Growing Interest in Statistics

On October 2, 2015, approximately 40 students on campus watched the live stream of the first annual Electronic Undergraduate Statistics Research Conference sponsored by the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE). The section broadcasted was a talk by Dr. Benjamin Baumer, who is currently an Associate Professor of Statistics and Data Science at Smith College. Titled “In it to Win It,” the talk focused on his experiences as the former Statistical Analyst for Baseball Operations at the New York Mets.

Following the approval of a statistics concentration at Grinnell College, this talk is another example of students’ growing interest in the field. “I was surprised there were so many students participating in this talk,” said Ibuki Ogasawara ’17, a mathematics major. “Not only sports statistics but any applied stats field in general is such a growing field, I hope everyone is excited about having the statistics concentration available.”

Dr. Baumer stressed the importance of statistical analysis in running a sports team. He gave examples of how data can be used to answer crucial questions, such as how players will do in the future, when to trade players, and what the opposition’s tactics will be. Some of these topics could be potential topics for class projects for undergraduate students.

This talk also discussed careers in sports analytics. Baumer talked about the different positions in the Analytics Department of a sports team and the technical skills needed to succeed. He also talked about the benefits, challenges, and more practical parts of this career.

Some students found that this gave them insight on possible post-graduate options. “I’ve not decided whether or not I will apply for grad school or a job, but according to his talk it seems to be necessary to have a graduate degree in applied statistics or computer science if I want to work for a team or a company,” Ogasawara said. “I will definitely think about going to grad school if I decide to pursue a career as a statistician.”