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Alex Franks

@amfranks.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Statistics afranks.com

725 Followers  |  138 Following  |  14 Posts  |  Joined: 18.08.2023  |  1.9716

Latest posts by amfranks.bsky.social on Bluesky

Meant to say AOS.

19.07.2025 18:03 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I do think that stats depts should be doing much more to emphasize data analysis. One of the best ways to generate idea for stats methods research is to be intimately familiar with data analysis and the challenges that come with it.

19.07.2025 15:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

In general, I think nowadays most departments would be equally happy with an applied statistician publishing in AOAS, JASA A&CS and JCGS as they would publishing in AOS.

19.07.2025 15:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

What is most valued at tenure time also depends on what kind of department. E.g. as you allude to, a biostat dept will have very different criteria than a stats dept in say, a business school, which definitely skews more toward AOAS style publications.

19.07.2025 15:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I like to think of academic statistics on a continuum: applied, methods and then theory. In my opinion, a "strong" stats dept should have faculty at a range of points on this continuum.

19.07.2025 15:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Congestion pricing by the # β€˜s 6 months in:
* 67k fewer drivers entering zone daily
* Delays in Holland Tunnel down 65%
* Traffic deaths down 32% so far in 2025
* $500m projected this year for MTA capital improvements
* B’way attendance +12%
* Subway ridership +7%

So yes this program is a SUCCESS.

06.07.2025 01:50 β€” πŸ‘ 10791    πŸ” 2113    πŸ’¬ 132    πŸ“Œ 158

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

03.07.2025 18:58 β€” πŸ‘ 98568    πŸ” 38508    πŸ’¬ 4580    πŸ“Œ 2736
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This is downtown Santa Barbara right now. The No Kings protest stretches for over a mile along the water. The cars who drive by are all honking in support. Probably the biggest protest this community has ever seen.

14.06.2025 18:17 β€” πŸ‘ 1787    πŸ” 316    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 7
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We feed you.
They hunt us.

11.06.2025 05:05 β€” πŸ‘ 35155    πŸ” 15074    πŸ’¬ 1238    πŸ“Œ 1265

At the risk of sounding like a big nerd, I love when assumed/perceived trends are found to be the result of the Simpson's paradox! Here, the gender-equality paradox is getting fried! πŸ§ͺ #science πŸ“Š #stats #equality

11.06.2025 06:37 β€” πŸ‘ 30    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@noahgreifer.bsky.social was my post-doc and I cannot recommend him more highly if you need a super smart statistical consultant / programmer. He is the force behind MatchIt, cobalt, and other packages, and is also just a fantastic team member.

05.06.2025 00:05 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts to US science Huge reductions, if enacted, could have β€˜catastrophic’ effects on US competitiveness and the scientific pipeline, critics say.

Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts for US science in next fiscal year
NASA cut by 24%
NIH cut by 40%
EPA cut by 55%
NSF cut by 56%
Analysis from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com team
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

02.05.2025 21:21 β€” πŸ‘ 239    πŸ” 203    πŸ’¬ 20    πŸ“Œ 36

The man at left separated the mother and baby at right. The mother is now in Venezuela. Baby daughter, in foster care in the US, exact location unknown.

Dad? He's in CECOT prison without trial β€” because he had tattoos.

29.04.2025 20:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1374    πŸ” 709    πŸ’¬ 73    πŸ“Œ 67
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🧡In March I wrote about how Trump's attacks on science & universities followed the authoritarian playbook & set out Qs as warning signs for escalation.

🚨 THESE ARE NOW HAPPENING

This 🧡is on how those warning sign Qs have been realised

full post:
christinapagel.substack.com/p/warning-si...

1/15

29.04.2025 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 308    πŸ” 187    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 6

Wow. Randall Monroe is not fucking around *at all*.

25.04.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 92    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWhen the men approached me, my first thought was that they …. wanted to harm me.”

As a woman who spent a career working alone in weird and dangerous situations, my first concern was being hurt.

