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Talithia  Williams

Talithia Williams

Big Data Expert, Math Professor & Host of NOVA Wonders

Talithia Williams

Big Data Expert, Math Professor & Host of NOVA Wonders

Biography

Statistician Talithia Williams is an innovative, award-winning college professor, a co-host of the PBS NOVA series NOVA Wonders and a speaker whose popular TED Talk, “Own Your Body’s Data”, extols the value of statistics in quantifying personal health information. She demystifies the mathematical process in amusing and insightful ways to excite students, parents, educators and the larger community about STEM education and its possibilities.

In 2015, she won the Mathematical Association of America’s Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member, which honors faculty members whose teaching is effective and extraordinary, and extends its influence beyond the classroom. It is this excellence that attracted the attention of online educational company The Great Courses, which selected Williams to produce “Learning Statistics: Concepts and Applications in R,” a series of lectures in which she provides tools to evaluate statistical data and determine if it’s used appropriately.

She is the author of Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics, a full-color book highlighting the influence of women in the mathematical sciences in the last two millennia and has narrated several science documentary films including; Hindenburg: The New Evidence, Our Beautiful Planet, Secrets in our DNA, and the joint BBC and NOVA 5-part series, The Universe Revealed.

Williams is a proud graduate of Spelman College (B.A., mathematics), Howard University (M.S., mathematics) and Rice University (M.A., Ph.D., statistics). Her research involves developing statistical models that emphasize the spatial and temporal structure of data and applying them to problems in the environment. She’s worked at NASA, National Security Agency and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has partnered with the World Health Organization on research regarding cataract surgical rates in African countries.

Faith and family round out a busy life that she shares with her husband and three amazing boys. Through her research and work in the community at large, she is helping change the collective mindset regarding STEM in general and math in particular, rebranding the field of mathematics as anything but dry, technical or male-dominated but, instead, a logical, productive career path that is crucial to the future of the country.

Speaker Videos

Meet Talithia Williams

Dr. Talithia Williams: Creating Culturally Inclusive Classrooms

TEDTalk: Own Your Body's Data

A Mathematical Mindset: Mitigating America’s Achievement Gap

STEMPowerment

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: The Misapplication of Statistics in Everyday Life

Equity and Social Justice in Education

Access and Equity Solutions

Speech Topics

The STEM Mindset: Creating the Future Generation

Recognized for her innovative teaching and inspiring outreach to promote the power of a STEM education, Williams shares how to cultivate the STEM mindset, effectively aiding students, parents, and educators in seeing themselves as future scientists and engineers. Employing the rousing and highly informative speaking style of her hit Ted Talk "Own Your Body's Data," Williams shows how much STEM affects our daily lives — and how numbers can leap off a page or screen, infuse us and our surroundings, and help us better understand and actively engage the world in which we live.

Bringing Diversity to STEM: A Lesson in Disruptive Innovation

Meeting the demands of a 21st century STEM workforce requires that we look beyond traditional talent pools to recruit and train individuals typically underrepresented in math, science and engineering. Noted for her work in STEM outreach, Dr. Williams explores how disruptive innovation can motivate girls of color and other underrepresented groups to embrace technology, become open to pursuing STEM degrees, and envision themselves as future STEM leaders. By challenging the status quo, we allow for ongoing innovative contributions to our society and the world in general.

Becoming an Agent of Change for Inclusive Education

K-12 systems and college campuses are microcosms of our increasingly diverse society. We must all respond appropriately and sensitively to this diversity, work diligently to close achievement gaps, and become inclusive agents of change. In this lively, interactive presentation using role playing and case studies, Dr. Williams proposes solutions to equity and diversity issues that include deploying data to make unbiased decisions. Taking on a challenging issue with humor and valuable insights, Dr. Williams inspires educators to become change agents that ensure that our educational institutions remain welcoming and supportive of future generations of students.

Innovative Technology: Engaging Students in Mathematics

When it comes to inspiring the future productivity and innovation of our nation, educators are the on the front lines. Mathematical learning experiences that incorporate real world data are important tools for student learning and improve student retention of course material. In this talk, Dr. Williams discusses how we can incorporate innovative technology, along with best practices in and out of the classroom to better facilitate teaching and learning while also mitigating the mathematics achievement gap.  Through the use of technology and data analytics within the classroom, we can connect students to mathematical ideas in rich and meaningful ways, giving rise to their success in mathematics and beyond.

Using Data-informed Decisions to Drive Student Success in Higher Ed

The college experience thrives on relationships. Administrators, staff and faculty frequently make tough decisions that can have an incredible impact on our student’s lives. But, what data should our campus community have access to? And how can data be used effectively to shape the student experience, whether at community colleges, private liberal arts, public or research universities? In this talk, we’ll explore the changing culture of higher education data analytics and discuss effective techniques for engaging campus constituencies.

Personal Health Data Mining: The Empowered Patient

Dr. Williams makes a compelling case that healthcare providers should encourage patients to measure and record simple data about their bodies daily. Based upon her hit TED Talk, “Own Your Body’s Data,” Dr. Williams shares how patients should be monitoring their personal data by using both everyday technologies and high-tech wearables. With these devices, healthcare consumers can easily quantify everything from heart rate and sleep patterns to body temperature and fertility. However, what is the average patient to do with the massive amounts of data being collected? Dr. Williams believes empowered patients sharing this information with their healthcare providers not only strengthens doctor-patient dialog, but also enhances patient outcomes.

Data Driven Strategies for Eliminating Health Disparities

When considering factors such as race, gender, income and geography, various U.S. populations face higher rates of disease and mortality. In spite continuing efforts to reduce health disparities, they remain a persistent challenge in our communities. However, using a data driven approach to target these populations will help to develop interventions and track progress over time. In this talk, Dr. Williams discusses how data is essential for understanding social determinants of health and provides suggestions for improvement.

Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics

From rocket scientists and code breakers to computer programmers and data scientists, discover the incredibly inspiring stories of more than 30 women who fought through the obstacles, shattered the stereotypes, and embraced their STEM passions. Loaded with more than 200 photos and original interviews with several amazing women in mathematics, this is your chance to be moved, to be inspired, and to celebrate the women who have turned the male-dominated math world upside down!

Empowered Leadership: Crafting the Soundtrack for Innovative Success

Main talking points:

Building a Collaborative Culture

Williams discusses the importance of collaboration in driving innovation and shares insights into creating an environment where teachers, administrators, and students work together effectively. She emphasizes the role of risk-taking in educational innovation and shares an example from her own experience where stepping out of comfort zones led to improved results. She offers actionable tips for creating a safe space for experimentation and learning from failures.

Educator Wellness: The Foundation of Effective Leadership

Williams highlights the critical role of self-care in sustaining passion and effectiveness in education. She discusses the correlation between educator wellness and student success, reinforcing why wellness should be a priority. 

Leading with Passion and Purpose

Williams provides some guidance on developing and articulating a clear vision for educational transformation. She discusses how a strong sense of purpose can drive both personal and collective commitment from students, parents, teachers and administrators. She offers some strategies for keeping the sense of purpose vibrant and engaging despite challenges.

Testimonials