Amstatnews May 2016 • Issue #467

May 2016 • Issue #477 AMSTAT The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical AssociationNEWS • http://magazine.amstat.org 6000+ STATISTICIANS EXPECTED IN CHICAGO

ALSO Interview with Steve Fienberg

And the Award Goes To ...

ANNUAL REVIEWS Connect With Our Experts

Now Available From Annual Reviews: Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application statistics.annualreviews.org • Volume 3 • June 2016 Editor: Stephen E. Fienberg, Carnegie Mellon University Associate Editors: Nancy Reid, University of Toronto Stephen M. Stigler, University of Chicago The Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application, in publication since 2014, informs statisticians, quantitative methodologists, and users of statistics about major methodological advances and the computational tools that allow for their implementation. It includes developments in the field of statistics, including theoretical statistical underpinnings of new methodology, as well as developments in specific application domains such as biostatistics and bioinformatics, economics, machine learning, psychology, sociology, and aspects of the physical sciences.

Access all Annual Reviews journals via your institution at www.annualreviews.org

planned table of contents: • Are Survey Weights Needed? A Review of • League Tables for Hospital Comparisons, Diagnostic Tests in Regression Analysis, Sharon-Lise T. Normand, Arlene S Ash, Kenneth A. Bollen, Paul Biemer, Alan F. Karr, Stephen E. Fienberg, Thérèse A. Stukel, Stephen Tueller, Marcus Berzofsky Jessica Utts, Thomas A. Louis • Bayes and the Law, Norman Fenton, Martin Neil, • On the Frequentist Properties of Bayesian Daniel Berger Nonparametric Methods, Judith Rousseau • Data Sharing and Access, Alan F. Karr • Statistical Methods in Integrative Genomics, • Data Visualization and Statistical Graphics in Sylvia Richardson, George C. Tseng, Wei Sun Big Data Analysis, Dianne Cook, Eun-Kyung Lee, • Statistical Model Choice, Gerda Claeskens Mahbubul Majumder • Stochastic Processing Networks, Ruth J. Williams • Does Big Data Change the Privacy Landscape? • The US Federal Statistical System’s Past, A Review of the Issues, Sallie Ann Keller, Present, and Future, Constance F. Citro Stephanie Shipp, Aaron Schroeder • There Is Individualized Treatment. Why Not • From CT to fMRI: Larry Shepp’s Impact on Individualized Inference? Keli Liu, Xiao-Li Meng Medical Imaging, Martin A. Lindquist • Functional Data Analysis, Jane-Ling Wang, Jeng-Min Chiou, Hans-Georg Müller • Item Response Theory, Li Cai, Kilchan Choi, Mark Hansen, Lauren Harrell

ANNUAL REVIEWS | www.annualreviews.org | Connect With Our Experts

Tel: 800.523.8635 (us/can) | Tel: 650.493.4400 | Fax: 650.424.0910 | Email: [email protected] AMSTATNEWS MAY 2016 • ISSUE #467

Executive Director Ron Wasserstein: [email protected] Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations features Stephen Porzio: [email protected] 3 President’s Corner Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson: [email protected] 5 ASA Leaders Reminisce: Jon Kettenring Director of Strategic Initiatives and Outreach 8 Price Index Row Costs Statistician Her Job, Yet Again Donna Lalonde: [email protected] 9 Presidential Teaching Honoree Shares Perspective Director of Education on Statistics Education Rebecca Nichols: [email protected] 12 An Interview with Steve Fienberg, 2015 NISS Jerome Managing Editor Megan Murphy: [email protected] Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research Winner

Production Coordinators/Graphic Designers 14 And the Award Goes To ... Leading statistical Sara Davidson: [email protected] groups create prestigious platform to recognize Megan Ruyle: [email protected] far-reaching contributions Publications Coordinator 15 New Journal Calls for Papers, Strives to Meet Goal Val Nirala: [email protected]

Advertising Manager Claudine Donovan: [email protected]

Contributing Staff Members Amanda Conageski, James Earle, Amy Farris, Naomi Friedman, Eric Sampson, Kathleen Wert

