--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATFAX (Summer Issue, Volume 11, Number 2) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLIERS BEWARE - THE ROBUST HEAT IS ON! Our twelfth annual summer workshop features a hot topic indeed! Professor Robert V. Hogg, University of Iowa, will conduct a state-of-the-art workshop entitled Robust and Adaptive Statistical Methods, on Thursday, June 13, at the Northbrook Hilton. Professor Hogg will begin by trying to convince the participants that it is okay to downweight outlying observations in estimating the "middle". This, of course, differs from the normal dogma that seems to say "all observations are created equal". On the other hand, some outliers are often trying to tell us something about spread (or a "breakthrough") and cannot be discarded without additional study. These resulting robust techniques can be used in regression, analysis of variance, and multivariate situations such as classification. A workable robust general linear model computing package will be listed. The preceding raises many questions about just what are appropriate distributional models for various situations. The problem of looking at the data to suggest a model and then analyzing that same data using that model will be addressed. This leads to the subject of adaptive statistical methods, which are also robust. Adaptive statistics and modelling are interesting topics which can lead to lively discussion, particularly about "legalized cheating". Professor Hogg received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Iowa in 1950 and joined the Mathematics faculty later that year. He co-founded the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science and served as its Chair during 1965-83 & 1992-93. He is currently Chair of the Quality Management and Productivity Program. A past president of the ASA (1988), he has also served as Program Secretary for the IMS (1968-74). Among his numerous honors include Fellowships of the ASA and IMS, elected membership of the International Statistical Institute, the Governors Science Medal for teaching, the ASA Founders Award, and the Mathematical Association of America Award for distinguished teaching. Professor Hogg has written extensively on statistical education and has made fundamental research contributions to several areas of statistics including nonparametric statistics, order restricted inference, and robust and adaptive statistics. He has published five books, the best known of these being Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (with Allen Craig), now in its fifth edition. DON'T MISS THIS TERRIFIC WORKSHOP! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Committee Report FALL PREVIEW Plans are underway for the fall meeting of the NIC-ASA, to be held during the first week of November. Potential speakers from academia and industry have been contacted and details will be announced in the next newsletter. We plan to hold the luncheon/meeting mid-week. Tuesday/Thursday are the most likely days. Although we had a great turnout at the spring meeting, several members said they found it difficult to attend meetings on Fridays and/or Mondays. As always, we appreciate your input and comments! ~ Molly Walsh --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Presidents Report A NEW EXIT ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY "Knowledge is good" - Emil Faber The old saw says that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but I'd have to agree with educator Faber on this one. And to help with spreading the knowledge, the NIC has started up a Web page detailing upcoming meetings, archiving old newsletters, etc. The page can be found under the national ASA's site; its URL is: http://www.amstat.org/. We're one of the first chapters up and running with our own page. And please, any member interested in supporting this site and adding to it, give me a call (or perhaps more appropriately, an e-mail!). And in other news ... We recently responded to an ASA survey that asked for details regarding our chapter; e.g., size, activities, meetings, etc. Here's the summary (many of you know this information already, but it bears documenting). Approximate number of full Chapter members: 170 ____________________________________________________________________ Types of Meetings Number per Year Average Attendance ____________________________________________________________________ Local Speakers 2 50 Workshops 1 100 ____________________________________________________________________ (We had approximately 65 attendees at our spring meeting, a great turnout!) Services/Activities: Adopt-a-School Program, notices in Amstat News and LINK, directory of members for national ASA. Finally, on the lighter side of the news ... A "deep thought" from Jack Handey of Saturday Night Live fame: Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them "impressions," and if you got a different "impression," so what, can't we all be brothers? ~ Mike Carniello --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADOPT-A-SCHOOL UPDATE Jim Mellon and I made two two-day presentations at a couple of junior high schools - Old Orchard in Skokie and Eisenhower Junior High in Hoffman Estates. We gave a short slide show followed by Jim talking about the misuse of statistics in interpreting data. He also talked about his various work experiences through the years involving statistics. We then did some experiments with real hands on collecting of data followed by a computer analysis. The Poster Contest is also in progress. Three schools are participating. The deadline was April 30th. More will follow as to the outcome of this experience in the next newsletter. It's our first year in this endeavor so we're not sure what to expect. ~ Carole Bernett --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUNTEERS NEEDED A call for volunteers to serve at the Local Assistance Desk at the Joint Meetings in Chicago, from August 3 - August 8, 1996. HELP WANTED Students and supervisors for two hour shifts. PAY $$ Students receive FREE registration to meetings. Sorry, does not apply to supervisors. WHAT YOU DO Display and distribute local brochures and maps. Post messages on board or enter into message center. HOURS OF OPERATION Saturday 2 pm - 7 pm Sunday-Wednesday 10 am - 7 pm Thursday 9 am - 12 noon CHOOSE YOUR HOURS Select your preferences for a 2 hour shift (list several to allow for maximum scheduling). State your name, affiliation, e-mail address and/or phone number. Forward to Carole Bernett (See e-mail address/phone # under OFFICERS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TREASURER'S REPORT (May 5, 1996) Balance 1/1/96..........................$3743.85 INCOME 1996 Spring Meeting/Memberships $2339.00 Bank Interest 19.79 Total Income..........................$2358.79 EXPENSES 1995 Spring Meeting 1438.31 (*) Mailing (Spring Newsletter) 24.92 Mailing (Bulk Mailing Permit) 85.00 Manual for Database Software 27.11 Total Expenses.......................$1575.34 (*) Balance 5/5/96........................$4527.30 (*) Membership: 74 (72 regular, 2 students) (*) NOTE: Bill of $1438.31 for spring meeting expenses expected but not yet received or paid. Figures reported above must be adjusted by this amount to obtain actual expenses paid and actual overall bank balance. ~ Art Roth --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICERS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS PRESIDENT AND CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVE Mike Carniello (847) 982-8750 mlcarn@searle.monsanto.com PRESIDENT-ELECT AND PROGRAM CHAIR Molly Walsh (312) 908-5832 mkwalsh@nwu.edu SECRETARY Dorothy Dunlop (847) 467-1622 ddunlop@nwu.edu TREASURER Art Roth (847) 982-4775 rotha@skcla.monsanto.com PAST-PRESIDENT Carole Bernett (847) 925-6232 bernett@ix.netcom.com ARRANGEMENTS Audrey Hutchcraft (847) 270-5393 hutchca@baxter.com AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Prof. A. S. Hedayat (312) 996-4831 hedayat@uic.edu COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES Paul Coe (847) 524-6640 coepaul@email.rosary.edu MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY Paul von Doehren (847) 982-8116 pjvond@searle.monsanto.com NEWSLETTER EDITORS Donna Kowalski (847) 982-8533 dlkowa@searle.monsanto.com Devan Mehrotra (847) 982-7498 dvmehr@searle.monsanto.com OUTREACH COMMITTEE Lawrence Lin (847) 270-5394 linl@baxter.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Statfax is published three times a year in Spring, Summer and Fall by the Northeastern Illinois Chapter of the American Statistical Association. Statfax welcomes letters and material for articles from its readers. Address correspondences to The Editors, Statfax, c/o Devan Mehrotra and Donna Kowalski, Statistics Department A-1E, 4901 Searle Parkway, Skokie, IL 60077. The Chapter's purpose, as stated in its Constitution, is "to foster statistics and its applications and promote the interests of the statistical profession...". Accordingly, diverse views are presented. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the officers or the policies of the chapter.