In the basement of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library resides the Conolly Alexander Institute for Data Science. Many students pass the sign every day going to and from their library classes. Now, however, more students may enter the center for their newest program, the Statistical Consulting Center.
The Statistical Consulting Center, led by John Levendis, professor of practice in data science, aims to help students with their statistical studies and skills.
“We would basically offer free help and advice for people who are working on statistics and data-oriented research projects,” Levendis said. “[If] you’re working on a class project, senior thesis, honors thesis, something like that, and you’re getting stuck on the statistics portion of it, we’ve got a team of people who are trained and happy to help.”
The SCC staff have opened the doors to undergraduate students for now, though they plan to offer their services to graduate students in the future. The team of consultants includes a mix of graduate and undergraduate students, with new hires added to the team every semester.
“We are hiring every semester, but there’s also just a natural churn as students graduate. We need to fill those spots,” Levendis said. “So, if you are a statistically proficient student, if you’ve done some research projects before and you’ve taken more than a couple of stats classes, we’d love to have you.”
Liam Guest, a consultant with the SCC, is a graduate student working towards a degree in biostatistics at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
“I have a lot of interests within the field of data science. I do a lot of machine learning, a lot of statistical modeling and a lot of applied [artificial intelligence],” Guest said.
Levendis and Guest both emphasized a need for this service on Tulane’s campus.
“I knew about the need for the program because a lot of people have reached out to me as someone who’s studying Biostatistics at the master’s level,” Guest said. “So I was excited to get involved with the consultant program, because I think that there is definitely a need around campus for that type of service,”
Students can request a consultant through the Penji app and is available on the SCC website.