ASA Member News Archive
ASA Member News April 2011
April 2011 Edition
Statistical Outreach & News
AERA REPORT CALLS FOR MORE INDEPENDENCE FOR NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
According to a April 10 Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) article, Education Researchers Call for More Independence for Federal Agency That Supports Them, an American Educational Research Association (AERA) report urges more independence for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is currently part of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Department of Education. Read more.
ASA PRESIDENT SENDS LETTERS TO SENATE COMMITTEE CHAIRS ON FORENSIC SCIENCE REFORM
Reacting to Sen. Leahy’s introduction of a forensic science reform bill and the possibility of another Senate committee chair following suit, 2012 ASA President Bob Rodriguez sent a letter to each chair with the ASA’s comments. The forensic science legislation is largely a reaction to the 2009 National Academies' report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, which the ASA Board endorsed in its April 2010 Statement on Forensic Science. Read more.
OFFICE OF FINANCIAL RESEARCH SEEKING STATISTICIANS
Officials in the U.S. Department of the Treasury are recruiting scientists from many disciplines—including statistics—to work at a newly created treasury office, the Office of Financial Research (OFR). The job announcement has been out several months and the department is now especially looking for help in (i) statistics, econometrics, and risk management and (ii) applied sciences (e.g., network analysis, operations research, engineering, applied mathematics, applied physics). The department also is looking to macroeconomics and financial markets and institutions. To apply, send a résumé and cover letter. See the job announcement (you will need to be logged into the ASA Community to view this announcement).
CREATE A VIDEO TO PROMOTE STATISTICS AND WIN CASH
Enter the 2011 ASA Promoting the Practice and Profession of Statistics Video Competition. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning entries—First place: $1,000; Second place: $350; Third place: $150. The deadline for submission of videos is July 15. Winners will be announced at JSM 2011 in Miami Beach, Florida. Visit the ASA website for details.
Meetings, Education, & Events
NEW WEBINAR FROM THE QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY SECTION – April 21
Graphical Analysis of Designed Experiments will be presented by Veronica Czitrom on April 21. For more information and to register, please visit the Q&P site.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH (AAPOR) 66TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE – Phoenix, Arizona - May 12-15
Register today for AAPOR’s 66th Annual Conference. This year's theme is Public Perception and Societal Conflict. Join us for cutting-edge short courses and four days of provocative sessions; distinguished speakers; presentations that span survey methodology, election polling, the social sciences, and the conference theme; networking and social opportunities; and an exhibit hall featuring the leading organizations in the industry. Visit AAPOR's website for more information.
CLEVELAND CHAPTER’S TOOLS FOR REGAINING THE COMPETITIVE EDGE SEMINAR SERIES - Independence, OH – May 16
Pictures at an Exhibition: The Visual Display of Quantitative Phenomena will be taught by Howard Wainer, distinguished research scientist at the National Board of Medical Examiners, on May 16. Registration deadline for this event is May 3. For more information and to register, visit the chapter's web site.
13th BIENNIAL CDC SYMPOSIUM ON STATISTICAL METHODS – Decatur, Georgia - May 24–25
Statisticians, social and behavioral scientists, epidemiologists, economists, policy analysts, and other health researchers are invited to participate in the 13th Biennial Symposium on Statistical Methods, to be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center. The symposium is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Statistical Association. Online registration will be open until May 9.
42ND SYMPOSIUM ON THE INTERFACE: COMPUTING SCIENCE AND STATISTICS - Cary, North Carolina - June 1-3, 2011
This year's theme is Statistical, Machine Learning and Visualization Algorithms. The Interface Foundation of North America cordially invites you to participate in the 42nd Interface Symposium, the premier annual conference on the interface of computing and statistics. The Foundation is a non-profit educational corporation founded in 1987 to sponsor the symposium and publish the proceedings.
