miami University, as well as a Research Affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) and the College Crisis Initiative (C2i). She is an applied microeconomist who specializes in labor economics and the economics of education. Her current work examines the causes and consequences of decisions made by higher education institutions, the effect of local labor market shocks on K-12 and college students, and the impact of school finance policies on educational outcomes. -
Taylor Swift is an entertainment juggernaut. She's become one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, with her Eras tour grossing more than $2 billion. During that tour, Swift surprised her audience each night with costume changes to mark different eras of her career. Now, a couple of researchers have figured out how to predict what costumes Swift would wear, when, and if these outfit colors were related to the sentiment of songs being performed. Predicting the colors of Swift's Eras tour is the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guests Marina Ferrari de Aquino Klemm and Charlotte M. Jones-Todd.
Marina Ferrari de Aquino Klemm is an associate curator at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. She can be found listening to Taylor Swift while she's on marine expeditions throughout the South Pacific, cataloging museum specimens, or analyzing all sorts of biodiversity data.
Charlotte Jones-Todd taught as a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She spends her time teaching statistics and coding, fixing bugs, pandering to her pets, and baking bread. -
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It can take decades for an urban community to develop, but a fraction of that time for it to be torn apart. Each year, urban residents are forced out of their homes and out of their communities to make way for gentrification or other kinds of urban development. When these individuals are forced to leave their homes, they're also forced to leave behind their histories and cultures. These changes often rob communities of support systems, which is a focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Dr. Tim Thomas.
Dr. Tim Thomas is a professional researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as research director of the Urban Displacement Project. He also founded and serves as the director of the Eviction Research Network. He recently served as the chief research and data officer at the King County Regional Homeless Authority, where he led efforts to use data-driven strategies to address homelessness. Thomas's research focuses on neighborhood change, housing disparity, and urban displacement. His works informed tenant protection laws across the country, as well as the eviction moratorium during the COVID pandemic. -
The World Health Organization defines health equity as a public health concept describing equity of access to health resources for genetic, socio-environmental, and economic determinants of health, varying according to individuals, families, and social or societal groups. Concerns about data equity have surfaced, which may result in many populations, including those in rural areas with disabilities, experiencing homelessness or living in low and middle-income regions of the world, being underrepresented in health data sets. This can lead to biased findings and suboptimal health outcomes for certain subgroups, which is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Bhramar Mukherjee.
Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee is the inaugural Senior Associate Dean of Public Health Data Science and Data Equity and the Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Biostatistics, as well as Professor of Epidemiology and of Statistics and Data Science at Yale University. Among her many honors, she was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2022. -
A 2010 statistic reports that, on average, there are 29,000 personal bankruptcy filings per week in the US, while another states that, on average, 50,000 pieces of floating plastic per square mile are observed in the Pacific Ocean. How might art be used to convey the magnitude of these statistics, suppose 29,000 credit card images of them were arranged to compose a larger image of a full moon, or 50,000 plastic bag images were used as elements to produce an image of a whale? Would you find yourself drawn to the art, and then deeper into the story that inspired the art? Our episode today considers how art might be used to convey and engage people in considering human impact on the world, or the human experience in it, with guest Chris Jordan.
Chris Jordan creates photographic digital images of jarring statistics related to American consumption. Each large-scale image gives visual life to incomprehensible statistics like 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage, and 28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of oil consumed in the United States every two minutes. Jordan graduated from the University of Texas School of Law and, while interested in art, made his living as a corporate attorney in Seattle. -
As you reach the end of a long day with an excess of stress how do you recharge? Have you found that a long stroll in the sun or through the woods can provide this renewal? Walking in nature is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas.
Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas is a socio-economic statistician at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) working in collaboration with researchers at the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutions. She is an elected council member of the Royal Statistical Society and secretary of the History of Statistics Section, as well as a member of the Women Committee of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, and the Spanish Biostatistics Network (Biostatnet). She is passionate about uncovering the hidden stories of women in the history of statistics, and firmly believes in the need for a more equal, diverse and inclusive discipline. -
In order to promote the economic and social development of countries, you have to be clear about what economic and social development even means and how you'll measure these concepts. This is where official statistics excels. Many nations continue to build the capacity of their statistical systems to address the needs of their countries. Our episode today focuses on official statistics and statistical capacity development with guest Oliver Chinganya.
