We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.
The Tempest, William Shakespeare

I retired in 2023 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after more than 40 years of academic success in stats and data science ¹. My next direction will be an inspired mix of personal interests and intellectual pursuits.

I am continuing some aspects of my prior research activity, which fall broadly in the realm of systems thinking. I collaborate to empower others to develop useful insights from their data. One way I have done this is to develop software projects, largely as packages in the R language. I am moving into a phase of less coding and more advising of collaborators to leverage existing tools in new ways.

Through a series of coincidences, I have become involved in environmental data science, with particular attention to the needs and creative insights coming out of Indigenous communities about data science and sovereignty. We all need to work together to address pressing challenges of climate change, and I am learning my path in this realm.

Naturally, retirement is a time to reflect on my life and upbringing. I was inspired by creative parents–my father as a doctor, scientist and humanist, and my mother as a child actress, world traveller and artist–and see that creative blend in my life and in those of my siblings.

• Systems Thinking
• Environmental Data Science
• Personal Reflections
• Collaboration
• Software Projects