Dr. AnnMaria De Mars: Statistician and Judoka

If you've heard of Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, it's probably because of her accomplishments as a Shichidan (7th degree black belt judoka). In 1984 she became the first American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships.

Or perhaps you've heard of her as the mother of Ronda Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist judoka and former UFC Bantamweight world champion, and María Burns Ortiz, a sports journalist and social media columnist for ESPN.com and Fox News Latino.

But Dr. De Mars has also been a statistical consultant for USC and many other clients since 2008! She is CEO of 7 Generation Games and The Julia Group. Her Bachelor's degree is from Washington University (St. Louis), her MBA from the University of Minnesota, and her Ph.D. (and a second Masters) from UC Riverside.

Dr. DeMars is the granddaughter of Dr. Alfred E. Waddell, one of the first Black physicians in North America. Her Indigenous heritage has inspired her as a Native American activist, including service as Vice President of Spirit Lake Consulting Inc., a tribal institute based on the Spirit Lake Tribe Indian Reservation. She was actively involved in their Education and Vocational Rehabilitation programs. The Julia Group grew out of this work.

De Mars has lived in Santa Monica since the mid-1990s. She coaches and spars at a Los Angeles gym. And she is passionate about helping young people discover that they, too, can learn and use mathematics -- especially Statistics.

Here is her message to you:

"If you don't understand, ask for an explanation. If you still don't understand, ask again, and don't feel bad about it. No one came out of the womb knowing that the standard deviation is the square root of the variance....

"There is no such thing as a 'math brain'. If a student has difficulty mastering a statistical concept it is most likely because he or she missed some prerequisite. Maybe they had chicken pox the week the class learned about exponents or their math teacher didn't cover logarithms. Once they back up and get the missing piece they will learn. Just because a student hasn't learned something yet doesn't mean they can't learn it."
--Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, personal communication, 10/22/2020.

See AnnMaria's Blog ,especially the section on Statistics and (from 2012) Where Are All the Hispanic Statisticians?