ASA Member News Archive
ASA Member News January 2011
January 2011 Edition
Statistical Outreach & News
MEMO DIRECTS GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO ALLOW SCIENTISTS’ FULL PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
A December 17, 2010, memo from Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren contained a provision to promote professional development of government scientists by allowing their "full participation in professional or scholarly societies … including removing barriers for serving as officers or on governing boards of such societies." The ASA welcomed the news because of its practice of having a president and vice-president from the government sector every three years and because of government scientists serving important roles in sections, chapters, and committees. Read Steve Pierson’s blog post, Obama Administration Science Integrity Memo Includes Good News for ASA Governance and Government Statisticians: More Steps Necessary.
STATISTICIAN IS FOURTH BEST JOB FOR 2011
For 2011, statistician again has made CareerCast’s Top 10 Jobs, coming in fourth after software engineer, actuary and mathematician. Read the article.
ANNOUNCING THE SPA POSTER COMPETITION
Members of the Scientific and Public Affairs (SPA) Committee invite all 2011 JSM poster authors to compete for a policy applications prize in its second semiannual Statistical Significance Competition. A $200 prize will be awarded to the author of the JSM poster that includes a Statistical Significance piece describing the best contribution of statistics to society. Participation is only available to poster authors who submit their poster abstract to the ASA by February 1. Need materials for outreach? The ASA Statistical Significance pieces can help get your students more interested in statistics or help attract students to your programs.
U.S. CENSUS AT SCHOOL PROGRAM SEEKING CHAMPIONS
The ASA and Population Association of America (PAA) launched the U.S. version of Census at School, an international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problem solving. This is a wonderful opportunity for statisticians and statistics educators to perform outreach in their communities. For more information about how you can get involved, email Martha Aliaga and copy Rebecca Nichols.
Meetings, Education, & Events
JSM 2011 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS – Deadline: February 1, 2011
Don't miss your chance to participate! Abstract submissions for the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings are being accepted for contributed papers and posters and topic-contributed papers, posters, and panel sessions.
2011 NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY CONFERENCE – Washington, DC – February 7–8, 2011
As policymakers, practitioners, and administrators shift their focus to the details of implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the National Health Policy Conference (NHPC) offers the first opportunity to hear their plans for overcoming challenges and advancing health care reform in 2011. NHPC plenary sessions offer perspectives on the health policy priorities of the administration, and the Congress and breakout meetings—offered in three sets of concurrent sessions—provide an in-depth look at issues such as implementation of the ACO model, ACA impact on employers, putting patients first, health insurance exchanges, and HIT post-HCR.
13TH BIENNIAL CDC SYMPOSIUM ON STATISTICS METHODS CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - Deadline: February 7, 2011
Abstracts for the CDC Symposium will be considered for either oral or poster presentation and must be submitted no later than February 7, 2011. Authors will receive e-mail notification of acceptance or rejection by February 18, 2011.
2011 FDA/INDUSTRY STATISTICS WORKSHOP PROPOSALS - Deadline: February 28, 2011
The 2011 FDA/Industry Statistics Workshop, to be held September 19–21 in Washington, DC., is now accepting proposals. Proposals will be accepted via the online web form for roundtable luncheon discussions through February 28, 2011.
UPENN ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON STATISTICAL ISSUES IN CLINICAL TRIALS - Philadelphia, PA - April 13, 2011
The 2011 conference will explore Emerging Statistical Issues in the Conduct and Monitoring of Clinical Trials by bringing together leading scientists who will make presentations and lead open discussions on state-of-the-art and developing methods. Participants from academic institutions, industry and governmental agencies with an interest in contributing to these discussions are encouraged to register.
34TH ANNUAL MIDWEST BIOPHARMACEUTICAL STATISTICS WORKSHOP - Muncie, IN - May 23 - 25, 2011
The theme of the workshop is Beyond Statistics: Delivery is Key!. Shein-Chung Chow (Duke) will present a 1/2 day course on Adaptive Clinical Trial Design. Plenary speakers include Abraham Wyner (U. Pennsylvania) and Blakeley McShane (Northwestern) who will discuss A Statistical Analysis of Multiple Temperature Proxies: Are Reconstructions of Surface Temperatures Over the Last 1000 Years Reliable? and Keith Baggerly (MD Anderson Cancer Center) who will discuss Case Studies in Forensic Bioinformatics - The Need for Simple Tests in High-Throughput Biology. Sastry Pantula, ASA President will deliver the banquet speech on Surfing the Data Waves. Poster abstracts must be submitted by April 18, 2011. More information.
9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH POLICY STATISTICS – Cleveland, OH – October 5–7, 2011
The 2011 ICHPS, organized by the ASA’s Health Policy Statistics Section, focuses on advancing methods to improve health care through various studies and the quantitative analysis of data. The conference will include invited and contributed sessions and workshops intended to provide research training and career development in the methods, resources, and applications at the forefront of contemporary health policy research.
EVENTS CALENDAR
Statistical events are happening around the country and the globe. View our Upcoming Events Calendar.
