Invited to make a statement on the Young Statisticians Prize, Erin stated:

My advice to young statisticians is to not be afraid to ask questions. First, it is an excellent way to learn. Take advantage of the different experiences and expertise of those around you. Second, the context of official statistics is ever evolving. Asking questions allows you to understand the current situation and priorities in order to develop an appropriate approach. In my experience, the most interesting solutions arise when the team is willing to question the status quo.

Erin Lundy was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and a Master’s degree in Statistics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She completed her PhD in Statistics at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, focusing on the development of models for the joint analysis of zero-heavy longitudinal outcomes. She joined Statistics Canada in 2016 as a methodologist where she worked in the Economic Statistics Methods Division for 2.5 years. There she worked on the development and redesign of several business surveys. During this time, she continued to actively engage in statistical research, completing research projects on small area estimation for zero-inflated data and model-assisted estimation using machine learning techniques. In 2019, she joined the Statistical Integration Methods Division as a senior methodologist and has since focused on research concerning the modernization of the Canadian Census of Population.  Her research interests include statistical methods for discrete outcomes, joint analysis of data with complex correlation structures, zero-heavy models and model-assisted inference for survey data. Her work has appeared in Sociological Methods & Research and Survey Methodolody.

She currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys yoga, reading fantasy novels and exploring her local bicycle paths.