I work in the Applied Statistics Department at APCI. I generally work on shortterm projects that can be solved and implemented in less than a month. One of the exciting problems I've helped solve is finding the probability of tornadoes hitting areas across the country. Industrial companies are especially interested in this issue because their facilities usually are comprised of large above-ground structures. This project required me to have an understanding of probability theory, a knowledge of a computer package (SAS) to analyze the data, and the ability to communicate the results in non-technical language to management. The final result was a map of the USA on which the probability of tornado occurrence was color coded.

Another area in which I have become involved is Statistical Quality Control (SQC). Courses in quality control, process improvement, and design of experiments have been especially important to me in my job. Currently our company is on an awareness campaign to inform our community about SQC and how it can be used. I am helping by teaching courses to technicians, operators, and engineers. A training session runs anywhere from a three-hour introductory session to a three-day course. Training others is one of my most rewarding responsibilities.

I have attended some outside courses and learned how to build front-end menus in SAS (a statistical package). Recently I've spent considerable time designing applications in SAS that are menu driven and do not require the user to know a lot about statistics in order to generate statistical reports.