Oliver Chinganya is the chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Zambia statistical agency, and co chair of the advisory board for Digital Earth Africa. He was recently appointed a senior advisor at the International Growth Center at the London School of Economics. Formerly, he was chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Zambia Statistical Agency and co-chair of the advisory board of the Georgia Africa until January 2025. Chinganya served as director of the African Center for Statistics and chief statistician at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, also known as UNICA. Until October 2025, he was vice president of the International Statistical Institute. His career also includes senior roles at the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Zambia Statistical Office. He is a fellow chartered statistician and chartered scientist of the Royal Statistical Society and is widely recognized for advancing statistical capacity and driving digital innovation across Africa. -
In the late 1600s, a book was published satirizing politics in Europe. Published two decades after the end of the 30 Years’ War, it focuses on the power of the Holy Roman Empire. That book’s impact on statistics is the focus of this episode of stats and stories, with guest Wallace Ferguson.
Wallace Ferguson has taught mathematics and statistics at Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School, Kent, England since 1994. He writes book reviews for the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications, which are published in their journal, ‘Mathematics Today’. His interests include statistical etymology and his article ‘Microscopium statisticum and the etymology of statistics’ was published in the February edition of Significance. Ferguson is currently working on a follow on article, ‘Literature, Politics and the Framing of the State, 1300 – 1648’. He was a member of The Royal Statistical Society History of Statistics committee from 2018 until this year. -
With the arrival of spring, anticipation grows for the start of horse racing in the United States. The pinnacle of success in the sport is achieved by a horse that will win each leg of the Triple Crown, which includes the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. The excitement and anticipation of these three races are also associated with pre-race bookmaking and betting as well. But just how good are the bookmakers at setting the odds of victory? Do their favorites win, or will long shots emerge victorious? That's the topic on today's episode of Stats+Stories with guest Larry Kupper.
Dr. Kupper is Emeritus Alumni Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests included the development and application of Statistical Methods for public health studies, particularly environmental, occupational, and women's health, and quantifying health risks from exposure to environmental and workplace hazards. -
Barry Nussbaum (@StatisticsBarry ) is former Chief Statistician at the US EPA, and is president-elect of the American Statistical Association. Included among his many accomplishments at the EPA was providing leadership to the agency effort to remove lead from gasoline
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More than 3 billion people rely on seafood to supply a significant portion of the annual protein in their diets. That number will only rise as the global population grows. At the same time, the United Nations reports that 85% of the world's fisheries are overfished or fully exploited. Researchers are studying the global seafood trade in search of sustainable solutions, and that's a focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Jessica Gephart.
Jessica Gephart is an assistant professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Science at the University of Washington, where she runs the seafood globalization lab. Her research focuses on the intersection of seafood globalization and environmental change, evaluating how seafood trade drives distant environmental impacts, as well as how environmental shocks disrupt seafood trade. Gephart served on the scientific leadership team for the blue food assessment, where she co-led the environment and justice chapters and served as a U.S. science envoy for the U.S. Department of State. -
The work of suffragettes in both the United Kingdom and the United States has been immortalized in textbooks, as well as in movies and TV. The women activists who helped women gain the right to vote are often portrayed as heroes and radicals. What's gotten less attention is the connection between the statistical world and the suffragette movement. That's the focus of a recent article in Chance magazine as well as an issue of Significance Magazine written and edited respectively by our guest Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas.
Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas is a socio-economic statistician at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) working in collaboration with researchers at the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutions. She is an elected council member of the Royal Statistical Society and secretary of the History of Statistics Section, as well as a member of the Women Committee of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, and the Spanish Biostatistics Network (Biostatnet). She is passionate about uncovering the hidden stories of women in the history of statistics, and firmly believes in the need for a more equal, diverse and inclusive discipline. -
In early January 2026, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced changes to the childhood immunization schedules, reducing the number of vaccines recommended for children. This change led to the U.S. being an outlier in terms of required vaccines for children. One reason people express concern about vaccines is fear of adverse reactions. It may surprise many that there is a comprehensive system in place to monitor adverse outcomes, and this is the topic of this episode with guest Dr. Jeffrey Morris.
