Statistics: a Core Competency for Effective Public Policy

Bonnie Ghosh Dastidar, Senior Statistician and Head of RAND Statistics Group, and Past-President of the American Statistical Association will be speaking in the Amherst College Statistics and Data Science Colloquium.

Abstract: Statistical science is the foundation for evidence-based decision making. As an interdisciplinary science, it has applications to every field imaginable, making statisticians uniquely qualified to lend their expertise in multiple policy domains. Effectively informing policy requires becoming involved early in the design phase; understanding the nature of the issue; and knowing how to communicate, educate, and explain. In this talk, I will provide multiple examples from health policy to highlight both valuable contributions made by statistical scientists and lessons learned – and how this model of collaboration is relevant across other fields and application areas. I will suggest areas of improvement based on lessons learned. And extrapolating from these successes, I will suggest areas for future contributions in which the stakes are very high and involving statistics will be essential.

Bio: Madhumita (Bonnie) Ghosh-Dastidar is a senior statistician, data scientist, and head of the Statistics Group at RAND. Her public policy areas are in public health, prevention, and HIV. Specific examples of studies conducted include evaluation of neighborhood-level interventions to improve diet, physical activity, and cardiometabolic health; randomized trials in HIV patients; and quasi-experimental policy evaluations. Her statistical expertise includes study design, sampling, measurement, missing data, evaluations, and longitudinal/multilevel modeling. Ghosh-Dastidar's major studies include an objective assessment of sexual assault and harassment in the U.S. military and the first Singapore mental health study. She was the 2024 President of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the largest professional society of statisticians and data scientists. She is an elected fellow of the ASA. The ASA Committee on Women in Statistics recognized her work in statistics and data science by naming her as one of the "Top 20 Women in Statistics and Data Science" (March 2019). Ghosh-Dastidar received her Ph.D. and M.A. in statistics from Penn State, University Park, PA; she also holds a dual B.S. in mathematics and computer science from Albright College, Reading, PA.