Episode 5

Roger Peng: Sustaining data science — in classrooms, code, and conversations

Michael, Hadley, and Wes welcome Roger Peng, professor of statistics and data science at UT Austin and co-host of Not So Standard Deviations. Together they trace Roger’s journey from early R adopter to pioneering online educator and prolific podcaster. The conversation ranges from the accidental rise of “data science” as a field, to the tension between research papers and software maintenance, to what makes for meaningful, lasting creative work.

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EPISODE NOTES

This episode is about more than methods — it’s about endurance, curiosity, and the conversations that carry data science forward.

    What's Inside:
  • Roger’s first analysis project and what it taught him about authorship and data
  • Roger’s advice for students testing the waters in data science
  • Why software has become the unifying language of modern statistics
  • The origins of “data science” as a field and a label
  • Reflections on Coursera, MOOCs, and opening education to the world
  • What keeps a podcast (and a career) going strong after a decade-plus

HOSTS & GUESTS

Michael Chow

Principal Software Engineer, Posit

Michael Chow

Hadley Wickman

Chief Scientist, Posit

Hadley Wickham

Wes McKinney

Principal Architect, Posit

Wes McKinney