Dr. Jeffrey Morris is the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine and Director Biostatistics Division, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at the Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania. He has been actively involved in scientific communication efforts on social media and with various media outlets. He is also a distinguished research fellow at the Annenberg Center for Public Policy. -
Three hundred and thirty-two days, that was the international statistic of the year in 2020, as identified by the Royal Statistical Society. That was the length of time between scientists publishing the genetic sequence of COVID-19 on the 11th of January, and an effective vaccine being administered on the 8th of December. This vaccine was an integral part of the world's pandemic response. Vaccines aren't new. In a World Health Organization report describing the history of vaccines, Dr. Edward Jenner is credited with the world's first successful vaccine for smallpox in 1796. In the last 100 years, vaccines were developed for yellow fever, pertussis, polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, and more. Well, how do we know vaccines are safe and effective? Why do some people argue against using vaccines? That's the topic of this episode with guest Dr. Jeffery Morris.
Dr. Jeffrey Morris is the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine and Director Biostatistics Division, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at the Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania. He has been actively involved in scientific communication efforts on social media and with various media outlets. He is also a distinguished research fellow at the Annenberg Center for Public Policy. -
According to the World Bank, some 3.5 billion people live on less than $7 a day. That's more than 40% of the global population. Almost 700 million of those individuals live in extreme poverty, getting by on less than $2.15 a day. In the US in 2024, almost 40 million Americans were living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census. But what do all these numbers mean? How do the people researching income inequality measure poverty, and how reliable are those measurements? That's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest David Johnson.
David Johnson is the executive director of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth. Prior to that, he served as a study director for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and medicine, for a report called, "Creating an integrated system of data and statistics on household income, consumption and wealth.". Johnson also served for 25 years in the Federal Statistical system, where he was the only senior executive to have leadership roles at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the US Census Bureau. At the Census, he led the implementation of the supplemental poverty measure and the reengineering of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. -
Dr. Lloyd Edwards is Professor and Chair of Biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Edwards has an extensive background in collaborating with researchers in a broad range of areas in biomedical research, including cardiovascular disease, cystic fibrosis, cancer, aging, pediatrics, and minority health. His primary area of applied statistical research relates to the analysis of longitudinal data. Specifically, his statistical research includes derivation of techniques for computation of power, control of Type I error, and measuring model fit in linear and generalized linear mixed models.
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Television is filled with "will they or won't they" couples. Friends had Ross and Rachel. Parks and Rec had Leslie and Ben. The Gilmore Girls, had Lorelei and Luke. But what happens after the couple's kiss? Do we keep watching? One statistician dug into the data behind the kiss effect, and that's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Ashley Mullan.
Ashley Mullan is a PhD student and research assistant in Vanderbilt University's Department of biostatistics. Currently, Mullan works on a team focusing on the care children receive in Tennessee's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She's also interested in pop culture, and in her spare time, analyzes her own consumption of popular media. That led Mullan to author a Significance article on The Kiss Effect, the impact of a "will they won't they?" couple's first kiss on a TV show's ratings. -
Peter Guttorp (@pgseattle) is a Professor at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, Norway, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is also a vice-president of the International Statistical Institute . His research focuses on stochastic models of scientific data and their statistical analysis. He has worked in seismology, hydrology, climatology, hematology and biology.
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When it comes to studying conflict, there is obvious data to examine: spending on arms, the number of people killed or injured, and the amount of land won or lost. What's harder to track are the indirect effects of conflict, the ways it produces deaths over time, or its impacts on public health. Researchers are trying to find ways to account for the sometimes less obvious impacts of conflict, and that's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Xiao Hui Tai.
Xiao Hui Tai is an assistant professor of statistics at the University of California Davis' Department of Statistics. Her research interests include the use of non-traditional data sources to study problems in data-scarce settings. With the current focus on global public health and estimating the consequences of violent conflict, she's the author of the Significance article Counting the True Cost of War. -
Hybrid cars are everywhere now but what is your best option if you want to feel the wind in your hair, or at least under your helmet and you want to get a little exercise as well? Well, e-bikes are an answer and that’s the topic on this episode of Stats + Short Stories with guest Helaine Alessio.
Helaine Alessio, PhD, FACSM is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Health at Miami University and is a past President of the MWACSM and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. She teaches Exercise Science-related courses and has received university commendations for her teaching. She has been funded by NIH, private foundations, and corporations to support research, teaching, and service projects. She has published 2 books, 13 book chapters, and 56 journal articles, as well as national and international peer reviewed blogs, infographics, and NPR broadcasts. She is listed in the top 2% of Exercise Scientists cited in the world by Stanford University researchers. Her work on academic integrity includes co-editing a special edition of a journal on the topic that was the most widely published for the Journal of Excellence in College Teaching. - Show more
