ASA Member News Archive
ASA Member News February 2012
February 2012 Edition
Statistical Outreach & News
ASA PARTICIPATES IN CLIMATE SCIENCE DAY
Five ASA members spent February 1 in Capitol Hill meetings with members of Congress, talking about climate science as part of the second annual Climate Science Day. Twenty-five scientists from various professional societies—including AAAS, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and Soil Science Society of America—were in attendance. The scientists had 100 meetings offering their help on climate science, learning how they can be helpful, and giving staffers a direct contact with a scientist working on climate science. See the AAAS write-up.
NSF AND SEVERAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES DO WELL IN FY13 BUDGET REQUEST, NIH REQUEST FLAT
In the President’s FY13 Budget Request, released February 13, the National Science Foundation and several statistical agencies see significant requested increases for the fiscal year starting October 1. The requested increase for NSF is 5% over FY12; 5% for BEA; 33% for BJS (restoring its FY12 budget cut); 50% for BTS; 3% for Census; 10% for EIA; 13% for NASS; and 17% for NCHS. The request for NIH is the same as its FY12 budget, $30.7 billion, and the budget requests for the other statistical agencies – BLS, ERS, NCES, SSA ORES and IRS SOI – are largely flat. NCSES’s budget request is almost 5% below its FY12 budget. For more, see FY13 NSF and NIH Budget Requests: NSF up 5%; NIH flat and FY13 Statistical Agency Budget Requests: Requested increases for many statistical agencies.
CENSUS DIRECTOR INVITES FEEDBACK
Census Director Groves invites feedback on the American Community Survey. Provide your comments.
ASA Science Policy is now on Twitter. Follow us at @ASA_SciPol.
Meetings, Education, & Events
APPLIED STATISTICS WORKSHOP ON BAYESIAN ANALYSIS – Long Beach, California – March 24, 2012
The annual Applied Statistics Workshop will take place on March 24 in the Pointe conference center at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. Scott M. Lynch, professor of sociology at Princeton University, will give a presentation about the application of Bayesian analysis in social science. For details and to register, go to the workshop website.
CHICAGO CHAPTER WORKSHOP – Chicago, Illinois – March 30, 2012
The ASA’s Chicago-Area Chapter is hosting a one-day workshop, titled Tetrad: Machine Learning and Graphical Causal Models. The workshop will be presented by Richard Scheines and Joseph Ramsey on March 30 at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. Register.
THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA’S 5TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON CLINICAL TRIALS - Philadelphia, PA - April 18, 2012
The program will focus on emerging statistical issues in biomarker validation for clinical trials. (The ASA and Society for Clinical Trials are co-sponsors). Leading scientists will make formal presentations and panel and open discussions will challenge ideas and propose future directions. Participants from academe, industry, and government are encouraged to register. For additional information, please Contact Donna Zikowitz at (215) 573-2728.
5TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATIONS IN DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND DISSEMINATION: FRONTIERS IN BIOSTATISTICAL METHODS – Kansas City, MO - April 26–27, 2012
Cerner Corporation, the Kansas-Western Missouri Chapter of the ASA, and the department of biostatistics at the University of Kansas Medical Center are pleased to announce their fifth annual symposium. This event will take place at the Cerner Vision Center on Cerner Corporation’s World Headquarters campus. The keynote will be delivered by Richard Simon, chief of the biometric research branch of the National Cancer Institute. A pre-symposium short course, “Bayesian Adaptive Methods for Clinical Trials,” also will be offered onsite the morning of April 26 by Bradley Carlin, professor and head of biostatistics for the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Registration for events and additional information is forthcoming.
2012 ASA CONFERENCE ON RADIATION AND HEALTH – Kennebunkport, ME – June 10–13, 2012
The 2012 ASA Conference on Radiation and Health will take place June 10–13 in Kennebunkport, Maine. Abstract submission will be open until March 12. Registration will open on March 6. For further information please visit the website.
4TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERNCE ON ESTABLISHMENT SURVEYS (ICESIV) – Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 11–14, 2012: REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
The ICES series of conferences serves an important role in the world of survey methodology, as few others focus on methods and applications for establishment surveys. The first three, held at seven-year intervals from 1993 to 2007, were very successful, with more than 400 delegates per conference. The conferences covered a broad spectrum of survey methods for businesses, farms, and institutions. Online registration is open through May 23. Learn more here.
The 21ST AUSTRALIAN STATISTICAL CONFERENCE AND THE 8TH AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE ON TEACHING STATISTICS - Adelaide, South Australia - July 9-13, 2012
Adelaide will host two major statistical events at the Adelaide Convention Centre: The 21st Australian Statistical Conference (ASC 2012) will be held July 9-12, and the 8th Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics (OZCOTS 2012) will be held July 12-13. Early registration will be open through May 15. The registration brochure and online registration process are available here . Abstracts will be accepted through March 15. Full submission details and templates are available online.