THE GRAYBILL CONFERENCE ON MODERN NONPARAMETRIC METHODS – Fort Collins, Colorado - June 22–24
Cosponsored by the Section on Nonparametric Statistics, the conference will be held in Fort Collins, Colorado, June 22–24. The focus of the conference is on nonparametric and semiparametric modeling and functional estimation methods. The program consists of a short course, invited plenary talks, and a contributed poster session. Student travel support is available through the student poster competition. For more information and to register, visit the conference website.
JSM 2011 – Miami Beach, Florida – July 30 – August 4: REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
JSM is the largest gathering of statisticians held in North America. To serve you better and to help you prepare for JSM, registration is now open, nearly one month early. Early bird and regular registration dates remain the same. Continuing education courses and roundtable discussions fill quickly. Reserve your spot today!
2011 NISS/ASA WRITING WORKSHOP FOR JUNIOR RESEARCHERS –July 31 and August 3 at JSM
The National Institute of Statistical Science (NISS) and the American Statistical Association (ASA) will hold a writing workshop for junior researchers. The goal of the workshop is to provide instruction for how to write journal articles and grant proposals. Read the full announcement.
MEETING WITHIN A MEETING (MWM) STATISTICS WORKSHOP FOR K–12 MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS – Miami Beach, Florida – August 2–3
MWM will take place in conjunction with the Joint Statistical Meetings this summer in Miami Beach, Florida. The workshop on August 2–3 is meant to strengthen K–12 mathematics and science teachers’ understanding of statistics and provide them with hands-on activities they can use in their own classrooms. The cost of the workshop is $50.
BEYOND AP STATISTICS WORKSHOP – Miami Beach, Florida – August 3
The ASA/NCTM Joint Committee is pleased to sponsor a Beyond AP Statistics workshop at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach, Florida, on August 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Organized by Roxy Peck, the BAPS workshop is offered for experienced AP Statistics teachers and consists of enrichment material just beyond the basic AP syllabus. The cost of the workshop is $50.
YOUNG STATISTICIANS MEETING—YSI 2011—Dublin, Ireland – August 19-21
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Registration for the YSI 2011 will be open until May 1. As a satellite meeting to the 2011 ISI World Congress, and the first of its kind, YSI 2011 seeks to promote the participation of early career statisticians in the epicenter of the ISI World Congress. The meeting will give the opportunity for young statisticians to present their work in an encouraging and heartening environment, build scientific bonds with colleagues in their respective fields, and learn from and interact with some of the leaders of the discipline in an informal, compact, and conducive environment.
58th WORLD STATISTICS CONGRESS OF THE ISI – Dublin, Ireland – August 21–26
Ireland’s Central Statistics Office invites you to participate in the 58th World Statistics Congress of the International Statistical Institute, which will be held in Dublin from August 21–26. This biennial meeting brings together statisticians from across the disciplinary spectrum to share experiences, expertise, and challenges.
2011 NEW ENGLAND SYMPOSIUM ON STATISTICS IN SPORTS - Cambridge, Massachusetts - September 24: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
The 2011 New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports will take place on September 24 at the Harvard University Science Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abstracts for talks and posters will be accepted until June 15.
9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH POLICY STATISTICS – Cleveland, Ohio – October 5–7
The 2011 ICHPS, organized by the ASA’s Health Policy Statistics Section, will take place October 5–7 in Cleveland, Ohio, and focus 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.
FEDERAL COMMITTEE ON STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY (FCSM) RESEARCH CONFERENCE – Washington, DC – January 10–12, 2012: CALL FOR PAPERS
The FCSM planning committee is seeking abstracts for the 2012 FCSM Research Conference. The conference provides a forum for experts from around the world to discuss current research and methodological topics. The conference will feature mostly contributed papers with formal discussion and software demonstrations on topics related to a variety of statistical research issues. Abstract submission is open until May 6.
