Paul Roback is Professor of Statistics and Data Science in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science (MSCS) at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. After working as a clinical statistician in the pharmaceutical industry and then completing a PhD in Statistics at Colorado State, Paul has been teaching at small liberal arts colleges for the past 25 years. Paul has co-authored a textbook, Beyond Multiple Linear Regression: Applied Generalized Linear Models and Multilevel Models in R, supervised undergraduate research projects involving over 125 students, and published papers in varied journals such as The American Statistician, Journal of Hospital Administration, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, Journal of Social Service Research, Conservation Biology, and Archives of General Psychiatry. Paul is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and past Chair of the ASA Section on Statistics and Data Science Education.
Why did you decide to go into Statistics/Statistics Education?
My parents were both teachers and all their friends were teachers, so being an educator was always in the back of my mind. I tried options in industry like being an actuary or a clinical statistician, but I just kept coming back to education. And, honestly, it's been a perfect fit! I love the sense of renewal and optimism each fall, the challenge and responsibility of guiding students to learn and grow, and the gift of being able to work with creative and enthusiastic students and colleagues. In terms of why statistics, I recall being an undergraduate math major with no real direction. I liked math and could do it, but didn't really know where it was leading me until I attended a colloquium by an alum who had gone on to be an applied statistician. His work was absolutely fascinating, and finally I could see myself using my skills and interests to solve cool problems.
What advice would you give to someone who is new to teaching statistics?
Be yourself! Students feed off genuine enthusiasm for a subject, they absorb positive energy about each interaction and class session (even if they don't always show it), and they appreciate learning that their professor is indeed human and may reveal more about themselves as well. Second, listen! Be able to take the temperature of a room (are *all* students following you? are external events weighing them down?) through observation or more formal inquiries and, just as important, adjust accordingly to meet their needs.
What statistics class(es) are you currently teaching? What statistics classes do you enjoy teaching the most?
I am fortunate to be able to teach up and down our curriculum: Stat 1, Stat Modeling, Advanced Stat Modeling, Stat Theory, Data Science 1, our consulting seminar, etc. Ever since developing our Data Science 1 course 6 years ago (quite a scary plunge!), students have really embraced that course and are amazed at their ability to scrape data and create an interactive R shiny app by the end of the course -- something that felt unattainable on Day One. Every day seems to bring a new puzzle to solve or a new skill to add to their toolkit for telling stories with data.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Keeping up with my family (wife Karen and 3 kids in their 20s), playing lots of tennis (not pickleball!), biking, hiking, fantasy sports, reading, and seeking out the best ice cream spot in each new place we travel.
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