Staff Spotlight
ASA Members Push
Gene Beard
Statistically Based Audits
I
’m Gene Beard, building opera-
Mary Batcher, Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST)
tions coordinator. This summer
(with the help of Advil and extra
strength Tylenol) I will start my 10th
year with the ASA. My job encom-
T
he ASA Special Interest Group on Volunteerism includes
several subgroups, one of which is interested in working
on issues related to elections. Several members of that sub-
passes building and grounds man-
group have been working with advocates of post-election auditing
agement, inventory management
to help bring statistical principles to the audit process. One suc-
and control, publication shipping Gene Beard
cessful effort is the January passage of a bill in the New Jersey
and receiving, daily mail processing,
Legislature and signed by the governor on January 15, 2008,
bill reconciliation, and project coordination for the ASA staff
requiring audits of election results in randomly selected districts.
of 11 men and 26 women. I do not interact with the member-
Support for the New Jersey bill was provided by former ASA
ship, but I do interact daily with the staff members who serve
President Fritz Scheuren, who submitted written testimony advo-
the ASA membership.
cating statistically based audits designed to achieve designated
I was born and raised in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the youngest
power criteria.
of eight boys. My grandfather, Alexander Coles, was born a slave in
In October, ASA members Arlene Ash, Mary Batcher, Fritz
1859 near Stafford, Virginia. He eventually moved on to Mahoney
Scheuren, and Victor Addono spoke at an audit summit con-
City, Pennsylvania, married, and had five sons and a daughter (my
ference cosponsored by the ASA. The conference brought local
mother). Later, the family settled in Pottsville. My father, born in
election officials together with statisticians, computer scientists,
South Boston, Virginia, left as a teenager to work the mines of the
political scientists, and advocates of using statistical principles in
anthracite coal region and also settled in Pottsville.
post-election audits to talk about the benefits of designing accord-
My father fought in WWI with the 93rd Infantry Division,
ing to statistical principles, determining sample sizes, and making
black soldiers, also known as “America’s Foreign Legion.”
random selections.
Segregation still ruled, and they were “assigned” to the French
To learn more about the involvement of ASA members in elec-
army’s front lines in France, under the French flag. His unit,
tion activities, be sure to attend the invited session “Statistical
the 369th, was awarded France’s Croix de Guerre, given to the
Measures Can Help Restore Confidence in U.S. Elections” during
French military or its allies for gallantry.
JSM 2008 in Denver. n
I left Pottsville to attend Virginia Union University, located
in Richmond, on an athletic scholarship. After my junior year,
I began a short stint as a professional football player. I started as
a draft pick for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football Systat Launches MYSTAT 12
League and ended a few years later with the Calgary Stampeders
of the Canadian Football League. My career actually ended on
Free Statistical Analysis Software Aids
a football field in Ottawa when I suffered a broken leg and
Learning, Academic Research
dislocated foot.
Before Ottawa, however, I had settled in Richmond. Ottawa
was a great experience, but did not compare to coaching the
Highland Springs Steelers to the Henrico County Pee Wee (8–10-
S
ystat Software Inc., a leading supplier of scientific software
and services, recently launched MYSTAT 12, a free statistical
analysis software package designed for use by students and
year-olds) Championship. To begin the season with eight-year-
the teaching community.
olds, dressing half of them in their uniforms—because they didn’t
MYSTAT 12, which has many of the core statistical functions
know what pad went on what part of the body—and ending the
available in the SYSTAT 12 product, contains standard statistical
season presenting them with a trophy for excellence was priceless.
and graphical functionality, as well as teaching aids such as ran-
I also served in the armed forces as a military policeman who
dom sampling and a probability calculator.
patrolled Augusta and Ft. Gordon, Georgia, and a year as a
While it contains statistical and graphical features related to
stockade guard at Dachau, Germany—yes, that Dachau.
topics generally covered in undergraduate-level and beginning
I have two children, both mature young adults. My son,
graduate-level statistics-related courses, it also includes advanced
Mark, is married with two daughters: 5-year-old Brianna and
functions not normally found in introductory statistics packages,
3-year-old Taylor. He is a deputy with the district courts and
such as the loglinear model, logit, probit, and nonlinear regres-
testing for the U.S. Marshall’s office. My daughter, Necole, is a
sion. MYSTAT 12 can accept a maximum of 100 variables with
graduate of Howard University and presently director of busi-
no limit on the number of cases.
ness development for Johnson Inc., a marketing and communi-
The software is available for download at www.systat.com/
cations firm in Richmond. She has a daughter, Kameron, who
products/mystat. It will be helpful to students taking courses that
is 4 years old and a son, Nicolas, who is one. My hobbies consist
involve quantitative analysis, including psychology, social sciences,
of my grandchildren and photography.
biology, economics, and market research. n
If I can assist you with anything, don’t hesitate to ask.
MARCH 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 19
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