Amstat News welcomes news items and letters from readers on matters of interest to the association and the profession. Address correspondence to Managing Editor, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314-1943 USA, or email amstat@ amstat.org. Items must be received by the first day of the preceding month to ensure appearance in the next issue (for example, June 1 for the July issue). Material can be sent as a Microsoft Word document, PDF, or within an email. See Page 14 Articles will be edited for space. Accompanying artwork 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 columns mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Amstat News, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314-1943 USA. Send Canadian address changes to APC, PO Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Rich Hill, 29 SCIENCE POLICY ON L4B 4R6. Annual subscriptions are $50 per year for nonmembers. Amstat News is the member publication of the ASA. For annual membership rates, Evidence-Based Policy at the U.S. Department see www.amstat.org/join or contact ASA Member Services at (888) 231-3473. of Labor American Statistical Association This column is written to inform ASA members about what the ASA is doing 732 North Washington Street to promote the inclusion of statistics in policymaking and the funding of Alexandria, VA 22314–1943 USA statistics research. To suggest science policy topics for the ASA to address, (703) 684–1221 contact ASA Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson at [email protected]. ASA GENERAL: [email protected] ADDRESS CHANGES: [email protected] AMSTAT EDITORIAL: [email protected] ADVERTISING: [email protected] 31 STATtr@k WEBSITE: http://magazine.amstat.org Key Strategies for a Successful Analytics Job Search Printed in USA © 2016 American Statistical Association STATtr@k is a column in Amstat News and a website geared toward people who are in a statistics program, recently graduated from a statistics program, or recently entered the job world. To read more articles like this one, visit the website at http://stattrak.amstat.org. If you have suggestions for future articles, or would like to submit an article, please email Megan Murphy, Amstat News managing editor, at [email protected].

The American Statistical Association is the world’s largest community of statisticians. The ASA supports excellence in the development, application, and dissemination of statistical science through meetings, publications, membership services, education, accreditation, and advocacy. Our members serve in industry, government, and academia in more than 90 countries, advancing research and promoting sound statistical practice to inform public policy and improve human welfare. departments

16 meetings 6000+ Statisticians Expected in Chicago Featured Speakers To Do in Chicago: Museum Campus Beyond AP Statistics New This Year at JSM NEXT MONTH ... More to Do at JSM Don’t Let What Happens at JSM Stay We’ll have the results of the ASA elec- at JSM! tion and a call for proposals for JSM 2017. We’ll also feature interviews with Meeting Within a Meeting the speakers of the Women in Statistics 28 education and Data Science Conference. Registra- Third eCOTS to Focus on Changing with tion for the conference begins June 2. Technology Undergraduates: Applications Wanted for Project Competition

Save the Date! member news 32 Awards and Deadlines 34 People News

Statistics and Data Science 35 Section • Chapter • Committee News 39 Calendar of Events conference 44 Professional Opportunities October 20-22, 2016 Charlotte, North Carolina

