Kimberly Weems facts for kids

Kimberly Sherrille Weems is an American statistician and a professor. She teaches statistics at North Carolina Central University. Dr. Weems is well-known for helping and guiding young women and people from groups who are not often seen in statistics. She encourages them to study statistics further.

Dr. Weems also studies things like count data (which is about counting how many times something happens) and statistical dispersion (which is about how spread out data is). In 2019, she was honored by a group called Mathematically Gifted & Black during Black History Month.

Early Life and Education

Kimberly Sherrille Weems grew up in Cartersville, Georgia. Her mother was a schoolteacher. She is African-American.

She went to Spelman College for her university studies. There, she focused on mathematics and also studied Spanish. She became very interested in statistics because of a mentor named Nagambal Shah. A mentor is someone who guides and advises you.

In 2000, Dr. Weems earned her Ph.D. (a very high university degree) in applied mathematics. She got this degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She was one of the first three African-American women to earn this degree from that university. Her main research for her Ph.D. was about making sure statistical models work well, even if the data is a bit messy.

Career and Mentorship

After finishing her studies, Dr. Weems worked at the National Security Agency for a short time. She also did research at North Carolina State University. Later, she became a professor at North Carolina State University. In 2015, she moved to North Carolina Central University, where she is now an associate professor.

Dr. Weems believes in helping others. She works hard to encourage more women and people from diverse backgrounds to study statistics. She wants them to pursue advanced degrees in this field.

Many people have influenced her career. These include her mother, her mentor Nagambal Shah, and her Ph.D. supervisor Paul John Smith. Other statisticians who have inspired her are Kimberly Sellers, Dennis Boos, Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver, and Sastry Pantula.