JOINT STATISTICAL MEETINGS 2012 - San Diego, CA – July 28–Aug 2
This year’s JSM, held in downtown San Diego’s convention center, will welcome one of the largest groups of individuals interested in and related to the advancement and study of statistics. Meeting activities include oral presentations, panel sessions, poster presentations, Continuing Education courses, and networking opportunities. Early registration will open on May 1. For more information, visit the JSM website.
YOUNG BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICANS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS – Lisbon, Portugal - July 23–26, 2012
The Young Business and Industrial Statisticians (y-BIS) of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics is organizing its first international conference for undergraduates, PhD candidates, post-docs, assistant professors, and anyone studying statistics or who is interested in learning more about the profession. y-BIS is accepting proposals for invited paper sessions (60 minutes with 3 speakers, or 2 speakers and a discussant). These invited sessions must have a specific topic and/or be organized by an institution such as a company, bank, university, or scientific society. Submit a proposal before February 29.
CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH ON INCOME AND WEALTH – Boston, MA – August 15, 2012
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is hosting the 32nd General Conference of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth. The meeting will be in Boston, Massachusetts, August 5–11. Visit the website for more information.
2012 ASA BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SECTION FDA/INDUSTRY STATISTICS WORKSHOP – Washington, DC – September 12–14, 2012
The ASA’s Biopharmaceutical Section will host the FDA/Industry Statistics Workshop September 12–14 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. All those interested in submitting a proposal for a roundtable luncheon discussion should do so on the sessions proposal website until February 28. Each roundtable will accommodate 8–10 participants, and it is recommended that you add 1–2 key questions to the abstract so participants can prepare for a productive discussion.
EVENTS CALENDAR
Statistical events are happening around the country and the globe. View our Upcoming Events Calendar.
Off the Press
AMSTAT NEWS
Champions Wanted to Expand Program
With the support of the ASA and Population Association of America, former ASA Director of Education Martha Aliaga and other ASA staff members worked with prominent statisticians and statistics educators to launch the U.S. version of Census at School, which is a free international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problemsolving using their own real data. Read more.
SIGNIFICANCE MAGAZINE ONLINE WEB EXCLUSIVES
Changing States of the Economy
The analysis described in this article details the behavior of the components of the economy to provide an explanation of the development of all kinds of port traffic, in particular following major shocks to the economy. The article also expounds upon the application of sophisticated statistical techniques and their relation to how port traffic behaves and its unique characteristics. Read more.
Read more web exclusives from Significance.
Featured JASA Articles for Free Download
The following articles were chosen by the editors of JASA as featured articles. For a limited time, these are available for free download.
* "Statistics: An All-Encompassing Discipline," ASA President Nancy Geller's Presidential Address to the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings
* "Geostatistical Model Averaging for Locally Calibrated Probabilistic Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting," by William Kleiber, Adrian E. Raftery, and Tilmann Gneiting
* "Rasch Model and Its Extensions for Analysis of Aphasic Deficits in Syntactic Comprehension," by Roee Gutman, Gayle DeDe, David Caplan, and Jun S. Liu
* "A Framework for Assessing Broad Sense Agreement Between Ordinal and Continuous Measurements," by Limin Peng, Ruosha Li, Ying Guo, and Amita Manatunga
* "Building Consistent Regression Trees from Complex Sample Data," by Daniell Toth and John L. Eltinge
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Member Opportunities
2012 ASA POSTER AND PROJECT COMPETITIONS
Introduce K–12 students to statistics through the annual poster and project competitions directed by the ASA/NCTM Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability. The competitions offer opportunities for students to formulate questions and collect, analyze, and draw conclusions from data. Winners will be recognized with plaques, cash prizes, certificates, and calculators, and their names will be published in Amstat News. Posters for grade K–12 students are due every year on April 1. Projects, now for grades 7–12 students only, are due on June 1. More information is available online.
MATHEMATICS OF PLANET EARTH COMPETITION FOR AN OPEN SOURCE EXHIBITION OF VIRTUAL MODULES
This competition is part of the world initiative Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 (MPE2013). The modules could be reproduced and used by institutions around the world, from science museums to schools. The exhibition will have a virtual part, as well as instructions to realize material parts. The competition will be open until May 15. Prize winners will be selected by an international jury nominated by MPE2013 and announced in August. The winning modules will occupy a prominent place on the website of the exhibition. Moreover, it is planned to show the modules of the overall winners in exhibitions and museums.
ASA ACCREDITATION PROGRAM CONTINUES TO GROW
The ASA’s accreditation program has recently expanded the benefits of becoming an Accredited Professional Statistician™. ASA accreditation is a portfolio-based credential available to only ASA members. It is completely voluntary and intended for those who think such a credential would be meaningful in their professional lives. New benefits include free LearnStat on Demand access, 20% discount on regular Continuing Education courses (starting at JSM 2012), and special recognition, including a special PStat®-only reception at JSM 2012. To find out how to start enjoying extra benefits today, visit the accreditation website and review the guidelines to be sure of your eligibility.
Feedback, comments, or suggestions are welcome please email asamail@amstat.org with your ideas.