Join the ASA Community http://community.amstat.org/home

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/AmstatNews

2 amstat news may 2016 president's corner

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the AP Statistics Exam

hat do 1,761,116 current and former high- school students have in Wcommon? Answer: They have taken an Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics exam sometime during the past 19 years. And on the afternoon of May 12, an estimated 204,000 students will take the 20th annual offering, bringing the total to almost 2 million students. The accompanying fig- ure shows the growth over the 20 years the AP Statistics exam has Jessica Utts been offered. I’ve been involved with the types and range from a low of 1 only one exam, while some mul- writing and grading of the exam to a high of 5. Many universities tiple choice questions are used since I joined the committee that grant credit for the introductory on numerous exams to allow develops the exam (appropriately statistics course to students who statistical equating of scores named the Test Development score 3, 4, or 5. The College Board across exams and years. Past free- Committee, or TDC) in 1997. I provides a search facility so stu- response questions are available currently serve as the chief reader dents can determine the policy for at http://bit.ly/1qWCQfM. and, in addition to working with any particular college. In 2015, In addition to working with the TDC, I’m responsible for over- the distribution of scores was the TDC to develop the exam, sight of the grading of the free- similar to previous years, with the chief reader is responsible response portion of the exam. 57.75% of test-takers earning a In honor of the exam’s 20th score of 3 or more, with 13.4%, for the entire scoring process anniversary, I provide a behind- 19.1%, and 25.2% scoring 5, 4, (explained below), includ- the-scenes look at its features, and 3, respectively. ing developing scoring rubrics including who writes it, who for each free-response ques- grades it, and why people keep Who Writes the AP tion, selecting the individuals coming back to grade exams for a Statistics Exam? who will grade the exams, and full week! The exam is written and revised overseeing the week-long scor- by the TDC consisting of three ing process. Chief readers serve How Do Students Use the college faculty members (cur- terms of three to five years, and AP Exam to Get College rently from Iowa State, Duke, all my chief reader predecessors Credit for a Statistics and Clemson), three experienced Course? have been accomplished mem- AP high-school teachers, and bers of the statistics education The AP Statistics course is taught a College Board adviser. These community. The inaugural chief in high schools, usually over the members are joined by the chief reader was 2001 ASA President full school year, and covers con- reader and two content special- Dick Scheaffer, followed by tent similar to a standard one- ists from Educational Testing Roxy Peck, Brad Hartlaub, Chris semester introductory statistics Service (ETS). All the free- college course. In May of each year, response questions and most of Franklin, and Allan Rossman. In a standardized AP Statistics exam the multiple choice questions are the accompanying photo, ETS is offered, consisting of 40 multi- written by individual members content expert Jeff Haberstroh ple-choice and six free-response of the TDC, but they go through is shown with four of the former questions. (Not all students who numerous revisions during dis- chief readers. Jeff was instrumen- take the course choose to take the cussions with the full committee tal in getting the AP Statistics exam.) Scores on the exam are a before they are finalized. Free- Program started and guided it composite of the two question response questions are used on through many years of growth. may 2016 amstat news 3 in a quandary about how to score a question, leading to some fruitful professional discussions. Additional professional development opportunities are provided through evening events. For instance, one evening program consists of “best practices,” in which participants share ideas that have worked well in their class- Educational Testing Service specialist Jeff Haberstroh (center) with former AP Statistics chief rooms. Professional Night is held readers (from left) Allan Rossman, Chris Franklin, Roxy Peck, and Dick Scheaffer on another evening and usually involves a talk by a distinguished Who Grades the AP hotels and meals served in the statistician or author of a popular Statistics Exam, and When convention center. All travel and book with a statistics theme. and Where Do They Do It? accommodation expenses are paid, The multiple choice questions and a modest stipend is provided, Why You Should Consider are, of course, computer graded. but the reason people keep coming Getting Involved, and How But with six free-response ques- back is that the reading provides to Do It tions and more than 200,000 an enriching personal and profes- The final reason people keep com- exams, there are over 1.2 million sional development experience. ing back is difficult to describe, questions that must be manually but is best illustrated by the many graded! This grading is done by Why Would Anyone Want comments I hear about how it feels a large group of dedicated col- to Spend a Week Grading like a great big family reunion, lege professors and AP Statistics AP Exams? except you actually like the people high-school teachers who gather As the old saying goes, “I guess at this reunion! The social aspect in June and read exams for seven you had to be there.” As much as of the experience is a tremendous consecutive days. In 2015, there people try to describe why they draw. But don’t take my word for were more than 800 individuals keep coming back to grade exams, it! If you are a college professor involved in the reading held at the it’s difficult to understand unless who teaches the introductory sta- Kansas City Convention Center. you have had the experience. tistics course, consider applying to In his September 2012 President’s First, there is the professional be a reader. I can’t promise you will Column (http://bit.ly/1S8npv4), development aspect, which occurs have the time of your life, but I can Bob Rodriguez provided an excel- in multiple ways. It’s extremely say there is ample data to show you lent account of what he learned by important that exams are graded just might! You can apply at http:// spending a few days observing the consistently, because a student’s bit.ly/1ThcfTZ. 2012 reading, including quotes score should not depend on who If you would like to get involved from some of the participants. graded the questions. For that rea- in the AP Statistics program in For the first 10 years (1997– son, a multi-page scoring rubric other ways, consider visiting a 2006), the reading was held on is provided for each question local classroom or mentoring an a college campus (The College and readers go through extensive AP teacher. Many new and experi- of New Jersey in 1997 and the training to learn the subtleties of enced AP teachers would welcome University of Nebraska there- these rubrics. mentoring by an experienced stat- after), and the readers stayed in Although the rubrics are devel- istician. As one of my presidential dorm rooms and ate in the dorm oped initially by the chief reader, initiatives, a group of AP teachers cafeteria. There were 7,667 exams they are refined over the four-day and college professors led by ASA the first year (1997), graded by period before the scoring starts. A Board member Anna Nevius is 57 readers. But alas, as the num- leadership team is assigned to each developing tools to help make the ber of exams and readers grew, no question with the task of look- connection between professional college campus was available to ing at hundreds of student papers statisticians and AP Statistics stu- accommodate the large number and refining the rubric based on dents and teachers. Watch this of people required to accomplish the myriad ways students might space for more information! the task. In 2006—the last year at answer the question. It’s amazing the University of Nebraska—there how many ways students can find were about 89,000 exams and to answer some of these questions. almost 350 readers. All readers work with a partner Convention centers are now at first, and then they can consult used, with readers housed in nice with that person anytime they are 4 amstat news may 2016 ASA LEADERS REMINISCE Jon Kettenring

James Cochran In the 17th installment of the Amstat News series of interviews with ASA presidents and executive directors, we feature a discussion with 1997 ASA President Jon Kettenring.

