The construct of "stewardship of the discipline," introduced in 2006, defines a steward as "someone to whom we can entrust the vigor, quality, and integrity of the field." Individuals who utilize statistics, data science, and their respective tools have an ethical obligation to practice in compliance with ethical practice standards. In this talk, we will explore both the technical and ethical responsibilities that students in these fields will face throughout their careers, using the framework of stewardship. Recognizing and embracing their role as stewards allows individuals to actively shape their professional identities. This talk will offer guidance and resources to help students navigate this process of self-development, fostering a sense of belonging to the discipline and reinforcing the responsibility to uphold ethical standards in their work.

Short Bio: 

Rochelle Tractenberg, PhD, MPH, PhD, PStat®, FASA, FAAAS, FISI is a Professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She is the author of the books "Ethical Reasoning for a Data-Centered World" and "Ethical Practice of Statistics and Data Science", both published in 2022 - which feature the ASA Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice and the ACM Code of Professional Ethics. She is currently collaborating on the forthcoming UN Handbook on Ethical Work with Statistics and Data. Professor Tractenberg is an American Statistical Association-Accredited Professional Statistician. She has published widely on ethical practice standards for statistics, data science, and mathematics, and maintains active research programs in ethical practice of statistics and data science, ethical reasoning, and ethical quantitative practice (https://ethicalreasoning.org/) as well as biomedical research. She was the Chair (2017-2019) of the American Statistical Association Committee on Professional Ethics, serving as Vice-Chair 2014-2016. She Chaired (2014-2016; 2018) and co-Chaired (2021) the Committee's Working Groups on revising the ASA Ethical Guidelines. She now serves on the International Statistics Institute's Advisory Board on Ethics in 2023, and its Working Groups on Education and on Ethical Obligations for Working with Indigenous Data.