JSM 2009: Playlater
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June 2009 • Issue #384 AMSTAT The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical AssociationNEWS • www.amstat.org/publications/amsn JSM 2009: Plan Now Play Later ALSO: ASA Endorses CNSTAT’s Principles and Practices for Federal Statistical Agency NCSU, UM Honored for Bringing Minorities into Publications Agreement No. 41544521 Mathematics B AMSTAT NEWS JUNE 2009 JUNE 2009 • Issue #384 Executive Director Ron Wasserstein: [email protected] Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations F EATURES Stephen Porzio: [email protected] Director of Programs 3 President’s Invited Column Martha Aliaga: [email protected] 5 Board Highlights Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson: [email protected] 6 Extra! Extra! Managing Editor 8 2009 AsA Audit Report Megan Murphy: [email protected] 13 NCsU, UM Honored for Bringing Minorities into Production Coordinators/Graphic Designers Mathematics Melissa Muko: [email protected] Lidia Vigyázó: [email protected] 14 AsA Endorses CNsTAT’s Principles and Practices for Federal statistical Agency Publications Coordinator Val Snider: [email protected] 15 Caucus for Women in statistics to Host Breakfast Advertising Manager During JsM Claudine Donovan: [email protected] 16 Algorithmic, statistical Challenges in Data Analysis Contributing Staff Members Focus of MMDs 2009 Amy Farris • Rick Peterson • Eric Sampson Kathleen Wert • Elizabeth Shwaery Amstat News welcomes news items and letters from readers on matters of interest to the association and the profession. Address correspondence Caucus for Women in to Managing Editor, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314-1943 USA, or email statistics to Host Breakfast [email protected]. Items must be received by the first day of the preced- During JsM ing month to ensure appearance in the next issue (for example, June 1 for p. 15 the July issue). Material can be sent as a Microsoft Word document, PDF, or within an email. Articles will be edited for space. Accompanying art- work will be accepted in graphics file formats only (.jpg, etc.), minimum 300 dpi. No material in WordPerfect will be accepted. Amstat News (ISSN 0163-9617) is published monthly by the American Statistical Association, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314-1943 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Amstat News, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314-1943 USA. Send Canadian address changes to Station A, P.O. Box 54, Windsor 20 Feds in space ON N9A 6J5; [email protected]. Annual subscriptions are $50 per year for nonmembers. Amstat News is the member publication of the ASA. For annual membership rates, see www.amstat.org/join or contact 23 CHANCE Highlights ASA Member Services at (888) 231-3473. 25 AsA Online Journals Provide the Tools You Need American Statistical Association 732 North Washington Street 26 JASA Highlights Alexandria, VA 22314–1943 USA (703) 684–1221 • FAX: (703) 684-2036 28 Norwood Award Proposals Due June 29 ASA GENERAL: [email protected] 29 NC state Dedicates Math, stats Building ADDRESS CHANGES: [email protected] 30 Library slipped? AMSTAT EDITORIAL: [email protected] ADVERTISING: [email protected] 31 Staff spotlight WEB SITE: www.amstat.org 33 AsA-sIAM series Printed in USA © 2009 American Statistical Association VISION STATEMENT To be a world leader in promoting statistical practice, applications, and research; publishing statistical journals; improving statistical education; and advancing the statistics profession Feds in space p. 20 MISSION STATEMENT Support excellence in statistical practice, research, journals, and meetings. Work for the improvement of statistical education at all levels. Promote the proper application of statistics. Anticipate and meet the needs of our members. Use our discipline to enhance human welfare. Seek opportunities to advance the statistics profession. Column Contributors Funding Opportunities Increased Funding for Science: What Does It Mean for Statistics? p. 35 This column highlights research activities that may be of interest to AsA members. These brief articles include information about new research DEPARTMENTS solicitations and the federal budget for statistics. Comments or sugges- tions for future articles may be sent to [email protected]. 42 Meetings IOLs Open Eyes to the Basics Contributing Editor Program-at-a-Glance Keith Crank has a BS in mathematics education Washington, DC, Trivia and an MS in mathematics from Michigan State University and a PhD in statistics from Purdue No Car, No Problem: Getting Around During JsM University. Prior to joining the ASA, he was a program RTI supports Cox Race, Honors Namesake officer at the National Science Foundation, primarily in the probability program. Practical Forum Brings Together Industry, Academic statisticians Crank Science Policy News Thinking Outside the Urn p. 37 JSM 2009: This column is written to inform AsA members about what the AsA is doing to Plan Now promote the inclusion of statistics in policymaking and the funding of statistics research. To suggest science policy topics for the AsA to address, contact AsA Play Later Director of science Policy steve Pierson at [email protected]. p. 42 Contributing Editor Arlene Ash is a research professor at Boston University’s School of Medicine. A past chair of the ASA’s Subcommittee on Electoral Integrity, she has testified 52 Government News before the state legislature of Massachusetts on statis- saying Goodbye to sOI tical issues in elections and in a court case in Florida in 2000. 