January 2026 (Spring)

There’s a lot happening at CAUSE! I thought it might be nice to share a digest so people have a taste of recent happenings, coming attractions, and some ongoing efforts. We really want this to be quite concise just to provide a flyover and share a few page links and contacts so people know where to turn when they’re interested in more.

eCOTS 2026

The 2026 Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics will be held online from June 15–18, 2026, with the theme “Sparking Joy and Discovery in a World of AI.” Proposals for breakout sessions, posters and beyond, workshops, reading groups, and birds-of-a-feather gatherings are being accepted now; proposal deadlines vary from January 15 through March 3. We will also honor a member of the Statistics Education community with the George Cobb Lifetime Achievement Award at eCOTS; nominations remain open until March 1, complete details available on the website. See the conference website for a preview of the keynote speakers as well as details about specific deadlines and submission instructions. CAUSE also allocates modest funds to support “regional meetings” for an in-person gathering of eCOTS registrants intended to augment the event; so please chat with any colleagues in your local community and submit a proposal!

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CAUSEweb & Resources

Professional Development & Student Engagement

The Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition (USPROC) continues to draw excellent submissions from students around the country, and winners for the Spring 2025 round were announced in September. Keep an eye out for awards for the Fall 2025 round in the next couple months, and Spring 2026 submissions will be due in June. We are also looking forward to the results of the Data Scrollytelling competition, which had a December deadline for submissions. Thank you to all those who submitted and mentored work for these competitions, and to the many judges who have volunteered their time to evaluate the submissions.

In November, eUSR offered an opportunity for students to share their work in a virtual conference, as well as attend information sessions and panels on graduate programs and careers in statistics and data science. This year’s keynote was given by Dr. Xiao-Li Meng, who spoke on Learning, Teaching, and Communication in the Age of AI. Professional development is also supported by CAUSE webinars, including the joint webinar series with the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education. The January CAUSE/JSDSE webinar will be on the use of role playing games in the introductory statistics classroom; keep an eye out for further webinars coming up!

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Research

CAUSE Research celebrated another successful Research Satellite event at USCOTS 2025 and is gearing up for an exciting 2026! The research pages at CAUSEweb.org will be getting a revamp (coming in 2026!). The CAUSE Research Reading Group will continue to meet (approx) monthly; all are welcome to join the conversation, whether you choose to pop in for a specific paper that catches your eye or choose to become a regular attendee. Additionally, check out the “Getting Started with SDSE Research” webinars we’ve co-organized with Royal Statistical Society - Teaching Statistics Section (RSS-TSS) and Research on Statistics Education (RoSE) Network. Past webinars include Research vs. Scholarship and Qualitative Research, and more are coming in 2026! Please reach out to us with ideas and needs for CAUSE-Research to continue promoting and supporting statistics and data science education research(ers)!

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Ready to join (the) CAUSE?

Membership in CAUSE is at the level of academic department or other appropriate unit. Any academic department or unit may join by signing a Letter of Agreement that obligates the department or unit to support the goals and projects of CAUSE and to support a departmental representative to CAUSE who agrees to be active in CAUSE through, e.g., serving as a reviewer of materials, serving on advisory boards, and/or helping to organize workshops and seminars.

There are currently no membership fees.

Benefits to member departments include:

  • regular communications from CAUSE on the latest advances in statistics education
  • privileged participation for its faculty in all CAUSE seminars, forums, workshops and other events
  • priority access to all CAUSE-produced products and services, at reduced rates whenever there is a charge for such products or services
  • opportunity to nominate members for the CAUSE Board of Directors
  • the knowledge that the department is supporting a major effort in the improvement of statistics education

Visit https://www.causeweb.org/cause/about to see if your institution is a member, or review the instructions for “Member Inquiries” to begin the process!