Thanks, @cambridgeday.bsky.social for being one of the few news outlets to capture that.

12.04.2025 11:55 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Tufts student details harrowing transport by ICE, lack of food and medical care in detention RΓΌmeysa Γ–ztΓΌrk's sworn statement was filed alongside a motion from her attorneys seeking her immediate release from detention while they fight the revocation of her visa.

She is still in custody www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

12.04.2025 00:22 β€” πŸ‘ 2719    πŸ” 447    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 8
US map via scienceimpacts.org visualization of economic loss due to IDC cuts to 15% as part of Feb 7, 2025 executive order, with shading denoting intensity of cuts.

US map via scienceimpacts.org visualization of economic loss due to IDC cuts to 15% as part of Feb 7, 2025 executive order, with shading denoting intensity of cuts.

Working with an interdisciplinary team, we have developed a website to communicate how the White House's proposed cuts to health research would cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs.

Find out how your community may be impacted.

Explore more at SCIMaP: scienceimpacts.org

a 🧡

28.03.2025 02:15 β€” πŸ‘ 6584    πŸ” 3593    πŸ’¬ 201    πŸ“Œ 269

What people in every part of higher education need to understand is that Republicans now want to do to universities what they’ve tried to do to labor unions: erase them from the institutional landscape. The question is how much you want to collaborate in your own destruction.

27.03.2025 12:10 β€” πŸ‘ 11295    πŸ” 3021    πŸ’¬ 284    πŸ“Œ 162

This is completely terrifying, a huge violation of the first amendment, and part of the coopting of a distorted version of anti-semitism to justify persecution of people speaking out against Israel's genocide. And the broader pursuit of a police state.

26.03.2025 17:48 β€” πŸ‘ 619    πŸ” 241    πŸ’¬ 29    πŸ“Œ 14

This is horrible to post, but I may as well post it. We are essentially shutting down research operations in my group, which is focused on treatments for pediatric brain cancer. I’m a well funded investigator, and there’s no choice. Science can’t function without the stability of NIH

15.03.2025 17:32 β€” πŸ‘ 27005    πŸ” 10888    πŸ’¬ 734    πŸ“Œ 820

I just heard this as well. The entire staff of the National Center for Education Statistics, created in 1867, has been fired.

12.03.2025 01:20 β€” πŸ‘ 946    πŸ” 625    πŸ’¬ 37    πŸ“Œ 82

Inchworm?

05.03.2025 03:28 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

DOGE savings (WSJ): $2.6b

TSLA subsidies (10 years): $15b

Annual increase in deficit: $900b

Cuts to Medicare: $880b

26.02.2025 00:12 β€” πŸ‘ 14471    πŸ” 4533    πŸ’¬ 190    πŸ“Œ 222

If people were really just dying from chronic diseases then how come they weren’t dying from their chronic diseases until after March, 2020?

22.02.2025 18:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2064    πŸ” 615    πŸ’¬ 91    πŸ“Œ 18

If anyone who receives this would like help writing a suitable prompt injection for when they use an LLM to evaluate responses, I am at your service. DM or @hmason.64 on Signal.

22.02.2025 22:50 β€” πŸ‘ 158    πŸ” 54    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 6

Super cool! How'd you make these? Is there a repo you can share?

20.02.2025 23:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared. ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.

NEW: Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.

ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.

20.02.2025 12:10 β€” πŸ‘ 2267    πŸ” 958    πŸ’¬ 41    πŸ“Œ 69
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Infant mortality rises in states with abortion bans, study finds Increases in infant mortality have been found in U.S. states that enacted abortion bans or severe restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark ruling that guaranteed a right to the procedure, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

after the overturning of roe, black infant mortality has spiked nearly 11% in states with abortion bans:

www.reuters.com/world/us/inf...

14.02.2025 19:45 β€” πŸ‘ 22261    πŸ” 9063    πŸ’¬ 1265    πŸ“Œ 595

@amfranks is following 20 prominent accounts