Jon Kettenring joined Drew University in 2004 as a fellow in the Charles A. Dana Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti, known as RISE, and has served as its director since 2008. From 1969–2003, he worked in industrial research at Bell Laboratories, Bellcore, and Telcordia Technologies. His primary research focus has been on applied methods for analyzing multivariate statistical data. From 1984–2003, he managed research groups in statistics, economics, computer science, and information analysis at Bellcore and Telcordia. Kettenring also held visiting appointments at the University of Washington, the University of Minnesota, Stanford You are one of the few statisticians I have Qmet who earned all of her or his degrees in University, and the University of Michigan. He earned his BS statistics. How did you find this discipline so and MS degrees from Stanford University in 1961 and 1962 early in life? Did you intend to major in statistics and his PhD from The University of North Carolina in 1969, when you entered Stanford as a freshman, or did following two years in the U.S. Army. something happen during your undergraduate education that led you to major in statistics and Throughout his career, Kettenring has been especially study statistics as a graduate student? interested in the infrastructure that supports the statistics I started out thinking I would major in a branch profession. He served as president of the American A of engineering, but nothing excited me especial- Statistical Association in 1997 and vice president from ly. My junior year, I had the opportunity to study 1990–1992, chair of the Board of Trustees of the National for six months in the Stanford-in-Germany pro- Institute of Statistical Sciences from 2000–2004, chair of gram—probably the most important experience I the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics at had as an undergraduate student. After returning, I still needed a major and a plan to graduate. I had the National Research Council from 1993–1996, member dabbled a bit in statistics as I explored industrial of the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Advisory engineering. I was intrigued with the idea of dealing Committee at the National Science Foundation from with uncertainty. So, in short, I fell into statistics 2003–2006, and chair of the ASA Accreditation Proposal out of curiosity and necessity. Review Panel from 2008–2009. You were executive director of several Q departments at Bellcore and Telcordia In 2005, the National Institute of Statistical Science (NISS) Technologies. How did you, with your educa- organized The Future of Data Analysis: A Conference in tion and experience in statistics, wind up in Honor of Jon Kettenring in recognition of his multiple these managerial positions? What aspects of contributions to the profession and NISS. He is a fellow of your training and experience in statistics were the ASA and American Association for the Advancement of particularly valuable to you in this position? Science, and, in 2001, he received the ASA’s Founders Award. A tradition at Bell Labs that carried over to A Bellcore and Telcordia was that managers in

