Nancy Roberts, Statistics Geek

What I do at USU

Officially, I am a Systems Specialist--Statistics, in the Academic User Services department of Information Technology Services. What does that mean? My major job duties are teaching local users how to use SPSS, SAS, and Minitab on the VMS Cluster and PCs, and maintaining the site licenses for those products. I also do some consulting with people regarding their data analyses. When pressed, I can also answer simple questions regarding e-mail, pegasus mail, pine, and the EVE editor.

Software FAQs, Listserv Archives, and HELP files

• S PLus
  
  • The S-News FAQ , covering both frequently asked questions about the S-News mailing list *and* the S computing language.
  • The S-News mailing list. Requests to be added or dropped from the `S-news' list should be sent to the electronic mail address s-news-approval@wubios.wustl.edu. Sending a one line message saying either `subscribe s-news' or `subscribe s-news digest' (without the quotes) will suffice. Please *do not* send such requests to s-news@wubios.wustl.edu since any mail sent to this address is automatically forwarded to thousands of other users.
  • The S-News archives are now SEARCHABLE (!!!) and are available from the Statlib Web Server, in addition to S function archives and other items of interest to statisticians.
  • There is a helpful page for getting started with Splus at this location.
  • Statsci, a subsidary of Mathsoft the company that brings us Splus, has their own website.
• SPSS
  • The SPSS-X discussion list archives have a searchable index to help you find solutions to common problems or discussion of specific topics relating to SPSS. (This discussion list is echoed as usenet newsgroup comp.soft-sys.spss.)
  • Leeds University has put an SPSS for Windows 6.0 tutorial online.
  • Visit the SPSS website for information on updates, fixes, and other products marketed by SPSS, Inc.
• SAS
  • The SAS discussion list archives have a searchable index to help you find solutions to common (or not so common!) SAS programming problems, or discussion of specific topics relating to the SAS programming language. (This discussion list is echoed as usenet newsgroup comp.soft-sys.sas.)
  • Having trouble transferring SAS files from one computing environment to another (Unix to VMS, etc.)?
  • SAS Institute has their own website, where you can find information on the full range of SAS software products. The most recent SI Technical Support is available from their server in threaded format, as well as the Tech Support FAQ file. Also available are searchable copies of the SAS NOTES.
• Other Statistics Resources
  • UTexas maintains a list of other Statistics websites and software sites on the web. They also have some tutorials available on their server.
  • Another source of statistics information comes from the Virtual Library maintained by the University of Florida. There are links to Job Announcements, upcoming events and programs, a list of colleges and universities with Statistics programs, statistical research groups, software vendors, and much more.
  • The List of Statistics related lists attempts to have up-to-date information on how to find any of the currently active statistics related mailing lists or newsgroups.
  • The Journal of Statistics Education gopher server.
  • The Edstat discussion list and archives (echoed as usenet newsgroup sci.stat.edu).
  • The Statistics discussion list (echoed as usenet newsgroup sci.stat.math).
  • The Journal of Statistical Education WWW site has links to several informative listserv archives, software and dataset archives, and other Statistics Education resources.
  • There is also a Usenet newsgroup for statistics consultants, called sci.stat.consult.
  • Statistics users on the other side of the pond have a discussion list called ALLSTAT which is often used to communicate information about upcoming meetings, and sometimes used to discuss problems of a statistical nature.

Do I have a life other than USU?