Speakers

From apprentice to master

Analyzing your data is an art. You begin with raw data, sometimes as obscure as a block of stone, a lump of clay, a ball of yarn or an empty canvas. You chip away at the data, shape the relevant bits and pieces, weave together the meaning and display the significance for others to see. Take advantage of this opportunity to immerse yourself in business applications and hands-on practice. You’ll grow from apprentice to master in no time.

Meet Your Technical Mentors

Mark Bailey, SAS Education Instructor

What started as an avid interest in science and mathematics in grade school guided Mark Bailey to pursue an independent study in chemistry as an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He expanded his academic accomplishments in graduate school at the University of Rochester while studying the hemoglobin action in blood. Eventually, he learned how to program all of the laboratory computers for real-time data acquisition and data reduction. Most of his computing now is in JMP, SAS or Smalltalk on Windows and Macintosh.

Bailey started his career as a research chemist at Eastman Kodak, where he also began to study applied statistics while working on medical diagnostics. He later moved to Abbott Laboratories, where he introduced nonlinear regression techniques for "dose-response" curves and design of experiments (DOE). Those years of experience provided a nearly perfect 'boot camp' to prepare him for his next position when he came to SAS. Bailey has focused primarily on the JMP curriculum in the areas of design of experiments and scripting for the past 10 years. More recently, he started developing industry-specific, task-oriented training, such as parallel assay curve analysis and pharmaceutical stability testing and analysis.

Bailey is the past Publications Officer and current Webmaster for the Quality & Productivity Section of the American Statistical Association. He was elected to serve as Chair-Elect and Chair of the same section in 2009-2010. His involvement with statistics has transferred to the community by acting as mentor to local high school teachers through the Philadelphia Area Statistics Teachers Association (PASTA).

All of his interests and hobbies include water: fresh-water fly fishing and tying flies, aquaculture, home brewing and canoeing. About five years ago, Bailey started developing his photography to an advanced level, toward fine art. Family time comes first, however, with his wife and two teenage children.

A favorite JMP instructor, Bailey has been known to "stay after class" for individual students more than once to help with a project or further explain the details of a course. "He took the extra time and effort to work one-on-one with me, assuring that I felt comfortable utilizing the software to reap its full benefit," said Dr. Andrei A. Zlota, Principal Process Engineer for chemical process research and development at Sepracor, Inc. Others described him as "enthusiastic and knowledgeable, particularly about DOE and scripting," "more than willing to answer questions," "well-organized," "clever, enthusiastic," and "witty and easy-going."

Monica Beals, SAS Education Instructor

Monica Beals earned a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology and a master’s in statistics from the University of Tennessee. She has a bachelor’s in biology from Earlham College. Before joining SAS, Beals taught as a lecturer and biology laboratory instructor for the University of Tennessee. She also had a two-year research assistantship at the university for a project aimed at increasing undergraduate mathematical literacy through the biology curriculum, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Beals began using JMP in 2001 and joined SAS as a Statistical Training Specialist in July of 2007. In the future, she hopes to assist with developing training materials for JMP Genomics courses. In evaluations, students have stated that Beals is “knowledgeable and personable” and that she makes learning about JMP and statistics “fun.”

In her free time, Beals enjoys hiking in the woods with her two dogs, gourmet cooking, running and starting knitting projects. Born in Wisconsin, she has also lived in Iowa, California, Indiana, Oregon and Tennessee. Monica now calls North Carolina home.

Tom Donnelly, JMP Principal Customer Advocate

Tom Donnelly works as a Principal Customer Advocate in the JMP division of SAS. A physicist by training, he found his true calling in the field of design of experiments (DOE). For the past 25 years he has used DOE methods in industry and for the military to develop and optimize products, processes and technologies.

Donnelly joined JMP in 2008 after working as an analyst for the Modeling Simulation and Analysis Branch of the US Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. There, he helped develop and evaluate technologies for detection, protection and decontamination of chemical and biological agents.

Earlier, Donnelly was Technical Director and partner in ECHIP, a DOE software company and an early proponent of algorithmic design solutions to real-world DOE problems. He began his industrial career as a Principal Engineer at Honeywell, where he helped colleagues improve semiconductor, automotive, plastic and sensor technologies.

Donnelly earned a PhD in physics from the University of Delaware and was a postdoctoral fellow at the university’s Institute of Energy Conversion. He and his wife, Trevor Saunders, live in Newark, DE, with their son, Sam.

Sam Gardner, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Sam Gardner joined SAS as a JMP Systems Engineer in November 2008. Previously, he worked for seven years with Eli Lilly and Company, first as a statistician in pharmaceutical manufacturing and manufacturing development, and later as a process chemist in antibiotic manufacturing.  Earlier, Gardner served for 12 years as an active-duty US Air Force officer, with various roles in weapons systems modeling and simulation, operational flight testing, academics (as an instructor of statistics at the Air Force Institute of Technology) and in visual display systems research.  He has been a JMP user and advocate since 1996.