ASA CONFERENCE ON STATISTICAL PRACTICE – Orlando, Florida – February 16–18, 2012
The ASA proudly announces the inaugural ASA Conference on Statistical Practice. This early 2012 conference aims to bring together hundreds of statistical practitioners—including data analysts, researchers, and scientists—who engage in the application of statistics to solve real-world problems on a daily basis. The conference will provide an opportunity to learn about the latest statistical methodologies and best practices in statistical design, analysis, programming, and consulting.
EVENTS CALENDAR
Statistical events are happening around the country and the globe. View our Upcoming Events Calendar.
Off the Press
IN AMSTAT NEWS
APPLYING FOR ACCREDITATION: IT ALL STARTS WITH INTENT
Now that the ASA’s accreditation program is up and running, perhaps you are giving some thought to applying. Applications for accreditation are handled entirely online. Visit the website and review the guidelines to be sure of your eligibility. For detailed instructions.
MEASURING INNOVATION: BETTER DATA TO HELP DESIGN POLICIES TO REVIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH
The great preponderance of economic growth in the United States involves the replication of existing technologies through investment in equipment and software and expansion of the skilled labor force. Replication generates economic growth with no increase in productivity. Productivity growth is the key economic indicator of innovation and accounts for less than 12% of U.S. economic growth, despite its importance in industries such as computers and software. Although innovation contributes only a modest portion of growth, this is vital to long-term gains in the American standard of living. Read the full article by Dale Jorgenson.
CELEBRATE MATHEMATICS BY UNRAVELING COMPLEX SYSTEMS
How do epidemics spread, birds flock, and stock markets operate? Answers to these and many other such questions fall within the realm of mathematics. From natural entities such as living cells, insect colonies, and whole ecosystems to man-made inventions like power grids, transportation networks, and the World Wide Web, one sees complex systems everywhere. Deciphering the mathematics behind such systems can unravel well-structured networks and discernible patterns in natural and artificial structures. That is the idea behind Mathematics Awareness Month this April. Read more. Visit the Mathematics Awareness Month website to download a free poster and view activities and resources.
SIGNIFICANCE MAGAZINE ONLINE WEB EXCLUSIVES
Scientific Misconduct 101: How to Fake a Science Paper —Years can go into getting a single science paper published, and as funding distributors often use numbers of published papers to asses a scientist’s work, upping one’s research output seems like a sensible thing to do when science budgets are tight. One time-honored option to increase research output is to use salami publishing—reporting data gathered by one research project many times, sliced thin, in many publications, so it gets counted as many projects instead of one. But over on Mad Art Lab, they have a better idea: Fake it. Read other web exclusives.
FREE ASA JOURNAL ARTICLE DOWNLOADS
JASA:
* Modeling Competing Infectious Pathogens from a Bayesian Perspective: Application to Influenza Studies with Incomplete Laboratory Results, by Yang et al.
* Chronic Disease Prevention Research Methods and Their Reliability, with Illustrations from the Women’s Health Initiative, by Prentice
* Estimability and Likelihood Inference for Generalized Linear Mixed Models Using Data Cloning, by Lele et al.
TAS:
* The Changing History of Robustness, by Stigler
JBES
* Bias-Corrected Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects, by Abadie and Imbens
Free articles are available from JCGS, Technometrics, and Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research. Log in through Members Only and look for articles marked “free.”
Member Opportunities
AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENTS
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.
THE JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL AND GRAPHICAL STATISTICS ONLINE ACCESS NOW FREE FOR MEMBERS
The 20th anniversary of JCGS brings one more membership benefit: All ASA members have free online access to JCGS! Simply log in to ASA Members Only and you will find your access link under My Publications.
JUDGES SOUGHT FOR ASA PROJECT COMPETITION
The ASA/NCTM Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability is seeking judges for the ASA Project Competition. Judging takes place via email during the summer and requires about four hours of your time. If interested, please email Jamis Perrett.
POSTER AND PROJECT COMPETITIONS – DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR PROJECT COMPETITION – JUNE 9
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 are due every year on April 1. Projects, for all grades, are now due on June 9.
Feedback, comments, or suggestions are welcome please email asamail@amstat.org with your ideas.