| This post was kindly contributed by Key Happenings at support.sas.com - go there to comment and to read the full post. |
Maura Stokes works in the Statistical Applications Department in Advanced Analytics at SAS. Maura is also a member of the review board for support.sas.com. She works hard to provide you the information that you want as well as the statistical features that you need in our products. Let me introduce you to Maura.
What do you do:
I’m the development product manager for SAS/STAT® software, and I also coordinate some division-wide activities such as our documentation process. Since SAS/STAT now includes 75 procedures and requires nearly 8,000 pages of documentation, obviously it takes several people to manage it. I keep current with statistical methodology being developed and adopted, obtain feedback from customers, and help to decide on priorities for future development. My role also includes outreach, and I give talks to both SAS user groups and statistical groups about our statistical software. I also represent the analytical interests in SAS Global Forum planning and coordination, as well as support.sas.com, where I manage the Statistics and Operations Research focus area on support.sas.com. I’m also the lead author of the SAS Press book Categorical Data Analysis Using the SAS System.
What’s the most interesting part of your job?
Learning new statistical methodology is still probably the most fun for me. We occasionally bring in area experts for seminars to jump-start us in new areas, and that’s always invigorating.
What aspect of your job do you like best?
I’ve liked being able to initiate new programs from time to time. For example, I started the Sunday Statistical Tutorials at SAS Global Forum ten years ago, and they’ve been fairly popular. I also initiated the software download program for SAS/STAT several years ago, and we released several new procedures such as PROC GLIMMIX to our users between major releases. More recently, I was able to start an e-newsletter for the analytical areas. I also like to teach, and I’ve been able to do that at SAS Global Forum and regional user group meetings.
Which one of the company’s five core values is most important in the work you do?
It’s always about the customer. We can only get into trouble when we lose sight of that.
Memorable moments?
Getting out the first release of SAS for the PC; doing an immediate repeat of a SUGI talk over the lunch period when the fire marshals kicked out some of the original audience; the amazing dedication and grassroots cooperation of some of the early leaders in testing, in which I worked for ten years; and the really nice dinner that John Sall threw for me and Brad Jones in Denver last summer for being named ASA Fellows. And the cows getting loose on campus.
Anyone who’s traveled a certain amount for SAS also has related stories. My personal best is giving a talk to a small SAS user group in Miami, at a restaurant in which the meeting room was separated from the bar with those strings of beads hanging down in a doorway. I tried to stay focused, ignoring the screechy feedback from the little loudspeaker set-up, the live band playing salsa music fifty feet away, and the fact that only four of the 16 people there had any interest in my statistical topic. But then the band struck up ‘Having My Baby,’ and I have to say that I lost it. Fortunately, my audience laughed along with me, handed me a glass of red wine, and listened politely to the virtues of logistic regression.
If SAS didn’t exist, what would be your fantasy job?
Covering the Red Sox as a sportswriter. [Editors Note: Maura assures me that after a visit to the Red Sox spring training games, she can give the team a thumbs up!]
What’s the best thing about working at SAS?
SAS is a natural home for me because it combines my interest in statistics plus my interest in computing. I enjoy a lot of the benefits, such as lunch soccer games and being able to get a Diet Coke or a cup of coffee when you need it (I still owe people at RTI for quarters I sponged off them for the concession machines.). But the bottom line for staying with any company is the people you work with everyday. In my job, I work not only with the statisticians in my division, but lots of people in other divisions, too. And we simply have a ton of smart, interesting, dedicated people here. I couldn’t find the same situation anywhere else.
| This post was kindly contributed by Key Happenings at support.sas.com - go there to comment and to read the full post. |