may 2016 amstat news 5 a forward-looking study of statistics—a Vision 2020—was needed at the foundation. It was hint- ed that, without such a report, our field was at a disadvantage. So the timing seemed right, and for- tunately a broad representation of the community was able to participate. Bruce served as chair of the program committee and David, along with several other distinguished statisticians, were members. Following the workshop, I worked with Bruce and David to produce a report of the proceedings. An abridged version of the full report appeared in the August 2004 issue of Statistical Science. Writing the report was a lot more difficult than it should have been, and it took considerable time. One of my roles was to pull together the education section you mentioned. As a friend likes to remind me, I The two students shown here with Kettenring—Richa Patel (left), an econom- had zero qualifications for the task—and he was ics and math double major, and Liz Pemberton (right), a physics major and correct! Nevertheless, the educational reforms we math minor—spent last semester together studying multivariate statistics. included still feel right to me. If anything, perhaps they are understated. Now that we are in the era of technical areas should have technical backgrounds. Big Data and data science, there seems to be great- That sounds simplistic, but it’s really important er urgency to the opportunities for reforming our from a cultural perspective. Also, I enjoyed work- entire educational effort. ing with people from different disciplines. So it was I would especially underscore the need to invest natural for me to take on such assignments. They more heavily in high-school statistics education. I involved managing research groups in economics, recently suggested doing this as the leading element software engineering, and other aspects of computer of a six-pronged plan for developing future lead- science, as well as statistics. Half the battle in such ers. I believe it would help introduce more of the positions is to listen well and ask good questions— best and brightest students to our field at a young something that is very natural for statisticians. In age. You can find more details in Leadership and fact, I believe statisticians often make excellent man- Women in Statistics, which was edited by Amanda agers because of the way we think about problems. Goldbeck, Ingram Olkin, and Yulia Gel and pub- In 2002, you, Bruce Lindsay, and David lished by CRC Press in 2015. QSiegmund produced a report on a workshop You were associated with the National about the future of statistics that was held at the Q Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) for National Science Foundation (NSF). One focus many years. What was the nature of your involve- of this workshop was educational reform, and ment? Why did you devote so much time to it? issues identified included developing adequate- I served on the board of trustees for about 10 ly trained teachers for AP Statistics courses and years and as chair of the board for five. NISS is ensuring statistical literacy of instructors in A a very important part of the infrastructure of statis- other subjects in grades K–12, the need for inte- tics and has been a leader in cross-disciplinary work grating statistics throughout the K–16 curricu- since its inception. One of its nicest contributions lum, and expansion of statistics programs and has been its post-doctoral program. It is also a strong options at both the undergraduate and gradu- partner with SAMSI [Statistical and Mathematical ate levels. Do you think our discipline is making Sciences Institute]—both are housed in the same progress in these areas? What activities in these building in Research Triangle Park. I was happy to areas have impressed you, and what activities help create the NISS Affiliates Program, which brings would you like to see undertaken? together academic, government, and industrial inter- The instigators of the workshop were Marianthi ests under the NISS umbrella. I also enjoyed working A Markatou and John Stufken, who were serving with the directors of NISS during that period, Jerry as program officers at NSF. They recognized that Sacks and Alan Karr, who did so much to nurture and grow the institute to its present stature. 6 amstat news may 2016 You are a fellow and director of the RISE pro- a way to serve some of the underserved groups in Qgram at Drew University. What is RISE, and the association. what is its mission? I would like to add that the committee I chaired was probably the most effective one of all the ASA RISE stands for the Research Institute for committees I served on over the years. While the Scientists Emeriti. It’s a group of researchers from A issue under study was controversial, we managed various scientific disciplines who have retired from to approach it in an open-minded way through industry. Our mission is to mentor undergraduates a series of conference calls. The other members at Drew who want to get involved in research. Most of the committee were Mary Ellen Bock, Roger of us worked in either the pharmaceutical or tele- Hoerl, Nancy Kirkendall, Bob Mason, David communications sector, both of which have a strong Morganstein, Vijay Nair, Bob O’Neill, Len legacy in New Jersey. One of our members, Bill Oppenheimer, and Ron Wasserstein. Campbell, recently received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work he and others did What were the biggest issues you faced as at Merck. Most of our students head to graduate or Qpresident of the ASA? medical schools after graduation. The RISE program began 35 years ago. More than 400 students have That’s a hard question, especially given it was so participated. We have a lot of fun together, and it is A long ago—1997! As a board, we dealt with quite a great way for retirees to stay active! You can learn a range of issues. One priority that I would label more about this program at www.drew.edu/rise. big was to complete, refine, and operationalize a new strategic plan that had been initiated by Lynne You chaired the committee that developed the Billard in 1996. Its main themes were to enhance Q ASA report on voluntary individual accredi- the reputation and health of statistics, support pro- tation of statisticians. What led to the establish- fessional statisticians, and improve the efficiency of ment of this committee? How was the ASA’s cur- the ASA. Each theme had specific sub-goals, such rent accreditation program ultimately developed? as getting involved in policy issues. An issue that How did the ASA decide what would be required cut across the plan was how best to deal with the for accreditation, and what led to the establish- challenges and opportunities posed by electronic ment of two levels of accreditation—Accredited technology. We were able to use the plan to guide Professional Statistician, or PStat, and Graduate decision making and set funding priorities through- Statistician, or GStat? out the year. David Hoaglin led this effort as chair Our committee was a follow-up to a previous of the Strategic Planning Committee, and many A one chaired by Mary Batcher that recommended others were involved on the committee and various the ASA start an optional accreditation program. specialized task forces. We took a fresh look at the opportunity, surveyed At a more personal level, a big issue I tried to about 1,000 members, and recommended that the emphasize, as many from our community already ASA Board launch an optional PStat program. We fully understood, was the growing intersection made this suggestion to a large extent because more of computer science and statistics, the increasing than 40% of the respondents indicated they would size and complexity of data sets, and what these apply for such a program. The ASA now also offers trends might mean for us. It was for this reason I the GStat program, which we had considered but chose Alfred Aho, a distinguished computer sci- deferred. We also made recommendations for PStat entist, to be the president’s invited speaker at the requirements that mirrored those in the Batcher JSM in Anaheim and why I reiterated the words report. After the board approved our proposal, there of John Tucker of the National Research Council was a lot of follow-up work to be done to launch the in my presidential address at the same meeting program and its processes. Iain Johnstone chaired the that massive data problems would be the grand committee that brought the accreditation concept challenge for statistics in the 21st century. Now, into practice. nearly 20 years later, I think we can agree he was Today, there are more than 350 PStat- or right on the money—even though massive seems GStat-accredited statisticians. While this is a to have been downsized to big in the press. For lot less than 40%, it does emphasize what Sally more about these developments, see the 2013 Morton, ASA president in 2009, said was one of National Research Council report, “Frontiers in the program’s main attributes, namely to provide Massive Data Analysis,” published by the National Academies Press. n may 2016 amstat news 7 Price Index Row Costs Statistician Her Job, Yet Again Graciela Bevacqua says she was sacked in a dispute over her proposed development schedule

