35-year-old mother of seven becomes first black woman with PhD in Survey Methodology

By BIODUN BUSARI

A 35-year-old woman, Alena Maze, has set the world record of becoming the first black woman to earn a PhD in Survey Methodology.

Maze, a famous YouTuber earned her doctorate degree in Survey Methodology and Statistics from the University of Maryland, College Park in United States.

She made this known on her social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram posts, adding that the feat first appeared as a hard nut to crack, but she surmounted it.

Maze was inspired to pursue a career as a survey statistician because of her passion for mathematics and health, with the hope to develop inclusivity in surveys.

She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Pure Mathematics at Bowie State University, US; then later earned a Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Georgetown University, before pursuing her PhD.

Speaking about her academic prowess as a doctorate degree holder in survey methodology, Maze said, “What’s a Survey Methodologist? Well, I’m a Survey Statistician, so specifically, I research the math behind surveys.”

Providing insight, she added, “Suppose we want more information on how diabetes affects women ages 30-40, in order to develop better treatment courses. Well in a perfect world, we would like to send out a survey (i.e., a series of questions) to all women ages 30-40 with diabetes.

“However, this is not practical for many reasons. So instead we chose a smaller group (called a sample), say 2,000 women from that same population to represent the whole population of 30-40-year-old women with diabetes.”

Sharing her remarkable story of her marital life with PopSugar, the scholar said she fell in love with her Korean-American husband, Joe Lee, when she was 13-years-old.

They, however, lost contact, and reconnected again when they were a little older, but unfortunately there was a second time of losing touch.