Off the Press
IN AMSTAT NEWS: SALARY SURVEY OF BIOSTATISTICS AND OTHER BIOMEDICAL STATISTICS DEPARTMENTS
Amstat News recently published the results from the fall 2010 Salary Survey of Biostatistics and Other Biomedical Statistics Departments and Units, conducted by the ASA. All salary figures are for a 12-month period. As in the past, previous salary survey data have been included for comparative purposes. Follow the magazine on Twitter at @AmstatNews.
A MESSAGE FROM THE NEW JABES EDITOR
Montse Fuentes, JABES Editor, introduces herself and covers several exciting JABES initiatives.
FREE ASA JOURNAL ARTICLE DOWNLOADS
Look for the articles marked Free!
Journal of the American Statistical Association
* Modeling Competing Infectious Pathogens From a Bayesian Perspective: Application to Influenza Studies With Incomplete Laboratory Results, by Yang et al.
* Ross Prentice's Fisher Lecture: Chronic Disease Prevention Research Methods and Their Reliability, With Illustrations From the Women's Health Initiative
* Estimability and Likelihood Inference for Generalized Linear Mixed Models Using Data Cloning, by Lele et al.
The American Statistician
* Stephen M. Stigler's The Changing History of Robustness
Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics
* A Nonparametric Approach to Detect Nonlinear Correlation in Gene Expression, by Chen et al.
* Pairwise Display of High-Dimensional Information via Eulerian Tours and Hamiltonian Decompositions, by Hurley and Oldford.
Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research
* Special Issue: A Festschrift for Gary G. Koch (11 articles, more to come)
Download an article now or pass them along to a friend or colleague!
SIGNIFICANCE MAGAZINE ONLINE WEB EXCLUSIVES
Measuring Uncertainty in the Queensland Floods begins "Like many other Brisbane residents I have spent the last week watching the constant 24-hour TV news reports on the current state of flooding in my home state of Queensland, Australia. In the final tally 75% of Queensland has officially been declared a disaster zone, making a land size equivalent to the whole of Europe stretching from the UK to Italy." Read more web exclusives.
Member Opportunities
ACCREDITATION
ASA members interested in the new voluntary program for individual professional accreditation should visit and fill out the intent-to-apply form. Currently accredited members.
ASA/NSF/BEA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM - Deadline: January 30, 2011
The ASA announces the ASA/NSF/BEA Fellowship Program, designed to improve the collaboration between government and academic research. The program allows research fellows to come to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, one of the world’s leading statistical agencies, to use BEA data and interact with agency staff. Applications for fellowships must be emailed by January 30, 2011.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY FOR EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY R&D - Deadline: Mid-January, 2011
The Institute of Education Sciences will award up to $1.05 million for the research and development of either education technology products to help students learn or education technology tools to facilitate research. Products to help students learn can address regular or special-education populations across a range of topic areas. Tools to facilitate education research must be designed for use by mainstream education researchers to improve, simplify, or improve the efficiency of research. Proposals are due in mid-January 2011.
ASA/NCTM JOINT COMMITTEE SEEKS STN EDITORS, STEW WEBSITE EDITORS - Deadlines: Late January, 2011
The ASA/NCTM Joint Committee on Curriculum in Probability and Statistics for grades K–12 is seeking volunteers for the following positions: Editor and associate editors for the Statistics Teachers Network. The deadline for nominations is January 30, 2011. Interested nominees must then send their applications by March 1, 2011. Editor and associate editors for STatistics Education Web (STEW). The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2011. Interested nominees must then send their applications by February 10, 2011. Submit nominations and applications.
ASA COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE STATISTICS SMALL GRANT PROGRAM - Deadline: February 18, 2011
This program is designed to encourage the creative and appropriate use of these data to inform substantive and/or methodological issues. Dissertation research may qualify for these funds, and young investigators are encouraged to apply. Research is to be completed within a two-year period. Awards are typically in the range of $25,000 to $30,000, although awards as high as $40,000 will be considered if the projects are exceptional. Proposals must be received by February 18, 2011.
2011 ISI TRAVEL GRANT - Deadline: March 7, 2011
The ASA has received funding to support travel to Dublin, Ireland, for the August 21–26, 2011, meeting of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). The grant will provide partial transportation assistance to individuals presenting papers or who have an official function at the ISI meeting. Newer faculty who completed PhD requirements in 2005 or later, women, and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Attendees must be members of ISI, members of ISI sections, or official representatives of an invited organization. Travel Grant Application. For more information contact Joyce Narine. The deadline for applications is March 7, 2011.
2011 POSTER AND PROJECT COMPETITIONS - Deadline: April 1, 2011
Introduce K–12 students to statistics through the 2011 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, gather and display data, and draw conclusions from data.
AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENTS & DEADLINES
Deadlines and contact information for ASA national awards, special lectureships, and COPSS awards can be found by visiting the following links: ASA Awards, ASA Scholarships, and COPSS Awards.
Feedback, comments, or suggestions are welcome please email asamail@amstat.org with your ideas.