As I write this message in Montréal at the end of March, there is a forecast of heavy snowfall ahead for the weekend—I hope there is a large margin of uncertainty on that prediction! Nevertheless, spring is approaching, and the brighter days bring cheer.

Since my last communication, I am pleased to report on two more workshops: On March 14, the EDI committee hosted a free workshop on “Educator Self-Assessment for Equity and Belonging.” On April 14, the Biostatistics section put on “Introduction to Bayesian Modelling using RStan.” Both workshops were free, and recordings can be accessed via instats. We look forward to continuing to provide varied and useful offerings to our members. If you are interested in giving a workshop or short course, please reach out to me.

On March 12, I had the pleasure of taking over as a guest instructor in five Grade 10 math classes in celebration of the International Day of Mathematics (minus two, technically, as the school was closed on March 14, i.e., Pi Day). I spoke to the students about confounding and explained the idea behind matching as a statistical technique to alleviate it. We discussed experimentation and randomization, and considered how confounding can drive misleading conclusions in fields as diverse as healthcare and sports tactics. It was a rewarding day, and I would strongly encourage our members to consider volunteering in your local community to talk about some aspect of statistics that drives your excitement. Many high school students’ exposure to statistics is little more than measures of centrality—we can inspire and broaden their views! If you don’t know where to start, check out the resources available at https://ssc.ca/en/education.

Erica Moodie

McGill University