When Karan Kumar began his MPH studies at the University of Illinois, Springfield, he saw an opportunity to build something that didn’t exist: an ASA student chapter. Since founding the chapter, Kumar has helped organize campuswide outreach and hands-on learning opportunities, with two workshops and a webinar planned for this fall.
Starting a new chapter can be intimidating, so we talked with him about what inspired him to get started and what he learned along the way. We also asked his advice for students interested in starting their own ASA student chapter.
Why Start a Chapter
Was there a particular event or need that prompted you to start an ASA student chapter?
When I started at UIS, I loved the program, but I felt like something was missing. Public health is such a data-driven field now, and I noticed we had a lot of theoretical knowledge but not enough practical, hands-on data skills. I talked about this with my adviser, Yu-Sheng Lee, and in April 2025, he took me on as a research assistant, and I started working with him on a study using a US Food and Drug Administration dataset of about 29 million patient records. That work really sharpened my SAS and data skills, and around that same time I came across research showing that people with an MPH background and SAS skills have significantly better job prospects. That got me looking into the American Statistical Association, and I noticed UIUC and UIC both had ASA student chapters—UIS didn’t. I’d also seen classmates struggling with the statistics side of our coursework. I brought the idea to Lee, he was supportive, and we started the process in January 2026 to launch UIS’s first ASA student chapter.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting the chapter started?
Honestly, it was the internal UIS approval process; registering a new student organization is a long, detailed process. Part of it required completing leadership training specifically for officers taking on a leadership position, which takes real time and effort on top of everything else. It was a contrast to the ASA side. Nationally, the ASA just needs a signed document from the president and the name of a faculty adviser to approve a new chapter. The university side was the slower, more involved part.
What has surprised you most about the response from students?
Honestly, the turnout for our first SAS workshop was in March. We expected around 15 students to sign up, and 25 showed up wanting to learn it. It told us there was a real appetite for this kind of hands-on training that just hadn’t had an outlet before.
What do you hope the chapter will give students that they are not already getting on campus?
Practical, applied skills to go with the theory—but also real opportunities that come with being connected to a national organization. Through the ASA, students can submit their research to publications like CHANCE and Significance magazines, and there’s networking at the Joint Statistical Meetings, plus access to online learning and career resources they wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s not just about running statistics workshops—it’s about opening doors.
Learning Curve
How has starting the chapter changed the way you think about statistics or your own future in public health?
It made me think about statistics less as a required course and more as the actual foundation of good public health work. Building the chapter alongside my research and my public health work has shown me how much stronger the outcomes are when people are genuinely comfortable with data, not just familiar with it.
What has been your favorite chapter activity so far and why?
The SAS workshop in March. I organized everything from getting it approved to setting up the classroom, and seeing 25 students show up ready to learn—more than we expected—made all that effort worth it.
You organized a campus-wide outreach event in which chapter officers staffed a table in the student union. What did you learn from talking with students who stopped by?
Once students understood what ASA membership could offer them—the career opportunities, the chance to build real skills, the national network—they got genuinely excited and wanted to join on the spot. It confirmed for me that students aren’t short on interest; they just hadn’t had someone lay out what a chapter like this could do for their future.
Are there skills or topics students have told you they’d like the chapter to explore?
Yes, that’s part of why we’re expanding this fall. We’ve reserved 30 seats (up from our original numbers) for an R programming workshop and another SAS workshop, and we’re hoping to reach even more, maybe 50 students. We’re also planning a webinar on environmental statistics—how environmental data and statistics connect, which ties into my own focus on environmental health.
Advice
What do you recommend students do first? Find interested students, find a faculty mentor, contact the ASA, or something else?
Start with your school’s approval process and reach out to the ASA directly—they’ll guide you through the whole process. But the real requirement underneath all of that is finding students who are genuinely interested in statistics; the formal steps are straightforward once you have that.
What would you say to a student who wants to start a chapter but isn’t sure anyone will participate?
I’d tell them what happened to us. We expected 15 people for our first workshop and got 25. There’s more interest out there than you’d think; you just must give students the opportunity.
What aspects of building a chapter are you most proud of so far?
Honestly, the respect and support we’ve gotten from both UIS and the ASA. Being trusted to build something new, from the ground up, and having it genuinely welcomed by students and by the ASA nationally has meant a lot.
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