Science is an inherently social enterprise. Progress only occurs when new results are communicated to and accepted by the relevant scientific communities. The major lines of communication run through professional journals and the double-blind peer review process. More...
Math Geek Mom: My Story (Reprise)
When I recently introduced a friend from college, who also spent formative years in our nation’s capital, to my politically involved husband, it was not long until the conversation turned to recent political events, leading to perhaps the best idea I have heard yet about how to solve the current strife. More...
A Public Pause
I’ve been fascinated by the amount of public shaming in parenting community Facebook accounts around the country. Most of these groups, formed by parents and community members, start out as a well-meaning way to connect people, often mothers, but then end up turning into a source of contention. More...
Math Geek Mom: A Summer Without Driving (or Swimming)
Years ago, when my daughter was first learning her math facts, I made “families” of flash cards for her. For example, in one family there were flash cards that read 2x3, 3x2, 6÷3 and 6÷2, making the relationship between multiplication and division clear to her from the beginning. More...
Math Geek Mom: Heroine From New England
Many of us who study labor markets often classify jobs as “while collar” (after the shirts often worn with suits for some jobs), “blue collar” (for jobs that don’t require suits) and sometimes even “pink collar,” for jobs that are in traditionally female occupations, such as teaching, nursing or secretarial jobs. More...
Don’t Anger A Grandma
The Trump Administration’s latest travel ban is yet another controversial move to limit entry to the United States. Last week, the Supreme Court, which will wade into the issue in the next year, left clear that for now the ban could not be imposed on people who “…had a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” More...
Math Geek Mom: Washington, D.C.
When my class wrote their “class prophecy” upon graduation, they did not imagine me as a Professor of either Math or Economics. Rather, they predicted that, at our 15-year reunion, I would be a U. S. Senator. More...
Math Geek Mom: An Upcoming Goodbye
In Statistics, we search for coefficients in regressions that indicate (directly or indirectly) how much a dependent variable changes in response to a change in an independent variable. In Calculus, we study how the dependent variable of a function changes in response to a change in the independent variable. More...
Breaking the Beauty Talk Cycle
I’ve been spending much time over the years thinking how to raise children with healthy body images within an image-obsessed culture that too often promotes unrealistic beauty ideals. It hasn’t been easy. Studies on the dangers of obesity abound. Yet, studies on the risks of body shaming are also plentiful. More...
Math Geek Mom: Fathers and Dads
When I teach Statistics, I often point out the fact that some mathematical terms may have different names in different situations, as, for example, when they are calculated for data drawn from a population verses data drawn from a sample. More...