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• Large Row-Constrained Supersaturated Designs for High-throughput Screening

  • When
    20 Nov 2025
  •  
    2:00 PM

  Topic: Large Row-Constrained Supersaturated Designs for High-throughput Screening

  Speaker: David J. Edwards

  Date: November 20, 2pm ET/ 8pm CET / 11am PT

  Abstract

  High-throughput screening, in which multiwell plates are used to test large numbers of compounds against specific targets, is widely used across many areas of the biological sciences and most prominently in drug discovery. We propose a statistically principled approach to these screening experiments, using the machinery of supersaturated designs and the Lasso. To accommodate limitations on the number of biological entities that can be applied to a single microplate well, we present a new class of row-constrained supersaturated designs. We develop a computational procedure to construct these designs, provide some initial lower bounds on the average squared off-diagonal values of their main-effects information matrix, and study the impact of the constraint on design quality. We also show via simulation that the proposed constrained row screening method is statistically superior to existing methods and demonstrate the use of the new methodology on a real drug-discovery system.

  Speaker Bio

  David J. Edwards is Professor and Head of Mathematics and Data Analytics at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. Prior to joining The Citadel, he served as Professor and Chair of Statistical Sciences and Operations Research at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a BS in Mathematics from Virginia Tech and an MS and PhD in Statistics from The University of Tennessee.  His research is focused on applied statistics and data analytics with especial interest in design and analysis of experiments, model selection, and interpretable machine learning.  He is heavily involved in interdisciplinary research and has worked on projects as varied as air transportation, middle school math specialists, pharmaceutical engineering, and the human microbiome. Dr. Edwards is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, former Editor-in-Chief of Quality Engineering (a journal devoted to applied statistical methods for industrial practice), and a former Associate Editor for Technometrics.

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• Asking Good Questions to Facilitate Better Collaboration and Enhance Relationships

  • When
    11 Dec 2025
  •  
    11:30 AM

  Topic: Asking Good Questions to Facilitate Better Collaboration and Enhance Relationships 

  Speaker: Christine M. Anderson-Cook, Los Alamos, NM 

  Date: December 11, 11:30am Eastern Time / 5:30pm Central European Time / 8:30 am Pacific Time

  Abstract

  I think most of us have an inherent sense that asking the right question in the right way at the right time can be critical to smooth-running teams and good collaborations. In this talk, I explore many different goals of question asking beyond the exchange of factual information or assessment. These include soliciting feedback, establishing rapport and inclusiveness, changing the flow of a discussion, and confirming the exchange of information. We benefit, and so do our colleagues. Understanding the diverse potential for how good questions can impact our collaborations makes us a better team member and a more sought-after colleague. Once the “why” has been considered, I will also present some strategies of “how” to pose questions to build an open and non-threatening environment. Details of the material are available in the JMP White Paper at www.jmp.com/asking-good-questions. 

  Speaker Bio

  Christine M. Anderson-Cook retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2021 after 17 years in the Statistical Sciences Group. Before her time as a Research Scientist, she was a faculty member in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech. She is passionate about statistical engineering and its potential for raising the impact that statisticians can have in their organization. In 2012, she co-edited (with Lu Lu, at the University of South Florida) the first Special Issue on “Statistical Engineering” in Quality Engineering. She is a regular columnist for the Statistics Spotlight in Quality Progress, and has written numerous papers and case studies on applied statistics and how to make it practical and easily implemented for problem solving and decision making. She is a Fellow of ASA and ASQ. She has been honored with the George Box Medal, the Gerald Hahn Achievement Award, the Shewhart Medal and the William G. Hunter Award. 

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