ASA Headlines

Morganstein Elected 110th ASA President

David Morganstein, MA, a senior statistician at Westat, was elected the 110th president of the American Statistical Association. Morganstein will begin serving a year as the ASA president-elect January 1 and will become ASA president January 1, 2015.

ASA members also elected Jeri Metzger Mulrow, a program director and senior mathematical statistician with the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics at the National Science Foundation, as an ASA vice president. She will begin her term January 1.

ASA members also elected three new representatives to the Board of Directors for terms starting January 1:

Cynthia R. Long, director of research and professor at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, was elected as the Council of Sections Governing Board representative.
Dan Jeske, professor and statistics department chairman and director of the Statistical Consulting Collaboratory at the University of California, Riverside, was elected as the Council of Chapters Governing Board representative.
Ming-Yen Cheng, professor in the Department of Mathematics at National Taiwan University, was elected International Representative to the Board.

Lastly, new officers were elected for each of the ASA's 25 sections. Read the ASA press release. The complete ASA election results are available here.

Murphy to Present MAA Statistics2013 Lecture

As part of ASA's celebration of the International Year of Statistics (Statistics2013), Susan A. Murphy, the H. E. Robbins Professor of Statistics at the University of Michigan, will present a talk during the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) Carriage House Lecture Series. During her lecture, titled "Getting SMART about Adapting Interventions", Murphy will explain how a randomized clinical trial design (Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial or SMART) is being used to develop adaptive interventions-protocols that systematize the sequential decision-making that is key to effective treatment of health problems. The talk will be held May 29 in Washington, DC. Learn more about the event and register.

INGenIOuS Project to Think Strategically About Future Mathematics and Statistics Professionals

The increasingly complex scientific and social problems faced by the nation demand innovative solutions and require a workforce that is trained to meet these challenges. To best position mathematics and statistics departments and students to meet 21st century needs, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the American Statistical Association (ASA), in partnership with the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematicians (SIAM), are bringing together thought leaders to develop strategies for future investments in training at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Via the INGenIOuS project, we plan to establish a community of stakeholders from academic institutions, professional societies, government agencies, and industry to think strategically about enhancing recruitment, retention, and job placement in the mathematics and statistics communities. The INGenIOuS project, which is pending funding from the National Science Foundation, will be facilitated in collaboration with a team from Knowinnovation. With a series of online activities, including live virtual panels and forum discussions, the project will culminate in the publication of six white papers and a 3-day workshop at the ASA headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area this July. Those interested in participating can sign up at www.ingeniousmathstat.org.

Nate Silver is Featured Speaker for JSM 2013

Celebrated statistician Nate Silver, the founder of the award-winning FiveThirtyEight.com political website, will be the President's Invited Address speaker at the 2013 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2013) August 5 in Montréal, announces American Statistical Association (ASA) President Marie Davidian. Learn more.

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Other Recent Headlines

NIH Looking for Chief Data Officer

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking an associate director for data science (ADDS)–essentially a chief data officer. The job ad (www.jobs.nih.gov/vacancies/executive/adds.htm) says the ADDS will provide "a vision for the utilization and extraction of knowledge from the data generated by and relevant to NIH research, and advises … on a variety of complex, unique, and/or sensitive situations and issues in data science to ensure continual achievement of NIH's dynamic biomedical research mission." Given the central and indispensable role statistics plays in data science and the many ways statistics helps make NIH science better, the ASA asks you to encourage statisticians to apply for this position.

Call for Nominations: Sacks Award

Deadline: June 15, 2013

Nominations are sought for the 2013 National Institute of Statistical Sciences' (NISS) Jerome Sacks Award for Outstanding Cross-Disciplinary Research. The prize recognizes SUSTAINED, HIGH-QUALITY cross-disciplinary research involving the statistical sciences. The prize of $1,000 will be presented at the NISS/SAMSI JSM Reception on August 5, 2013, in Montreal. Further information about the award can be found here.

To nominate an individual, please submit a nomination letter (maximum two pages, include names of at least two other individuals who have consented to write letters of support) and a CV, to sacksaward2013@niss.org.

Proposed New ASA Section for Medical and Diagnostic Devices

The Interest Group for Medical Devices and Diagnostics (SIGMEDD) encourages interested ASA members to support formation of a new section for Medical and Diagnostic Devices. To do this go to the following survey monkey link www.surveymonkey.com/s/NL5RF2C and enter your name, ASA number and e-mail address. The SIGMEDD interest group was established more than 5 years ago by the Council of Sections and SIGMEDD has actively participated in a number of ASA meetings. As has been the case for all recent JSM meetings, SIGMEDD organized a number of topic-contributed sessions. SIGMEDD members have also played a major role in planning of the annual ASA Biopharmaceutical Section's FDA-Industry Statistics Workshop. To view our adopted charter and past activities, and for more information about SIGMEDD, visit www.amstat.org/sections/sigmedd.

Leslie M. Moore Wins 2013 Don Owen Award

The 2013 Don Owen Award given by the American Statistical Association San Antonio chapter was presented to Dr. Leslie M. Moore on March 22, 2013 at the Conference of Texas Statisticians by chapter vice president, Peter Olofsson. Read more.

Nominations Sought for the Lagakos Distinguished Alumni Award

The Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health is seeking nominations for the 2nd Annual Lagakos Distinguished Alumni Award. The award has been established in memory of Dr. Stephen Lagakos, a faculty member and former chair of the Department of Biostatistics who passed away in a tragic automobile accident in 2009.

This award serves to honor Steve's distinguished career, and to recognize Department alumni whose research in statistical theory and application, leadership in biomedical research, and commitment to teaching have had a major impact on the theory and practice of statistical science. The award will be open to all who have an earned degree through the department, regardless of length of time since graduation or type of degree.

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Nominate a Colleague for the Norwood Award

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Biostatistics is seeking nominations for the 12th annual Janet L. Norwood Award. The honor recognizes outstanding achievement by a woman in the statistical sciences. Contributions may be in the area of development and evaluation of statistical methods, teaching of statistics, application of statistics, or any other activity that advances the field of statistical science. Self-nominations are accepted. The award recipient will be invited to deliver a lecture at the award ceremony, where she will receive the award and a $5,000 prize. Travel expenses will be paid. The deadline for nominations is June 28. Learn more about award criteria and submission guidelines.

Call for Papers - Technometrics

The Editor-elect of Technometrics, Peihua Qiu, has issued a call for papers for a special issue on System Informatics. For more information, including important deadlines, please click here.