Stats @ Columbia

Dear colleague:

A couple years ago, a researcher at Columbia called me with a question about path analysis. Not only did I not know the answer—I didn’t even know whom to recommend for help.

Around the same time, another researcher here called me with a question about survey sampling. She had called someone who recommended someone who recommended me. It turned out that another researcher in her department was using similar methods, but they were not aware of each others’ work!

We conducted a survey in order to construct a database of statistical resources at Columbia. We have put the directory generated using this survey on the Web so that we can all make better use of our combined expertise.

Yours,

Andrew Gelman