57 Education CAUsE Presence Holds at JMM ‘10 Ash AsA Board Endorses Recommendations for Contributing Editor Graduate Programs in statistics Philip B. Stark is a professor of statistics at the University ? of California at Berkeley. He has helped develop meth- ods for risk-limiting election audits, served on a post- Washington, DC, election audit standards panel for the California secre- Trivia tary of state, and conducted four risk-limiting audits in a p. 46 California—the only such audits to date. Triv stark Master’s Notebook A Learning Opportunity for Statisticians p. 41 MEMBER NEWS This column is written for statisticians with master’s degrees and highlights areas of employment that will benefit statisticians at the master’s level. Comments 60 People News and suggestions should be sent to Keith Crank, AsA assistant director for research and graduate education, at [email protected]. 65 Committees 67 section News 80 Chapter News Contributing Editor 81 Calendar of Events Amarjot Kaur is director of clinical biostatistics at Merck Research Laboratories. She earned her PhD in statistics 87 Professional Opportunities from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, and was the recipient of a national-level research fellowship. cover design by Melissa Muko Kaur PRESIDENT’S INVITED COLUMN In January, I shared information about three initiatives undertaken this year to address issues raised in the ASA strategic plan and promised to provide updates to members as work progressed. In this month’s column, Keith Ord, ASA treasurer and leader of the financial status initiative, summarizes his work group’s deliberations and provisional recommendations. The ASA’s spending policy and reserves are essential to the financial health of the association and, thus, its ability to carry out its mission. I thank Ord and the members of his work group for their time and attention to these important issues that will affect the association for many years to come. ~ Sally C. Morton, AsA President Saving for a Rainy Day Keith Ord, AsA Treasurer ecent economic events have left us only too We began our deliberations by elucidating a set well aware of the need for careful financial of operating principles for spending policy. Most of planning. Further, we recognize our fund of these statements will have a familiar ring to them. Rgood ideas usually outstrips the dollars to pay for If implemented in both letter and spirit, we believe them. As ASA President Sally Morton put it in her they will provide useful guidelines for the ASA in charge to our working group, “After personnel, the the years ahead. Each activity or project undertaken most important decisions made by an organization by the association (e.g., JASA) was first classified as are its fiscal decisions. Decisions on how to spend income-producing, self-supporting, or needing sup- reflect an organization’s values and should reflect port. Projects were then grouped into one of nine its goals. Further, the amount of funds maintained broad categories, or “buckets” (e.g., publications), as reserves determines the flexibility an organization so the overall health of major activities of the ASA will have to weather economic ups and downs could be monitored in a flexible, broad framework. and to make investments in future programs.” Spending policy is then defined at the level of indi- Accordingly, we were asked to develop (a) a spend- vidual projects, whereas reserve policy is specified at ing policy and (b) a long-term fiscal policy for the the bucket level. size of ASA reserves. We began by examining recent ASA Board deci- Spending Policy sions so we could understand the criteria currently The general principles for spending policy are applied to the assessment of new projects. We also the following: benchmarked the reserve policies of professional organizations in related fields. The outcome of this — There should be an overall rolling budget plan second exercise suggests our sister organizations are looking ahead for, say, five years that would include struggling with similar issues and do not have com- net income (or net cost) projections for each project. plete solutions either. As the financial health of the ASA is a matter of concern to us all, the purpose of — Proposals for new projects should provide both this interim report is to share the progress made to an assessment of the project’s importance to the date by the group and to invite suggestions or com- ASA and a detailed business plan.