United States Department of Labor
Our very own Director of the Mathematical Statistics Research Center, Dr. Wendy Martinez, recently received the American Statistical Association’s Founders Award at the 2017 Joint Statistical Meetings in Baltimore. This award honors those select few ASA members with “longstanding and distinguished service to the association and its membership.” To be eligible for the award, candidates must have served the organization over an extended period in a variety of volunteer leadership roles. The Founders Award is the only ASA award that is kept secret and announced only at the awards ceremony. Wendy said she was caught “completely by surprise” when her name was called at the awards ceremony. Previously, Wendy earned her status as an ASA Fellow for “making outstanding contributions to statistical science” in 2006. Incidentally, two BLS alumni, Nick Horton and John Eltinge, also received the 2017 Founders Award that evening.
Wendy Martinez receives Founders Award from American Statistical Association President Barry Nussbaum.
Wendy’s distinguished service to the ASA includes many years serving as a Section Chair, Committee Chair, and Program Chair. Wendy is especially proud of her role as the Program Chair to plan the Joint Statistical Meetings held in Washington, DC, in 2009. She also was a keynote speaker at the “Women in Statistics and Data Science” conference last year. In addition, Wendy founded the “Statistics Surveys” journal and serves as Coordinating Editor. The Journal publishes survey articles in theoretical, computational, and applied statistics.
Wendy joined BLS 6 years ago. At BLS, Wendy oversees the Mathematical Statistics Research Center. When asked what her favorite part about working at BLS is, Wendy said, “It’s the ability to be innovative. BLS has a culture of fostering innovation in its employees.”
Congratulations on an outstanding professional achievement, Wendy!