cation of the skepticism with months, she insisted it would not which Argentina’s inflation esti- be “credible” to do so, after which mates have been viewed in recent she was removed from her post— years. A few days later, however, a post for which she had given “This has to do with my refusal Bevacqua emailed us back: “Sorry up her job only months before. to let you know that [they] have According to a Bloomberg report to create a new consumer price separated me from the post of (bit.ly/1Xc6WFX), Todesca has technical director on Monday 15 since said that the new price February,” she wrote. “This has to index would be ready by the end index in two months.” do with my refusal to create a new of the second quarter. Bevacqua, consumer price index in two meanwhile, has expressed con- months.” Bevacqua described cern for what this latest develop- returning to INDEC to find the ment means for her country and CPI “destroyed” by political inter- the government’s commitment hings had been looking ference. The decision was taken to to restoring public trust in statis- up for Graciela Bevacqua, redevelop the index from scratch, tics—though the immediate task the former head of and she believed she had the gov- in front of her is to seek work. TArgentina’s official consumer ernment’s backing for this task. “I She will also be hoping for a swift price index (CPI). Having been estimated it would take approxi- and positive end to a criminal dismissed from her job in 2007 mately eight months. The result- case that has hung over her since for refusing to bend to govern- ing system would have some limi- 2011. After she was ousted from MORE ONLINE Graciela Bevacqua ment pressure to tweak the CPI tations,” she said, “but it would be INDEC in 2007, Bevacqua began was interviewed by so as to report a low rate of infla- a serious and credible measure.” producing her own independent Alicia Carriquiry in tion, she found herself back On 14 January, an INDEC measure of inflation. This action, the December 2012 working for the National press release explained how CPI however, led to criminal and civil issue of Significance. Institute of Statistics and Census data from the Buenos Aires charges being brought against her The article is now free to read at (INDEC) after elections late last department of statistics and the by the Argentine government. bit.ly/1QFFMVn. year swept a new government to San Luis provincial bureau of sta- The two civil charges were can- power. Hearing the news in early tistics would provide an alterna- celled between 2014 and 2015, February, we emailed Bevacqua a tive measure of the country’s infla- but the criminal charge remains. handful of questions about her tion rate while development work The court had made a ruling in new role and how it felt to be back continued. At the time, INDEC Bevacqua’s favor last summer (see working for INDEC as technical director Jorge Todesca spoke of Significance, October 2015, Page director. She agreed to the inter- “a sense of urgency” in having 3), but that ruling has since view, seemingly enthusiastic at the INDEC start generating its own been appealed. And to think promise of a fresh start for the data, but that the agency was things had been looking up for country’s statistical system. committed to a “phased rebuild” Graciela Bevacqua. n Headlines such as of all statistical outputs during “Fishy Figures” from The 2016. However, Bevacqua said Editor’s Note: This originally appeared in the April 2016 issue Economist in September 2014 that when orders came to deliver a of Significance magazine and is (econ.st/1R2V0rN) give some indi- new consumer price index in two published here with permission.

