Albuquerque Chapter

American Statistical Association

Chapter Officers

10/2007 through 9/2008

Erik Barry Erhardt, President
University of New Mexico
erik@statacumen.com web (webmaster)

Kevin Anderson, Vice President
Intel
kevin.c.anderson@intel.com web

Earl Lawrence, Secretary/Treasurer
Los Alamos National Laboratory
earl@lanl.gov web

Curtis Storlie, Chapter Representative
University of New Mexico
storlie@stat.unm.edu web



2008 Annual meeting. Mu Sigma Rho.
Officers (please help us complete our history).
Newsletters. Jobs.
Science Fair. Chapter constitution.
(internal reference for planning).

General Information

2008

• Albuquerque Chapter Annual meeting (September).
• Mu Sigma Rho is holding monthly meetings (first Friday of each month from 1-2pm in Humanities 428 at UNM).
• Short course: we are considering one on MCMC computing or the R programming language (Duncan Lang - Scott (LANL) knows). Maybe we can invite someone providing a course at JSM this year.
• CE_03C Optimal Experimental Designs, Alexander N. Donev, University of Manchester, Randy Tobias, SAS Institute Inc.
• CE_10C Systematically Improving Your Professional Practice, Doug Zahn, Zahn and Associates
• CE_11C Principles of Statistical Design, George Casella, University of Florida
• CE_16C Graphics of Large Datasets, Antony Unwin, Augsburg University, Heike Hofmann, Iowa State University
• CE_22C Fundamental Statistics Concepts in Presenting Data: Principles for Constructing Better Graphics, Rafe Donahue, Vanderbilt University
• CE_23C Bayesian Methods and Software for Data Analysis, Bradley P. Carlin, University of Minnesota, Thomas A. Louis, Johns Hopkins University
• CE_25C Mixed Models for the Practicing Statistician, Linda J. Young, University of Florida, Ramon C. Littell, University of Florida
• CE_27C Meta-Analysis: Statistical Methods for Combining the Results of Independent Studies, Ingram Olkin, Stanford University
• Career Day at UNM to discuss career options in statistics -- ASA will sponsor $500 if we apply.
  Additionally, we can have grad students outreach to high schools to give career day talks about opportunities in statistics.

1. First prize ($100): Kevin Wymer (environmental sciences), "The Effects of Agricultural and Urban Development on Bacterial Populations in the Rio Grande River", Rio Rancho High School
2. Second prize ($75): Megan Johnson (behavioral and social sciences) "How We Think, Who We Are: Who We Learn?", Rio Rancho High School
3. Third prize ($50): Amber Porter (behavioral and social sciences) "Who's Got the Power? Political Election Analysis - Phase II", Rio Rancho High School

Previous Years

2007

• Rob Easterling (Itinerant Visiting Professor), "Passion-Driven Statistics"
• Jenifer Hoffman (Los Alamos National Laboratory), "Risk-Based Prioritization for Nuclear Material Disposition - An Approach Combining Decision and Statistical Science Techniques"
• Michele Guindani (University of New Mexico), "The Optimal Discovery Procedure and Bayesian Decision Rules"
• Rob McCulloch (University of Chicago), "Fully Non-parametric Bayesian Ensemble Modelling"
• Floyd Spencer (Sandia National Laboratories), "Wrinkles in Statistical Applications for Reliability Analysis of Nondestructive Inspection"

From among the 1,211 projects:
1. First prize ($1,000): AS018 - Alex Heeb, Dispersal Patterns of Relocated Three-toed Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina triunguis).
2. Second prize ($500): EA023 - Terik Daly, Chemical Aspects of the Impact Process.
3. Third prize ($250): AS063 - Ethan Sperry, Detecting Evolutionary Forces in Populations of White-tailed Deer.
4. Honorable mention: EN044 - Nicholas Ekladyous, Yielding to Pedestrians.
5. Honorable mention: MA304 - David Price, Stephanie Chan, and Jacob Shapiro, Mathematical Developments of the Contact Network Model.
All of these students also get subscriptions to STATS and Chance.

