As UNL proposes steep budget cuts, statistics faculty ask leadership to check their math

As UNL proposes steep budget cuts, statistics faculty ask leadership to check their math

When professor Susan VanderPlas learned the Statistics Department was among those on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s $27.5 million chopping block, a flurry of emotions hit.  Shock. Anger. Confusion.  The professionally trained statistician set out to understand the metrics guiding the university’s decision making. She and others in the department spent days poring over the limited data available, noting where they saw potential errors.  The…