{"62377":{"#nid":"62377","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Kobi Abayomi Interviewed in The Whistle","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Kobi Abayomi [assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering] set foot on Georgia Tech\u2019s campus as an\nunder\u0026shy;graduate, he was thinking about how to land a job that involved cars \u2014\nnot about becoming a statistician. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAbayomi\nstarted off as a physics major but soon realized that the curriculum wasn\u2019t for\nhim. After visiting an optometrist who had a really nice car, Abayomi decided\nto try his hand at optometry. \u201cStatistics was a prerequisite for the program,\nand I loved it,\u201d he added. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOver\nthe years, Abayomi\u2019s inter\u0026shy;est in statistics continued to grow, and he now\nholds a master\u2019s, master\u2019s of philosophy, and a Ph.D. in Probability and\nStatistics from Columbia University. \u0026nbsp;Abayomi\nhas also held positions as a visit\u0026shy;ing professor at Duke University and as a\nvis\u0026shy;iting fellow at Stanford University. These days, he is an assistant\nprofessor in the statistics group at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial\nand Systems Engineering. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Recently,\n\u003Cem\u003EThe Whistle\u003C\/em\u003E sat down with Abayomi for\na conversation about research, teaching, and his favorite lunch spot. Here\u2019s\nwhat he shared: \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EExplain\nyour research in statistics in one sentence\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI work with data\nthat doesn\u2019t match the bell curve and focus on a lot of sustainability-related\nissues. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ETell\nme about your current research.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019m\nanalyzing data related to environmental hazards and what areas of the world are\nmost vulnerable. I\u2019m\nalso collaborating with people at Georgia State University\u2019s Law School and the\nGeorgia Innocence Project to determine factors that can identify the wrongfully\ncon\u0026shy;victed. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\nis your greatest challenge when it comes to teaching, and how have you dealt\nwith it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI\nfeel like I want to teach to the student that I was. But, I\u2019ve realized that\neveryone doesn\u2019t learn the same way, and everyone doesn\u2019t have the same goals\nas I did (i.e., they don\u2019t want to go to graduate school). \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EA\nfew things I\u2019ve done to address this issue is I\u2019ve tried to slow down how\nquickly I go through the course material. I also try to be very clear about\nwhat information will be covered on tests, so students know what they should be\nstudying. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWho\nare your teaching mentors? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMaria\nMontessori because she wrote about student self-determination, and Andrew\nGelman because he taught me a few tricks for teaching statistics.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\nis your teaching philosophy? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI\nwouldn\u2019t assign grades if I didn\u2019t have to. The whole point of grading and\ntesting is to get students to engage themselves in study. The best classes\noccur after tests when every\u0026shy;one has spent time learning the material. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\nis one thing all faculty and staff should do while working at Tech? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESwim\nin the Olympic Pool at the Campus Recreation Center and the pool at the Georgia\nTech Hotel and Conference Center. They\u2019re both impressive.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere\u2019s\nthe best place to grab lunch (on or off campus), and what do you order? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESpoon.\nI like to order tofu pad king. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ETell\nus something unusual about yourself. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI\nhave Siberian huskies named \u201cSasha\u201d and \u201cTrooper\u201d that I rescued using the\nwebsite \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.petfinder.com\u0022\u003Ewww.petfinder.com\u003C\/a\u003E. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EIf\nyou weren\u2019t in your current line of work, what would you be doing? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019d\nbe living in Encinitas, California, and I\u2019d have a performance shop where I would\nchange automatic transmissions to manual\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\n\n\u003Cem\u003EAmelia Pavlik, new editor for The Whistle,\nauthored this article, which appeared in the October 25, 2010 issue.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Kobi Abayomi set foot on Georgia Tech\u2019s \ncampus as an\nunder\u0026shy;graduate, he was thinking about how to land a job that involved \ncars \u2014\nnot about becoming a statistician. Abayomi\nstarted off as a physics major but soon realized that the curriculum wasn\u2019t for\nhim. After visiting an optometrist who had a really nice car, Abayomi decided\nto try his hand at optometry. \u201cStatistics was a prerequisite for the program,\nand I loved it,\u201d he added.\u0026nbsp; He now\nholds a master\u2019s, master\u2019s of philosophy, and a Ph.D. in Probability and\nStatistics from Columbia University. Read more about this ISyE assistant professor. \u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Kobi Abayomi Interviewed in The Whistle"}],"uid":"27328","created_gmt":"2010-10-27 11:32:56","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:38","author":"Edie Cohen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"62378":{"id":"62378","type":"image","title":"Kobi Abayomi","body":null,"created":"1449176369","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:29","changed":"1475894541","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:21","alt":"Kobi Abayomi","file":{"fid":"191459","name":"09C3051-P1-001.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/09C3051-P1-001_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/09C3051-P1-001_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1341211,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/09C3051-P1-001_0.jpg?itok=GwwEIk49"}}},"media_ids":["62378"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"11074","name":"Kobi Abayomi"},{"id":"11075","name":"The Whistle"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara \nChristopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}