Terence Speed
I'm not sure when I did my first statistical consulting, but it must have been about 50 years ago. I have never really stopped doing it. I recently met with two people who are tracking immune cell fate determination, one cell at a time. They have been analyzing their data, and met several challenges. I have also been talking with someone analyzing the gut bacteria of mice, and separately, with a person who is studying the white blood cell response to stimulation by group A streptococcus. I have found over the years that consulting can morph into collaborative research, and that collaborative research can lead to statistical research. That's the way I like it.
My plan is to talk about some of the different aspects of statistical consulting and collaboration, and interdisciplinary research, focussing on what might be done on a university campus (rather than in business, industry or government). I'll speak about the pluses and the minuses, and I'll touch on the technical, psychological, social and political challenges that consulting, collaboration and interdisciplinary research throw up.
