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NEW STATISTICAL CONSULTING CENTER AT UMM |
| Ben Winchester and Engin Sungur |
When Ben Winchester graduated from UMM in 1995, he had one thing on his mind. "I just wanted a job!" he now laughs. Fortunately, Winchester had already been working hard as an undergraduate math and stats major with professors Peh Ng, Engin Sungur and Jon Anderson.
In the months after graduation, Winchester co-wrote three SEAMS (Science, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics and Statistics) Service Learning grants. The goal was to develop community projects that link the Morris community to UMM teachers and their students to provide valuable research and assistance. It was the beginnings of UMM's Service Learning history. The grants were awared by Campus Compact, and due to the unique (and rare) fit in Statistics, the grants were funded at a level 15% higher than what was requested.
"For the Morris Wetland office, Engin's class studied preferred migratory patterns of birds and determined the best types of nesting structures to place in the different wetland types," Winchester recalls. "For the city of Morris, Peh's class determined the optimal snow plow route that allowed the city to clear streets in the least amount of time and cost. Jon's class studied the historic patterns of wages, employment and social service program use in Stevens County and provided a baseline of data for the Morris Comprehensive Plan."
What all these projects shared was a need-based approach to research in the community. Winchester's solution to finding a job after graduation was to continue the community work he began as an undergrad. He joined the staff at UMM's Center for Small Towns to help assist communities across the region with locally-identified issues.
"I wanted our work to be on the community's terms," says Winchester. "The research was not based on faculty needs being matched with someone out in the community. Instead, we focused on what the community needed and what resources we could offer."
Winchester left UMM in 1997 to pursue a Masters in Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He continued his work in community planning there as he developed the Rural Community Action Program for the Thomas Hill Enterprise Center. This program integrated graduate students in the community development activities of small towns across Missouri. Always, his focus was to put university resources into the community to match its needs.
In 2002, with Masters degree in hand, Winchester returned to UMM and to the Center for Small Towns. As the Center's Coordinator of Data Analysis and Research, he's been able to blend his two career interests in statistical analysis and community development.
One exciting new aspect of Winchester's work at UMM brings him back to the statistics discipline. With Engin Sungur's help, Winchester is developing a new way to connect the community with UMM: the Statistical Consulting Center (SCC). According to Winchester, the new consulting center expands on the statistics department's success in providing the Morris area with needed analytical advice.
UMM's Center for Small Towns has historically provided its statistical analysis services to nonprofit organizations, government agencies and schools in west central Minnesota. "The data analysis is valuable to small towns," Winchester notes. "But there's a gap--the Center for Small Towns doesn't work with private businesses."
The new Statistical Consulting Center will market statistical data analysis services to for-profit businesses in the region. A fee will be charged for SCC, and the rates will be based on what other area consultants charge. The Statistics faculty will oversee student employee work. This opportunity allows the tripartite mission of teaching, research and outreach to be woven into the civic atmosphere found in Statistics.
"We need to be competitive and not undercut other analysts in the area," Winchester emphasizes. "The Center's students could end up working for the companies they consult for and we'd be excited about that. The students can also get the idea of what opportunities are out there to work for themselves as consultants rather than for any individual organization."
This year, Winchester is working closely with Engin Sungur to build relationships with Morris businesses that will lead to contracts for the Statistical Consulting Center. "My role involves the community contacts," he says, "and Engin is the university liaison. In tandem with CST knowledge of these processes, we're building infrastructure, personnel and sales as we develop this agency."
The foundation for involving students in community-based topics now begins in the Introduction to Statistics course (Stats 1601). In this course, students are guided to gather and analyze statistical data about their own home communities and must generate "media reports" from that data.
"Imagine a blurb in a newspaper," Winchester explains. "First the students must identify a variable of interest, say, 'home ownership.' Then they gather the data by identifying sources, such as the US Census Bureau or General Social Survey. They enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet and generate a chart for visual representation. They interpret the data in written form, and finally, they create a 'headline' for their media report. All of these are vital steps in a research process and the students now learn this in their first year."
This project was the result of many things, one of which was the realization that students appeared uncomfortable translating numbers (or tables of numbers) into a narrative. Students needed to learn how to interpret data for others but were not required to demonstrate this skill until they were in upper level courses. The media reports required in Stats 1601 now help build this important skill earlier in a student's career at UMM.
"Biology majors take lab courses and get their hands dirty," Winchester observes. "Until recently, statistics didn't really give students in intro classes practical work with real data. Now, the the partnership between Statistics and the Center for Small Towns allows us to build this civic engagement component of the intro course."
There's an added bonus to this "hands on" portion of the Intro to Stats course. Faculty can spot students who excel in this kind of research and can employee them in the Statistical Consulting Center. Winchester says a statistical consulting course has been approved which which will give statistics students college credit for their research work.
Winchester and Sungur will soon have the opportunity to share their ideas with others in statistics education. They will present their model on how to integrate civic learning into a statistics curriculum at an international conference on mathematics held in Brazil in early July.
Preparing for this presentation brings back memories for Winchester. Like many other UMM alumni, he was encouraged as a student to share his research at professional meetings. "Before the first presentation I did with Engin, I was terrified," he recalls. "I remember on the way there, Engin reminded me, 'You're the only one who knows this information, so don't worry!'
"The confidence Engin had in me gave me the opportunity of my life, which led me to do everything I do today. The belief Engin had in me I now transfer to the students I work with."
Sungur is quick to turn the praise back around on Winchester, noting that his strong connections in the community have helped build the relationships required to get the new Statistical Consulting Center off the ground. Sungur hopes that the Center will garner enough contracts to give students full time employment through the summer months.
"There's no doubt we have a need in our region for this service," he states. "Businesses in small communities want consultants to collect and analyze data effectively and efficiently so they can compete with bigger companies.
"Many universities have statistical consulting, but those services are for the university only. Because UMM is small, we can diversify and give our students a broader experience. When our students work with a company on data analysis, the company realizes the need for data analysis, creates a job, and maybe even hires our student."
Winchester concurs that the new Statistical Consulting Center stands to benefit the region surrounding UMM as much as the stats students involved in the project.
"There are so many talented people here in our small towns, which also happen to be very good places to live," he says. "Anything that helps our small town businesses succeed and can keep people out here helps us all."
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