1. Francesca Garcia (behavior and social sciences), "The Word Factor: Studying the Effect of Age on Odor. Interpretation Phase II"
2. Alexander Caldwell (microbiology), "Does Bisphenol-A Present in Plastic Water Bottles Stimulate Bacterial Growth?"
3. Suzanna Wood (behavior and social sciences), "What Family Factors Affect a Student's High School GPA?"

2006

1. Zachariah Harris (Los Lunas High School), "To Flea or Not to Flea: Phase II"
2. Rachel Clements and Leah Crowder (Hope Christian School - Albuquerque), "War on a Weed: Exterminating the Saltcedar"
3. Ayesha Sharrif (Rio Rancho High School), "The Obesity Epidemic"

2005

• Fritz Scheuren, "The Pro Bono Role of Statisticians",
• Sallie Keller-McNulty, "From Data to Policy: Scientific Excellence Is Our Future",
• Bob Mason, "Future Trends in Statistical Science",
• Kevin Anderson, Intel, "On Yield Modeling in the Semiconductor Industry",
• Calvin Chiu, LANL, "A Dempster-Shafer Approach to System Reliability: Modeling and Prediction",
• Joanne Wendelberger, LANL, "Spectral Data and Functional Data Analysis", and
  
• Gabriel Huerta, UNM, "Time-Varying models for Extreme Values".

1. Neelima Navuluri, Hobbs High School, "A Study on the Relationship between Backpack Use and Neck and Back Pain in 7th and 8th Graders"
2. Susannah Clary, Los Lunas High School, "A Statistical Comparison of a New Morphological Characteristic in Male and Female Kokanees"
3. Abigail Gray, Manzano High School, "Nitrate and Groundwater in the East Mountains---Phase 3---Evaluation of Aquifer Recharge"

2004

• Kevin Anderson (Intel) on "Machine Learning",
• Laura Salter (UNM) on "Prospects and Pitfalls of Whole Genome Phylogeny",
• Margaret Short (LANL) on "Gaussian Process Models for the Sphere",
• Tim Hanson (UNM) on "Generalizing Standard Parametric Models with Mixtures of Polya Trees", and
• Tom Burr (LANL) on "Methods for Choosing Clusters in Phylogenetic Trees".

2003

2002

• David Higdon (Los Alamos National Laboratory) on "A Space-Time Model that Combines Simulations and Flight Test Data for Assessing Missile Launches from the F-22 Prototype Aircraft";
• Larry Pratt (Intel Corporation) on "Development and Proliferation of a Sampling Frequency Optimization Tool in Industry"; and
• Valen Johnson (Los Alamos National Laboratory) on "Bayesian Analysis of Rank Data with Application to Primate Intelligence Experiments."

2001

• Tom Kepler (Santa Fe Institute) on "Gene Expression, DNA Microarrays, and Data Analysis";
• Laura Salter (University of New Mexico) on "Phylogenetic Inference in the Era of the Human Genome Project"; and
• Kevin Anderson (Intel Corporation) on "The Power of Positive Spatial Statistics."

1. Megan Lockwood, Junior Division, "Let them have cake and eat it 2"
2. Christopher Alme, Junior Division, "Am I a bell-shaped marksman?"
3. Daniel Appel, Junior Division, "BioPol: Extraction of biodegradable PHA polymers from transgenic arabidopsis thaliana"

2000

1. Brianne Douthit, "Trafalgar: A Statistical Probability Model of the Historic Naval Battle" (Senior Division)
2. Marian Daigle, "Multiple Intelligences: A Key to Increasing Student Performance" (Senior Division)
3. Michelle Carroll, "Learning Disabilities Awareness: What Every Teacher Should Know" (Senior Division)
   

1. Dan Appel, "Eubacterial Responses to Extremophilic Environments" (Junior Division)