Lines from Layla
Layla Parast writes: Fall is the time for apples, pumpkin spice, crunching leaves, and—for me—freshmen. Some people strongly dislike teaching freshmen, but I love it. I feel like a summer camp counselor again, except that this time I don’t have to worry about kids being pushed in pools or whacked…

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Layla Parast, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has come up with a new way of working (or deep-working) with her PhD students. She writes: Have you ever had one of those days where you’ve worked all day, responding…

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Layla Parast writes: A few years ago, my dad had a heart attack. (He continues to claim it was just a “discomfort.”) When he was in the emergency room, his doctor told him he needed heart surgery right away. My dad had never had a major surgery and had no…

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Contributing Editor Layla Parast is aiming for excellence…by being medium-good: A few years ago, Netflix recommended to me a documentary called “Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness,” which was about the 2017 CrossFit Games. I knew what CrossFit was—it involved running around carrying balls and kettlebells and lots of…

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Layla Parast has learned a hard lesson: Summer is my favorite time of year. To me, summer means watermelon, pools, and the smell of sunscreen and mosquito repellent. My favorite, well-known example explaining how correlation is not causation involves summer: the numbers show that ice cream sales and shark attacks…

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