The Reading Group is 

• an ongoing reading group initiative for accredited members;
• to support professional development by creating a collaborative space for applied statisticians to explore key topics and resources;
• monthly sessions; to join any or all sessions based on their availability.

How to Join

• Visit the Professional Development Resources >> Book Club section of MySSC by logging into your profile at ssc.ca. 

  Session details, including dates, topics, and reading materials, and the registration link are posted there each year.

  Non-accredited members may also participate upon request to the organizers (bookclub@ssc.ca)

List of Book Club series

2026-2027 

For 2026-27, rather than working through a predetermined list of papers, we will have a more informal, discussion-based monthly gathering focused on the challenges that arise in the real-world practice of statistics.  

For our first session, participants are encouraged to bring examples, questions, or dilemmas from their own work. Some examples, provided purely to spark ideas, could include: 

• An analysis involves hundreds of related models across imputations, covariate specifications, and exposures. Even if each individual analysis is reasonable, how do you think about multiplicity, robustness, and avoiding an accidental fishing expedition?
• When does statistical support become authorship, and who gets to decide?
• A reviewer or collaborator wants fixed effects because they are perceived as more rigorous, but most of the relevant variation is between groups, so the proposed model may remove much of the information needed to answer the question. What approach makes sense here?

The goal is not necessarily to arrive at a single “correct” solution. We hope to create a space where statisticians working across academia, government, industry, consulting, and other settings can compare experiences, talk through difficult judgment calls, and learn from how others have approached similar situations.

Future Stats Café topics and readings will emerge naturally from these conversations. When a question or theme generates particular interest, we can use it to guide a future session and select relevant papers, case studies, or other short readings, and potentially invite guest speakers.

Come with a challenge to discuss, whether it is highly technical, practical, or professional, or simply come to listen and join the conversation.  The proposed schedule is given below. Members are welcome to attend as many or as few sessions as their schedule allows. 

Time:  2:30-4:00 PM Eastern time. 

Organizers

Dr. Fernando Camacho, P.Stat. (DAMOS Inc)
Dr. Kathryn Morrison, P.Stat. (Precision Analytics Inc) 
Alfred Tang, A.Stat., (Wayfair Inc)  

2025-2026 

For 2025–2026, the reading group will take a direction by focusing on a curated series of academic articles. Discussions will explore topics ranging from how statisticians can integrate AI into their applied work, to the critical role statisticians play in strengthening AI through validation, transparency, and methodological rigor.

Nov 7    Use of generative AI in the practice of data analysis, Part I.  

             Reading: Applied statistics in the era of artificial intelligence: A review and vision, Min, Jie, et al.

Dec 5    Use of generative AI in the practice of data analysis, Part II. 

Jan 9     The role of statisticians in AI, Part I: Validation and application. 

Feb 6    The role of statisticians in AI, Part II: Ethics and responsibilities.    

Mar 6    Case study and/or guest speaker. TBD

Apr 3     Case study and/or guest speaker. TBD

Organizers

Dr. Kathryn Morrison, A.Stat. (Precision Analytics Inc)

Dr. Fernando Camacho, P.Stat. (DAMOS Inc)

2024-2025

The book selected for this year is Mark J. van der Laan and Sherri Rose. “Target Learning: Causal Inference for Observational and Experimental Data”, Springer Series in Statistics, 2011.

The first two sessions will be given by guest speakers to give us an introduction of Target Learning (TL) and then we will have group discussions based on Part I of the book that covers the basics of TL. 

Organizers

Dr. Kathryn Morrison, A.Stat. (Precision Analytics Inc)

Dr. Fernando Camacho, P.Stat. (DAMOS Inc)

2023-2024

The book selected for this year is Hernán MA, Robins JM (2020) “Causal Inference: What If”. Boca Raton:
Chapman & Hall/CRC. 

The book is available free online: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/miguel-hernan/causal-inference-book/ 

Organizers

Dr. Kathryn Morrison, A.Stat. (Precision Analytics Inc)

Dr. Fernando Camacho, P.Stat. (DAMOS Inc)