The Applied Biostatistical Sciences (ABS) Network is hosting a lecture on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 12 p.m.–1 p.m. Dr. Patricia Coleman-Burns will talk about “Garbage In, Garbage Out – What Are We Measuring?”.
Flawed input data produces nonsense output. Can data inputs be biased against certain groups? How is the validity of predictive analytics and statistical analysis in data science platforms compromised by what we measure and how we measure? How have pseudo-scientific descriptions of race, gender, underrepresented minorities, etc. compromised our data input? Does acknowledging genetic ancestry, skin tones, diversity within traditional categories, cultures, etc. offer more examples, more data points into machines that learn by example? As we prepare ourselves to engage in the AI- revolution, what data are we feeding the algorithms? How should the next phase of analytics be informed by DEI? Does DEI — i.e., who is included, what is included, and how is it included – make a difference in how AI input is determined, and, what, in fact we are measuring?
![](https://michr.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/colemanburns_patricia-22.jpg)
Patricia W. Coleman-Burns, PhD, MA
About the speaker
Dr. Patricia Coleman-Burns is a University of Michigan Assistant Professor Emerita of Nursing and affiliated faculty in DAAS. She was appointed by former Dean of the U-M School of Nursing Rhetaugh Dumas in 1991 as director of the Office of Minority Affairs; and trended renaming administrative centers as “Offices of Multicultural Affairs”.
She founded the GENESIS Projects (1999–2011), creating “peer facilitated study groups” and residential bootcamps for the recruitment and retention of persons from economically and educationally disadvantaged populations into nursingA long-time advocate for the right of all persons, and specifically women and their children, to be free from gender oppression, age discrimination, sexism, racism, and domestic violence, she has served as President of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Justice Center in Detroit and Member (1989-1994), Board of Directors and Executive Board, Washtenaw County SafeHouse Center, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Prevention and Crisis Services, Ann Arbor, MI. (2011-2017).
Her scholarship focuses on intersecting identities across safe policing, social justice, health equity, social determinants of health, and health promotion and disease prevention. She conducts workshops on anti-racism and anti-Blackness narratives & schemas; microaggressions across intra-personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural domains; and “accomplices & co-conspirator” interventions.
We hope you can join us. Wednesday, September 20, 2023
12 p.m.–1 p.m. Virtual Event
If you are an ABS Network member, you will receive a calendar invitation. If you are not an ABS Network member, please register here.
Join ABS Network here.