Jana Asher

Jana Asher
Jana Asher at the Pax House in Kenya, in 2011
Nationality	American
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University
Scientific career
Fields	Statistics
Institutions	Slippery Rock University
Doctoral advisor	Stephen Fienberg

Jana Lynn Asher is a statistician known for her work on human rights and sexual violence. She is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Slippery Rock University.^[1] She was a co-editor of the book Statistical Methods for Human Rights with David L. Banks and Fritz Scheuren.^[2]

Asher volunteers for the American Statistical Association in several roles, including as the Program Chair for 2022 for its Section on Survey Research Methods. She was elected as the Council for Sections Representative to the ASA's Board of Directors for the 2023-25 term.^{[3] [4][5]} Asher was appointed to be the Chair of the Committee on the History of Statistics of the International Statistical Institute.

Education

Asher majored in anthropology and Japanese studies at Wellesley College, graduating in 1991. She earned a master's degree (1999) and Ph.D. (2016) in statistics from Carnegie Mellon University.^[6] Her dissertation, Methodological Innovations in the Collection and Analysis of Human Rights Violations Data, was supervised by Stephen Fienberg.^[6][7]

Recognition

Asher was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2009 "for excellence in the application of statistical methodology to human rights and humanitarian measurement problems; for leadership toward placing human rights violations research on a sound statistical basis; and for service to the profession".^[6][8] In 2010 she became an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.^[6][9] In 2022 she received the Caucus for Women in Statistics Societal Impact Award for "her work combating societal injustice through accurate and ethical quantitative measurement, and for her commitment toward teaching civic responsibility and JEDI principles through statistical practice." JEDI stands for "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion."

References

1. Mathematics and Statistics Faculty, Slippery Rock University, retrieved 2020-09-16
2. Statistical Methods for Human Rights, Springer, 2008. Reviews of Statistical Methods for Human Rights:
   • Samuelson, Douglas A. (2008), "Analysts promote human rights", OR/MS Today, 35 (1), INFORMS
   • Starkings, Susan (August 2008), International Statistical Review, 76 (2): 328, doi:10.1111/j.1751-5823.2008.00054_28.x, JSTOR 27919646
   • Zador, Paul L. (December 2008), Journal of the American Statistical Association, 103 (484): 1724–1725, JSTOR 27640237, MR 2510315
   • Miller, Debra R. (2010), "Book and Software Review" (PDF), Journal of Official Statistics, 26 (1): 209–212
3. Committee Details: Committee on International Relations in Statistics, American Statistical Association, retrieved 2018-12-18
4. Section Officers: History of Statistics Special Interest Group, American Statistical Association, retrieved 2020-09-16
5. 2020 ASA Election Results (PDF), American Statistical Association, retrieved 2020-09-16
6. Curriculum vitae (PDF), retrieved 2018-12-18
7. Jana Asher at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
8. ASA Fellows List, American Statistical Association, archived from the original on 2019-04-25, retrieved 2018-12-18
9. Individual members, International Statistical Institute, archived from the original on 2017-07-29, retrieved 2018-12-18

External links

• Official website
• Jana Asher publications indexed by Google Scholar