Statisticians at RAND
“RAND, America's original think tank, earns its money fishing truths out of murky political and social waters. The quantitative conscience of RAND, often the final arbiter of what constitutes the true story, is its small but powerful Statistics Group.”
Bradley Efron, Stanford University, from the Foreword to
Public Policy and Statistics: Case Studies from RAND, Springer-Verlag, 2000.
Who We Are
RAND is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world (see About RAND). The RAND Statistics Group was established in 1976 to “enhance the quality of RAND research by making statistical expertise easily available to all members of the research staff.” The RAND Statistics Group currently has 15 Ph.D. and 16 Master's-level statisticians. Group members are based in all of the RAND United States locations: Santa Monica, California; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Boston, Massachusetts (see Contacts and Locations). The head of the group is Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar.
What We Do
Group members contribute as full collaborators to projects and also lead projects across RAND's many research areas. Motivated by real-world policy questions, RAND research projects provide diverse, stimulating, and challenging research opportunities for statisticians. RAND's research teams are often interdisciplinary, drawing upon methods from statistics and other fields to tackle the most pressing policy problems.
Statisticians conduct research and development of statistical methodology that is essential for RAND to remain at the cutting edge of policy analysis. In addition, the group provides short-term statistical consulting for all RAND projects, especially those without a statistician on the team. The group also provides a seminar series with internal and external speakers.
Statistics Group members publish on statistical methods and applied problems in academic journals, edited volumes, books, and reports refereed and published by RAND (see Statistics Group Publications for a list of recent Group publications). They serve on national panels and committees, and assume leadership roles in many of the American Statistical Association, and participate in editorial boards for leading journals such as The Annals of Applied Statistics, Statistics and Public Policy, and Statistics in Medicine.
Click here for information about statistician positions at RANDWhat's New
- Madhumita (Bonnie) Ghosh-Dastidar is the 119th president of the American Statistical Association.
- Maria DeYoreo is featured in the 2024 Top Women in Statistics and Data Science.
- Joshua Snoke was selected to present at the Future of Privacy Forum, which recognizes influential privacy research. His talk was titled "Do No Harm Guide: Applying Equity Awareness in Data Privacy Methods."
- Claude Setodji and Beth Ann Griffin have each been selected as a Fellow of the American Statistics Association (ASA). A maximum of one-third of 1 percent of the organization's members are named ASA Fellows each year. Setodji was recognized for "excellence in applied statistics, consulting and methods development; for exemplary contributions in health policy evaluations; and for improving the state-of-the-art of statistical practice and methods in tobacco and substance use research." Griffin was recognized "for her significant contributions to statistical methodology and its applications in public health, particularly for her work on causal inference and machine learning methods. Her research has substantially impacted the understanding and improvement of mental health and substance use interventions."
