Working for the
USDA Risk Management Agency
Jennie Yan, Statistician
I am from Guangzhou, China and my first language is Cantonese. I immigrated to the U.S in 2006. My husband and I just had our son Micah who was born in August of this year. I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics, and a master's degree in mathematics and statistics from University of Missouri-Kansas City. After I graduated from school, I joined USDAs Risk Management Agency (RMA) in 2014. I was a Statistician Pathway Intern when I joined and later became an employee. Our agencys premier role in USDA is to provide innovative crop insurance products to Americas farmers and ranchers. Crop insurance is an indispensable risk management tool available to farmers and ranchers to protect them against declines in crop yields or revenue. Weather issues like drought or excess moisture, present severe challenges for farmers. Crop insurance helps create that safety net for farmers and ranchers, so they are prepared for adverse or catastrophic conditions. Since crop insurance is so important, we need more talented STEM students to join our team and help us provide the safety net to our world. The USDA is a great place for students to acquire skills that they will use later in their careers and is full of team members that have great work ethics and knowledge. I joined the USDA's Risk Management Agency as a Statistician in the Actuarial Branch. The general duty of the job includes the review, analysis, and recommendation for approval of actuarial methodology and associated premium rating models. As a statistician, one of my main duties is conducting methodological research to evaluate the adequacy of actuarial methods and premium rates for existing crop insurance policies and those proposed by other parties. Another duty is measuring, correlating, and reducing to numerical form any indings by analyzing crop insurance experience in combination with other data sources as necessary. Finally, I analyze data collected to identify areas of comparable productivity and risk. I love my job because I can use my statistics knowledge from school in the real world. I'm usually doing something different every day, I get a variety of tasks and responsibilities that usually teaches me something new each time. My job keeps me engaged and fulfilled. There is a ton of real data on the RMA database, we face the challenge of analyzing data daily. It requires strong troubleshooting skills to do some of the work. I find that the most challenging part, but also the most fun part when doing my job. The Risk Management Agency is a small agency, but all my coworkers and supervisors are supportive of one another. I can also freely share any of my ideas with supervisors and their door is always open. They hear and see me, and I feel valued. I work in the Actuarial Branch. All my team members have strong statistics and programing backgrounds. Everyone likes to share their software knowledge. I can honestly tell you that everyone likes working together and we have great teamwork. Every day I know that I help create a safety net to protect farmers from losses and help to ensure that the Federal Crop Insurance Program is actuarially sound. This strengthens American agriculture on the whole. Read more about the Risk Management Agency by scanning the QR Code on this page. For a list of current vacancies for USDA jobs, visit https://usda.usajobs.gov/.
Jennie Yan RMA USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
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