Gardner lives with his wife and four children in Lafayette, IN, and enjoys board games (serious board games…not Monopoly!) and fishing for bass in the creek behind his home. He holds a master’s degree in mathematics from Creighton University and a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Kentucky. Gardner graduated from Purdue University with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and chemistry.

Dara Hammond, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Dara Hammond is a JMP Systems Engineer at SAS, concentrating on federal government applications. Prior to joining SAS, she worked for three years with the US Census Bureau as a mathematical statistician and computer specialist. She worked for seven years in business development in the Government Operations Division of SAS, where her primary focus was on the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Hammond is always ready for adventure travel and a variety of athletic pursuits, especially swimming, biking, running and kayaking. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and in sociology from Vanderbilt University.

Jami Hampton, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Jami Hampton is a Systems Engineer for JMP. Throughout her career, data analysis has been a major function in her jobs. Before joining JMP, she worked as a software system engineer in the semiconductor industry, performing presales technical support as well as software consulting, implementation and training. Previously, Hampton worked for six years as a programmer/analyst in the semiconductor industry. After college, Hampton worked for two years in microbiology research and then for six years as an analytical chemist at Pepsi.

Hampton lives on a ranch, where she raises cattle and breeds quarter horses. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and chemistry and has also completed graduate courses in computer science.

Jeff Hawes, JMP Account Manager – Canada, SAS

Jeff Hawes is a Systems Engineer at JMP. After joining SAS in 2002, he worked in the manufacturing and services area, designing SAS solutions for warranty, quality and supply chain applications. Earlier in his career, he was a Solution Consultant at i2 Technologies, delivering supply chain optimization solutions to customers in the automotive industry. He also worked for Parametric Technologies, where he focused on management of product data and engineering processes. Hawes also has experience in implementations of enterprise resource planning, health care clinical systems and manufacturing planning systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and an MBA from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Laura Higgins, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Laura Higgins is a JMP Systems Engineer. Before joining SAS in 2008, Higgins worked as an ontology engineer for Ingenuity Systems, makers of IPA genomic analysis software. Previously, she was in basic research in biology for 15 years. She has used JMP for research for the last 10 years. Her most recent research was at NASA Ames Research Center with genomic analysis. Higgins’ statistical background includes multivariate statistics, genomic data analysis, and experimental design for quantitative genetic and genomic experiments. Her current responsibilities include conducting interviews with customers to help solve acute problems and help them discover hidden opportunities that are present in their data.

Higgins received her PhD in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, investigating population genetic questions. She earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Purdue University.

Valerie Hyde, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Valerie Hyde is a Systems Engineer for JMP. She is passionate about data visualization and using analytics to help companies make better business decisions. Before joining SAS, she worked for Accenture in the Marketing Science group and at AT&T Research on a project to model the effectiveness of viral marketing on a direct mail campaign. She has also performed econometric modeling for the US Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, the US Census Bureau and MiCRA Inc., a boutique consulting company.

Valerie earned a PhD in applied mathematics and statistics from the University of Maryland. Her research, which has been published in The American Statistician and Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, focused on mining online auction data for patterns in the price process. She also has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Binghamton University.

Mary Loveless, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Mary Loveless is a JMP Systems Engineer at SAS. With more than 25 years of experience in the computer software industry, her skills range from project management to post sales support, including the areas of application and training.

Prior to joining JMP, Loveless worked in the Molecular Imaging Department of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).  She contributed in both a clinical and research capacity, focusing on the effects of different drug treatments on Alzheimer’s and respiratory diseases.

Loveless has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Northeastern University.

Aashish Majethia, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Aashish Majethia is a JMP Systems Engineer. Before joining SAS, he worked in business development, engineering and the life sciences. At Raytheon, he developed models and ran simulations of various radar systems. His research experiences span pulmonary physiology, BioMEMS and medical imaging. Majethia earned a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Paul Marovich, SAS Education Instructor

Students have compared Paul Marovich to Mick Jagger and Robin Williams, not for his tight pants or his comedic impersonations of John Wayne, but for his personality in the classroom. "I admittedly have an animated teaching style," says Marovich, who teaches statistics using SAS and JMP. "I’m sure some people had a boring professor during their college career; I want to be the antithesis of that educator."

Marovich has been known to tell a bad joke or two in his classes ("That was two-thirds of a pun — P-U!"), but he has a serious background to support his teaching. He came to SAS in 1996 with a master’s in statistical computing from the University of Central Florida (UCF) where he taught statistics briefly after graduating and before he went on to work for Lockheed Martin. At Lockheed he wrote PL/I, CLIST and SAS programs for nearly 12 years. Marovich has gained 25 years of experience using SAS and has been teaching JMP since 1999.