8 amstat news may 2016 Presidential Teaching Honoree Shares Perspective on Statistics Education Nafeesa Owens, PAEMST Program Lead

“If I am to encourage my students to pursue their dreams, I need to back that up by taking risks myself!” ~ Shelby Aaberg

SA member Shelby Aaberg’s risk of applying for the Presidential Award forA Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) paid off when he won the award, received $10,000 from the National Science Foundation, and traveled to Washington, DC, to meet President Barack Obama in July of 2015. The mathematics department chair at Scottsbluff High School Shelby Aaberg teaches in his classroom at Scottsbluff High School in Nebraska. in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Aaberg Photo by Lindsay Augustyn teaches Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics, precalculus/trigo- nometry, geometry, and problem solving to students in grades college-level content to teenag- wants to avoid penalizing stu- 9–12. He credits Significance ers, it is in the best interest of dents for attempting college-level magazine with providing the all involved to do so with safety material. He explains, “Averaging rich content he uses for his AP nets in place.” the scores makes absolutely no Statistics class. For this reason, Aaberg allows sense. Do we average attempts at his AP students to retake exams the driver’s test? And fail young AP Teaching Philosophy for full credit, provided they drivers that pass the sixth time Aaberg bases his AP teaching on complete all homework assign- because the other five times were the idea that high-school stu- ments and set up a time to review failed attempts?” dents’ brains are still developing material with him. Rather than and the structures that govern averaging the new test score with Cooperative Assessments rational decision making are not the original, Aaberg counts the Aaberg is fond of the cooperative yet fully formed. He says, “If better of the two. He does not assessment technique, in which high-school teachers are to teach believe in averaging scores and students are assigned to groups

may 2016 amstat news 9 Here are a few examples of the world outside of school exercises he has worked on with his classes:

A school administrator was building a house and wanted his mailbox in a particular location. He bought $600 in materials before finding out his mailbox location proposal was denied. To solve this problem, Mr. Aaberg’s class was asked to propose a new mailbox location that would be approved. His students used Google Shelby Aaberg teaches some of his students. Photo by Melissa Price Earth and GeoGebra to not only find a new path through the neighborhood, but to save and can use all materials but the Provide feedback to the stu- the U.S. Post Office a mile per internet for the assessment. This dent presenter, if necessary. day in driving. type of assessment empowers Grade the entire class students to peer teach and help on the A friend of Aaberg was other students who may have solution the student presents. building a custom car in an missed classwork for extracurric- Using cooperative assessments area near a municipal water MORE ONLINE ular activities. He gives an exam- in AP Statistics is not the only source. The friend needed a To learn more about ple of a cooperative assessment, unique method Aaberg brings 215-gallon oil storage tank how to nominate which can be followed using the to his classroom, however. He made out of cinder blocks. He a statistics teacher steps below: also has a unique philosophy came to Aaberg’s class in need for the Presidential on teaching statistics using real- of a solution, and Aaberg’s Awards for Excellence Assign students to five groups, world examples. students submitted designs in Mathematics and with the top five students in the Science Teaching, visit class being assigned one to each for the storage tank that the www.paemst.org. The World Outside of the five groups. friend was able to use. Actually, Aaberg would prefer Provide groups a set time to call it “the world outside of Aaberg posts a collection period to work on a problem school,” rather than using the of additional problems together as a team. term “real-world” in his class- and projects on his blog at Allow students to collaborate room, as he feels it’s a better rep- http://mathleticism.net. He between the assigned groups for resentation of what he is looking also recently led a Global another set period of time. for. He says, “We look for many Math Department webinar consulting opportunities within called “Bringing the World Use a random number gen- the community in an effort to Outside School Into Your erator to select one student to show kids not just that math- Math Classroom” that can be present the solution to the class. ematics is useful in school, but found at www.bigmarker.com/ Allow the audience to disagree that it is a tool they can use for GlobalMathDept/Bringing- or protest the solution provid- problems outside school and in the-World-Outside-School- ed, and allow the presenter to optimizing dilemmas for prob- Into-Your-Math-Classroom. change his or her answer. lems that may seem unsolvable.”

