ASA Member News Archive
ASA Member News November 2007
Welcome to the November edition of ASA Member News, the ASA's monthly e-newsletter.
STATbit
Did you know that, in the past year, the ASA’s web site has received more than 768,000 visits and nearly 3 million page views? The four countries that continue to generate the most ASA web traffic are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. The content areas with the highest number of views are Members Only, Careers, and Publications.
In Amstat News
In this month’s President’s Corner, Mary Ellen Bock invites Virginia de Wolf and Mary Foulkes to write about science policy and the ASA. They describe some of the initiatives of the Science Policy Task Force and highlight the association’s recent science policy activities.
Upcoming Deadlines
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC SUMMER INSTITUTES FOR U.S. GRADUATE STUDENTS - Deadline: December 12, 2007
The East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) program offers U.S. graduate students in science and engineering a unique opportunity to study abroad with foreign researchers (in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, or Taiwan) for eight weeks during the summer. In 2008, the EAPSI awards will include a stipend of $5,000, an allowance for international travel, and support to attend a predeparture orientation in Washington, DC. Foreign cosponsoring organizations will provide additional support to cover EAPSI students' living expenses abroad.
Events Outlook
7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH POLICY STATISTICS (ICHPS) – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – January 17–18, 2008
The 2008 ICHPS (formerly ICHPR, International Conference on Health Policy Research) will include invited and contributed presentations and workshops from prominent statisticians, health economists, and health policy experts focusing on quantitative and statistical methods used in health policy, outcomes research, and health services research. The keynote speaker will be Mark Pauly, professor of Health Care Systems, Business and Public Policy, Insurance and Risk Management, and Economics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Pauly is an expert in health insurance policy and has served on Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences panels, as well as advising the federal and state governments and industry on these issues.
2008 BAYESIAN BIOSTATISTICS – Houston, Texas – January 30-February 1, 2008
Current and prospective users of Bayesian biostatistics are invited to join experts in the field for a three-day conference at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend two courses on the first day of the conference, followed by invited and contributed talks the following two days.
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON BIOPHARMACEUTICAL STATISTICS – Shanghai, China – June 30-July 2, 2008
The 2008 symposium is cosponsored by, among others, the American Statistical Association. The purposes of the symposium are to provide an international forum for statistical professionals to share and exchange information and to improve and promote the harmonization of statistical practice in the industry at the international front. The symposium will cover a range of topics in research; development; and regulations of drugs, biologics, medical devices, and biotechnologies. There will be keynote speeches and invited presentations from prominent statisticians.
EVENTS CALENDAR
Statistical events are happening around the country and the globe. View our Upcoming Events Calendar.
@amstat.org
JSM 2008 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Don't Miss Your Chance to Participate! Abstract submissions for the 2008 Joint Statistical Meetings will be accepted for contributed papers and posters and topic contributed papers, posters and panel sessions beginning December 3, 2007. As a courtesy to participants, the ASA is no longer requiring JSM pre-registration in order to submit an abstract. Look for the official Call for Contributed Abstracts to appear in the December issue of Amstat News.
CALL FOR ASA FELLOW NOMINATIONS
Becoming an ASA Fellow is one of the highest honors bestowed by our organization. On behalf of the ASA, the Committee on Fellows strongly encourages the nomination of deserving members for the ASA Fellow award. We also encourage ASA Chapters, Sections, and Committees to search for and nominate deserving members from their respective constituencies. Nominate a Fellow.
Special Opportunities
ASA ARCHIVES FEATURED IN NEW PUBLICATION
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has just published a new book on special collections at ARL libraries. The collection highlighted at Iowa State University is the ASA archives. View a complete description and inventory of the records stored in the ASA archives.
ASA SEEKS DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE POLICY
The American Statistical Association is seeking a director of science policy to begin in January 2008. The ideal candidate will be a member in good standing with the ASA and have an advanced degree in statistics with expertise in science policy and/or public policy. Major responsibilities of the director of science policy will include executing plans designed to increase the participation and visibility of the statistical profession and the ASA in science policy discussions at the national and international levels, promoting the use and appreciation of sound statistical methods in the collection and analysis of the data on which decisions are based, and working with decisionmakers to help the statistical sciences receive an appropriate share of public funds devoted to scientific research and education. Full job description.
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON OF INTEREST
Keith Crank, ASA's Assistant Director for Research and Graduate Education has started a Weblog to provide the statistics community with news about activities in Washington that may be of interest to them. The Weblog can also be accessed through the Graduate Education portion of ASA's homepage.
JSM 2008 LOCAL AREA COMMITTEE
Matt Pocernich, president of the ASA Colorado-Wyoming Chapter, is looking for members interested in participating in Local Area Committee activities that will support the Joint Statistical Meetings in Denver, August 3–7, 2008. If you are interested, please contact Pocernich.
ETS R&D FELLOWSHIP AND INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS
The goal of the ETS R&D Fellowship and Internship programs is to provide talented individuals, especially women and under-represented minority scholars and students, opportunities to carry out research under the mentorship of ETS senior research scientists and psychometricians. Areas of emphasis in research encouraged by this program include measurement theory, validity, natural language processing and computational linguistics, cognitive psychology, learning theory, linguistics, speech recognition and processing, teaching and classroom research, and statistics.
COPSS 2008 AWARDS CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Awards are jointly sponsored by the American Statistical Association; the Institute of Mathematical Statistics; the International Biometric Society, ENAR; the International Biometric Society, WNAR; and the Statistical Society of Canada. Nominations are now being accepted for COPSS 2008 awards, including the R.A. Fisher Lectureship, the Florence Nightingale David Award, the Elizabeth L. Scott Award, the George W. Snedecor Award, and the Presidents' Award. Each award consists of a plaque, citation, and cash honorarium.
SECTION ON STATISTICS IN DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY 2008 STUDENT PAPER AWARD
The American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security awards an annual prize for the best student paper about the use of statistics on a problem in defense or national security (including homeland security). Papers are judged on the quality of statistical work, written presentation, and significance of the contribution to understanding defense and/or homeland security issues. The prize competition is open to any undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an institution of higher education in the calendar year 2007. The paper must be accompanied by a nomination letter attesting to the student’s status and be submitted by a faculty member at the institution. Nomination letters and the paper should be submitted via email to Lionel Galway at the RAND Corporation by February 1, 2008.
Feedback, comments, or suggestions are welcome please email asamail@amstat.org with your ideas.