Greetings to B&E section members, new and old.
I'm pleased to report that our current membership is 1217, up from 1093 in August 2007. More than half of you have free trial memberships. Thanks for trying us; I hope you find a connection to our section and will want to continue to belong and support it with the modest $5 dues at renewal time. Our main activity is organizing useful, coherent sessions and other activities at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM).
In this report, I want (1) to invite you to come to Washington for this year's JSM, Aug 1-6, and (2) to describe for you other section news, including some new initiatives since last year’s gathering in Denver. Most of the items below are described in further detail elsewhere on our website.
Barbara Rossi, this year's program chair, has put together a strong set of five Invited sessions for JSM and promises that a number of Topic Contributed sessions are in the works. If you plan to present this year, keep in mind the February 2 deadline (3 pm, EST) for abstract submission. Since the ASA website gets busy then, it is preferable to submit before that date. While August is not my favorite time here, you will have a chance to visit the historical sites, museums, and other attractions of DC. The meetings take place in our new downtown convention center.
Martin Baily, Brookings Institution, is the speaker for the Economic Outlook luncheon at JSM. He was chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton. Following our business meeting, we will have a joint mixer with the Marketing Section. We also hope to have a roundtable event or two.
We are offering two Student Travel Awards of up to $500 for JSM. The application can be accessed on our website or found in the January Amstat News (p 38). If you are a student or have a student who is thinking of making a presentation, check this out. The submission deadline is March 31.
As usual, we are sponsoring the Zellner Thesis Award. Eligible are theses defended in the two-year period, 2007-2008, not previously considered for the award. The Shiskin Award is made annually for important contributions to the development of economic statistics or their use in economic analysis. Both have cash awards, with application deadlines of March 31 and April 1, respectively. Our website has details.
We are sponsoring a one-day short course "State Space Time Series Analysis in Practice" to be presented by a section member Siem Jan Koopman, Free University of Amsterdam. At $360 for regular members and $220 for student members, the course is a bargain. One of the world’s leading experts on the topic, Siem Jan contributes to theory, software development, and applications. More information will appear soon on our website and in the February Amstat News.
Longer term, we are co-sponsoring the 2012 International Conference on Establishment Surveys (ICES IV). The first three conferences, held at 7-year intervals, have all been successful, which has led to a 5-year interval for this one. Invited sessions will be taking shape during 2010. Look for information in the coming months from Danny Pfeffermann, Hebrew U and U of Southampton, our representative on the program committee.
Now let me thank those who have worked to make these things happen. For the Student Travel Award, Norm Swanson, Rutgers U (chair), George McCabe, Purdue U, and Torben Andersen, Northwestern U; for Short Courses, Sung K. Ahn, Washington State U, and Tucker McElroy, Bureau of the Census; for the JSM program, Barbara Rossi, Duke U. In addition, David Dickey, North Carolina State U, John Geweke, U of Iowa, and William Bell, Bureau of the Census, have identified several worthy section members and encouraged their nomination as ASA Fellows. Thanks to my predecessor Sastry Pantula, North Carolina State U, for advice and encouragement and good luck to him in his new role as ASA President-elect.
Finally, if you have suggestions or comments for the section, please call or e-mail me or someone else on our executive committee.
Best wishes for 2009,
Stuart
Stuart Scott (email: scott.stuart@bls.gov)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
2 Massachusetts Ave NE, Rm 1950
Washington, DC 20212
202-691-7383 (phone)
202-691-7426 (fax)
January 2009
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Updated January 2009 |
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