The persuasive power of statistics has often placed statisticians in a negative light, highlighted by the famous Benjamin Disraeli line, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Nilupa Gunaratna and her fellow statisticians are working to change that perception and, quite probably, the world as well.

“When I first started looking at how statistics could apply to international problems in agriculture, nutrition, or health, there was no shortage of problems I could work on,” says Gunaratna, who has a master’s degree in agronomy from Purdue and recently completed a PhD in statistics. “There are a lot of important and difficult problems out there that need solving, and we as statisticians have skills to offer that can really make a difference.”

Gunaratna is using her skills to provide solutions to the global problem of malnutrition. Maize is a staple food for millions of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, yet it has very poor protein quality. In the 1960s, Purdue Agriculture researchers Lowell S. Hardin, Edwin T. Mertz, and Oliver E. Nelson discovered a genetic solution to increase protein quality. Eventually, Quality Protein Maize (QPM) became functional.

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