Marovich’s favorite aspect of teaching SAS courses is sharing his love of statistics. "I enjoy teaching the simple things," he says, naming them. Descriptive statistics. The basics of hypothesis testing and rudimentary modeling. "As powerful as some of the statistical methods are, 99.999% of analyses start with examining your data using descriptive statistics and graphs."

His entertaining delivery, knowledge and experience are a proven combination. "Paul is a well-informed and entertaining instructor," said one student. "Best teacher I ever had," said another. "Great examples, wonderful handouts and very good stories made a dry subject exciting."

Marovich resides in Cary, NC with his wife Pam, their son Tyler, and his miniature, long-haired Dachshund, Moose. He is an avid recycler and gardener and prefers Jimmy Buffett and Vivaldi over the Rolling Stones.

Don McCormack, JMP Principal Customer Advocate, SAS

Don McCormack is a Principal Customer Advocate for JMP, a business unit of SAS that specializes in data visualization software.

A practicing statistician for the last 15 years, McCormack came to JMP from Amgen, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies, where he was a senior quality engineer. Earlier, he worked at SEMATECH, a semiconductor research and development consortium, where he was a member of the technical staff. He has a strong interest in applied statistics, design of experiments and training delivery in an industrial setting.

McCormack is actively involved in the statistical community, holding the position of program chair for the Quality and Productivity Section of the American Statistical Association. He has authored or co-authored articles in Quality Engineering, Technometrics and Semiconductor International.

McCormack holds master’s degrees in education and statistics from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition, he has completed approximately 90 hours of course work in statistics and operations research beyond the master’s level.

Heath Rushing, JMP Training Program Manager, SAS

A former professor from the Air Force Academy, Heath Rushing holds a master’s degree in Operations Research from the Air Force Institute of Technology and has used JMP since 2001. After teaching at the Academy, Rushing was a quality engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt in both biopharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D where he designed and delivered training material in Six Sigma, statistical process control (SPC), design of experiments (DOE) and measurement systems analysis (MSA) using JMP. In addition, he has been a symposium speaker at both national and international pharmaceutical and medical device conferences. Rushing is an American Society of Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer. He is a triathlete, an avid skier and loves to travel. He resides in Raleigh with his Weimaraner, Newby, named after female triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser. Heath is the Program Manager for both Six Sigma and Performance Excellence by SAS and JMP Training.

Laura Ryan, SAS Education Instructor

From the time she was in the third grade, Laura Ryan knew she wanted to be a teacher. After receiving a bachelor’s in mathematics and in Spanish from Davidson College and a master’s in math education from Duke University, Ryan began her career teaching high school statistics. It was there that she was first introduced to JMP and realized that she wanted to further her education in statistics.

Ryan decided to go back to school for a master’s in applied statistics from the University of Alabama. Ryan had always heard that SAS was a great place to work, so when she and her husband relocated near SAS headquarters in Cary, NC, becoming a JMP instructor was the perfect fit.

"Being a JMP instructor is the perfect combination of statistics and teaching," says Ryan. "I enjoy the interaction with students and the contributions that I can make to the JMP curriculum."

Students recognize Ryan’s love for teaching and her expertise in the field. One student said, "Laura taught the class with vigor and seemed to really enjoy teaching the material." Another student raved, "Laura is a very knowledgeable and personable instructor. She has an excellent way of conveying information in a logical and structured way. She is very motivated and motivating."

In her spare time, Ryan enjoys working in the yard, reading, sewing, hiking and traveling with her husband. She is also active in the Philanthropic and Education Organization, which promotes educational opportunities for women. Ryan grew up in Alabama, has three older brothers and is fluent in Spanish.

Louis Valente, Six Sigma Product Manager, SAS

Louis Valente is Six Sigma Product Manager for JMP, a business unit of SAS specializing in statistical discovery software.

Before joining JMP in 2006, he worked for Eastman Kodak Company for 28 years. As a development chemist, he commercialized numerous chemical processes that were responsible for the production of metric ton quantities of imaging chemicals and intermediates. From 2000 to 2006, he was the Global Imaging Chemicals Quality Manager. In that position, he was responsible for the quality system of the Synthetic Chemicals Division, which manufactures more than 850 chemicals with a value of more than US$200 million.

Valente is a Six Sigma Black Belt whose expertise is in applying the design of experiments (DOE) methodology to ensure robust manufacturing methods. While at Kodak, he served as a corporate consultant and advocate for the DOE approach to experimentation.

Mike Vorburger, JMP Systems Engineer, SAS

Mike Vorburger is a Systems Engineer at JMP. Before joining SAS, he worked for seven years with the nonprofit research organization RTI International as a research statistician and SAS programmer. At RTI, he specialized in the analysis of complex survey data and ad hoc rapid analyses, with a focus on public health, environmental and education studies. His major clients were within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Vorburger has a Bachelor of Science degree in statistics, with a minor in economics, from North Carolina State University.