Rohan Alexander -

What data science can learn from the James Webb Space Telescope

A talk at the Statistics and MachIne LEarning (SMILE) Journal Club.

Rohan Alexander

On the privilege of turning our world into data

A talk at the ‘Young Irish Statisticians’ group.

Rohan Alexander

The average age of politicians in the Australian Federal Parliament (1901-2021)

I examine the average age of politicians in the Australian Federal Parliament on a daily basis. Using a publicly available dataset I find that generally the Senate is older than the House of Representatives. The average age increased from Federation in 1901 through to 1949, when an expansion of the parliament’s size likely brought many new politicians. I am unable to explain a sustained decline that occurred during the 1970s. From the 1980s onward there has been a gradual aging of both houses.

Rohan Alexander

Review of ‘Data Science: A First Introduction’

A brief review of ‘Data Science: A First Introduction’ by Tiffany-Anne Timbers, Trevor Campbell, and Melissa Lee.

Rohan Alexander

Remarks at Trinity College

Introductory remarks delivered at Trinity College High Table panel on data science at the University of Toronto on 19 October 2021.

Rohan Alexander

Introduction to Andrew Gelman

Introductory remarks about Andrew Gelman delivered at the University of Toronto Data Sciences Institute (DSI) launch on 17 September 2021.

Rohan Alexander

Turning our world into data

A talk delivered at the Harvard Biostatistics Data Science in Action Summer Camp, 7 July 2021, organised by Jesse Gronsbell.

Rohan Alexander

Opportunities Provided by Open Data and Reproducibility

Some thoughts on getting started with open data and reproducibility. A talk delivered at the University of Toronto, Stellar Stats Workshop, 28 May 2021, organised by Gwen Eadie & Josh Speagle.

Rohan Alexander

On work-life balance

Some thoughts on work-life balance as a PhD student and junior faculty and how that changes over time. A talk delivered to the University of Toronto Faculty of Information ‘How to get a PhD’ session on work-life balance.

Rohan Alexander

In Appreciation of Greg Wilson

As he moves on from his role at R Studio Education, a few words of appreciation for Greg Wilson.

Rohan Alexander

Saturday morning thoughts on grad school applications

There’s a huge amount of luck involved. Worry as much, if not more, about letters and your personal statement as you do about your GPA. Have a clear reason for wanting to go to the school/program that you’re applying for and communicate that throughout your application.

Rohan Alexander

Cleaning Hansard: The pay’s not great but the work is hard

Cleaning the Australian Hansard is mind-numbing, annoying and time-consuming, but someone has to do it.

Rohan Alexander

The SQL Is Never As Good As The Original

SQL is a popular way of working with data. Advanced users probably do a lot with it alone, but even just having a working knowledge of SQL has increased the number of datasets that I can get data from to then analyse with other tools such as R or Python. You can use SQL within RStudio if you want. The following are a few notes to help future-Rohan when he needs to use SQL. A worked example with a sample of the Hansard data will be included in a future post.

Rohan Alexander

Mapping the 2016 Australian Election Polling Place Results

The note that follows introduces Australia’s political system, and then details the process of downloading and merging first-preference votes by polling place, and then plotting it on an interactive map.

Rohan Alexander

Trump, Revisited

Donald Trump is an improved politician, but it’s unlikely to be enough. He has harnessed fervent anti-Clinton sentiment amongst Republicans. But he does not have time to build the coalitions usually needed to win a US presidential election.

Rohan Alexander

Notes and Photos From Iowa

Bernie Sanders seems quite reasonable for a revolutionary. An energetic man of 74, he spoke for an hour in Perry, Iowa, to a room of 300 from only a few lines of handwritten notes, and then fielded half an hour of questions. He does not have the same aura that surrounded, then, Senator Obama in his own Iowa battle with, then, Senator Clinton in 2008 say those who saw both. Instead, Sanders has preternatural calm.

Rohan Alexander

Prepare For Future Economic Crises Now

Few policymakers were prepared for the financial crisis of 2007-08. Until it hit, their focus was on more obvious threats to the economy, instead of such an unexpected event. Could this be because planning for unexpected economic events is not the explicit responsibility of any particular policy-maker? If so, this has to change.

Rohan Alexander

Plastic Policies

There is broad agreement that Australian plastic bag consumption should be reduced. To this end, recent South Australian legislation has banned certain types of plastic bags. But other states wishing to reduce their plastic bag consumption may find a tax rather than a ban the more appropriate policy instrument.

Rohan Alexander, Flavio Menezes