Jennifer Van Mullekom receives mentoring award from American Statistical Association

Jennifer Van Mullekom, director of the Statistical Applications and Innovations Group (SAIG) at Virginia Tech, is the 2024 recipient of the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistical Consulting Outstanding Mentor Award. The award will be officially presented at the Joint Statistical Meetings, a multiorganizational statistics and data science conference that is being held Aug. 3-8.

The American Statistical Association (ASA) Section on Statistical Consulting Outstanding Mentor award is given annually to a statistical consultant or instructor of statistical consulting who is nominated by coworkers and mentees for efforts in supporting the work and developing the careers of junior colleagues.

“One of my greatest pleasures is guiding others in their professional and life journeys,” said Van Mullekom, professor of practice in the Department of Statistics. “Seeing the successes of my students within the department and as they begin their careers has been tremendously rewarding.

“I am grateful to my colleagues and the students who participated in my nomination, as well as to the ASA Section on Statistical Consulting for sponsoring this award,” Van Mullekom said. “Not only must we invest in developing new statistics and data science methods, but we must invest in the people who will implement them.”

Van Mullekom, who earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics from Virginia Tech, returned to the university in 2016 to head up the Statistical Applications and Innovations Group, the statistical collaboration center that has served Virginia Tech faculty and staff for over 75 years. Staffed by master’s and doctoral statistics students, the group completes over 200 projects internal to the university per year.

Upon Van Mullekom’s arrival, the group began to take on outside projects with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and government organizations as well, and has to date completed 10 corporately funded projects totaling over $500,000.

As the director, Van Mullekom has mentored 80 students over the past five years, working with them to answer research questions, write collaborative publications, and author grant proposals, while also helping them navigate client relationships.

“Through her work in SAIG, Jen has helped countless graduate students develop invaluable skills, knowledge, and experience that has prepared them as highly competitive candidates for statistical positions in academia, industry, and government,” said Jane Robertson Evia, collegiate associate professor in the Department of Statistics. “Because of her mentorship, students who have had the privilege of working with Jen leave Virginia Tech feeling inspired, confident, and well-prepared for the next step in their career.”

A mentor to a pair of young faculty members at Virginia Tech, Van Mullekom has provided academic mentorship to numerous master’s and doctoral statistics students. Her outreach efforts in the College of Science include conducting specialized workshops for different audiences – one for high school students and another for high school math and science teachers.

Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, Van Mullekom, who maintains a part-time consulting relationship for DuPont, acquired nearly two decades of experience working in industry. She worked with numerous corporate mentees on topics including technical statistical solutions, communicating results, getting buy-in from stakeholders, and work-life balance.

Van Mullekom also served as an instructor mentor for over 300 Green Belts and Black Belts while teaching Six Sigma classes at DuPont.

“Besides being an outstanding mentor for graduate and undergraduate students and junior level colleagues, Jen is a role model for colleagues at all levels, both at Virginia Tech and throughout the field,” said Robertson Evia.