CAS in the Media | Washington State University

^{CAS in the Media} _{Arts and Sciences Media Headlines}

WSU professor elected to lead international organization for women statisticians

August 5, 2020 mikayla.makle

Mathematics and statistics professor and director of the data analytics program at Washington State University, Nairanjana “Jan” Dasgupta has been elected president of the international Caucus for Women in Statistics for a one-year term to begin in 2021.

“I feel blessed to be working in a field I love,” Dasgupta said. “Teaching at WSU has always been energizing for me because I thoroughly enjoy the beauty of statistics and mathematics as well as working with students and faculty. I look forward to serving as the 2021 president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics and anticipate a great year.”

Dasgupta is founding director of the Consortium for Interdisciplinary Statistical Education and Research at WSU and is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association, where she has been active in committees focused on career and leadership development.

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WSU Insider

Washington State Magazine launches podcast

August 5, 2020 adriana

You’ve read the stories of Washington State University for almost two decades in Washington State Magazine. Now you can listen to them, too, in a new monthly podcast.

Episodes of the podcast, Viewscapes, run about 15 minutes, with three different stories covering a wide variety of topics from around the University.

The first episode has a summer flavor with music, cherries, and those frequent visitors to barbecues: wasps. It features Regents Professor and composer Greg Yasinitsky talking about how he creates and performs music. Yasinitsky also wrote the jazz tunes for the podcast. Other segments uncover the truth about wasps with entomology doctoral student Megan Asche, and dive into a bowl of WSU’s own Rainier cherries with executive chef Jamie Callison.

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WSU Insider

‘I am Ana Karen Betancourt Macias, and I’m undocumented’

July 29, 2020 mikayla.makle

When Ana Karen Betancourt Macias introduces herself, she openly identifies herself as undocumented.

“I introduce myself all the time as ‘I am Ana Karen Betancourt Macias, and I’m undocumented.’” Betancourt Macias, WSU Vancouver sociology graduating senior, said. “That was to make the people in the room feel uncomfortable, but also know that I was a force to reckon with.”

During her first year at WSU Vancouver, Betancourt Macias served as ASWSUV director of legislative affairs. It was her first time in student government, she said. In that position, she helped lobby for the Washington College Grant, formerly known as the state-need grant.

Betancourt Macias will be graduating this summer from WSU Vancouver with a bachelor’s in sociology. She said she is planning to apply to Harvard University for her master’s degree. She is also considering law school.

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The Daily Evergreen

No honor among cyber thieves

July 28, 2020 mikayla.makle

A backstabbing crime boss and thousands of people looking for free tutorials on hacking and identity theft were two of the more interesting findings of a study examining user activity on two online “carding forums,” illegal sites that specialize in stolen credit card information.

“The cybercrime marketplace, like most e-commerce, has continued to expand and carding forums are the most widespread formats in the West for exchanging illicit goods,” said Alex Kigerl, a Washington State University criminologist and lead author of the study published in the June edition of Social Science Computer Review.

Kigerl also discovered that the administrator of the two carding forums, the person who is typically in charge of vouching for reputable sellers and banning users who defraud other users, was perhaps the biggest thief of all.

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Tech Xplore
WSU Insider
The Register

Presidential ad wars bring 2020 battleground into focus

July 28, 2020 mikayla.makle

President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden and their allies have reserved more than a quarter billion dollars in television advertising time in the weeks leading up to November’s general election, bringing into focus what is likely to be the broadest set of swing states in recent history.

“It does seem like there will be a healthy number of contested states this time around, and there seems to be plenty of money out there to run these ads as well,” said Travis Ridout, a political scientist at Washington State University and a co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ad spending.

The bulk of the spending on the Democratic side comes from Priorities USA, a super PAC that has already reserved almost $50 million in airtime from now until Election Day. The group has reserved tens of millions in airtime in 17 media markets across the same six states where Biden is focused, according to advertising data analyzed by The Hill.

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The Hill