10 amstat news may 2016 Shelby Aaberg engages his students in a class discussion. Photo by Lindsay Augustyn Advice for New Teachers: “When the going gets tough … the relationship Teaching Is a Lifestyle From his unique classroom activities to his numerous acco- will dictate how hard a kid tries.” lades—including PAEMST and Nebraska Teacher of the Year awards—Aaberg has a lot to offer educators who are early in their careers. A love of both statistics knowledge. Most of all, he says Aaberg was offered opportuni- and students inspired Aaberg to teaching is a lifestyle and he ties to provide input to policy at become a math teacher, and he warns new teachers to not inter- both the state and national levels. advises new teachers to build nalize issues from the classroom. One of his short-term goals is to strong relationships with stu- He reminds, “It is important for complete his service as president dents. “When the going gets a new teacher to make time for of the Nebraska Association of tough—and it will, as math class him or herself; put on your own Teachers of Mathematics. For the can be a frustrating place of pro- oxygen mask before attending long-term, he hopes to finish his ductive struggle—the relation- to others!” doctorate in the next four years. ship will dictate how hard a kid But most of all, when it comes to tries,” he says. What’s Next? his plan for what’s next, Aaberg Aaberg advises new teachers After winning the PAEMST says it best: “My current plan is to find a mentor to help with award and taking his wife on to continue doing what I enjoy the development of content the trip to Washington, DC, most—teaching high-school mathematics and statistics.” n

may 2016 amstat news 11 An Interview with Steve Fienberg, 2015 NISS Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research Winner

he National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) Board of Trustees established the Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary TResearch in 2000 to honor Sacks’ service as the founding director of NISS. The annual prize of $1,000, presented at the NISS JSM Reception, rec- ognizes sustained, high-quality cross-disciplinary research involving the statistical sciences. Stephen Fienberg, Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Social Science and codi- rector of the Living Analytics Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University, was honored with the 2015 Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research for “a remarkable career devoted to the development and application of statistical methodology to solve problems for the benefit of society, Stephen Fienberg including aspects of human rights, privacy and confidentiality, forensics, survey and census-taking, and At the same time, I took a research methodology morte; and for exceptional leadership in a variety course for psychologists taught by the eminent cog- of professional and governmental organizations, nitive researcher Endel Tulving. There I could see including in the founding of NISS.” how to put much of what I was learning from Fraser Jamie Nunnelly, NISS’s communication director, and DeLury to work. At that point, I was hooked conducted the following interview. and began to apply for graduate study in statistics. Who were some of your influencers? What got you interested in the field of The department of statistics at Harvard, where I statistics? did my graduate work, was quite small, and every My interests in statistics date to undergraduate faculty member influenced me in some form. Paul courses at the University of Toronto. In my third Holland was a recent PhD from Stanford, and we year, Don Fraser introduced me to the mathemat- worked on things motivated in part by Stein’s inad- ics of statistics and inference issues. Much of what missibility results, but from a Bayesian point of he did was explicitly geometrical, and that had view. Art Dempster stimulated me to think about great appeal to me. He also exploited the magical foundational inference issues, and Howard Raiffa inversion associated with Fisher’s fiducial argu- and John Pratt, who were essentially in the business ment, wherein the distribution of the data given the school, helped to reinforce my Bayesian tendencies. parameter induces a distribution on the parameter George Tiao, who visited Harvard, also played an given the data. In my fourth year, Dan DeLury important role in my Bayesian education and was taught a course on the design of experiments, and an early coauthor. Bill Cochran and Fred Mosteller that led me to read Fisher’s book on the topic. (who was my thesis adviser and later mentor) were

12 amstat news may 2016 PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS 2001 Elizabeth Thompson 2008 John Rice 2002 Max Morris 2009 Ram Gnanadesikan 2003 Raymond Carroll 2010 Sallie Keller my role models when it came to making statistics work in real applications, including matters of seri- 2004 Douglas Nychka 2011 Emery Brown ous public policy. 2005 Jeff Wu 2012 William Q. Meeker Later, when I joined the faculty at The University of Chicago, Bill Kruskal and Paul Meier continued 2006 Adrian Raftery 2013 Kenneth P. Burnham to draw me into diverse areas where statistics could 2007 Cliff Spiegelman 2014 Terry Speed make an impact. Even though Bill and I differed on matters of inference—I was already very much a subjective Bayesian and he was a committed fre- What are you working on now? quentist—he represented for me the statistician I continue to work on a multiplicity of statistical as a public intellectual and he reinforced in me problems, all of which involve Big Data and inter- the importance of careful scholarship, not just the disciplinarity: confidentiality and privacy, includ- development of new methodology. ing record linkage; methodology for census tak- What was one of the first projects you ing; forensic science and the law (including my did with the National Institute of Statistical involvement with the new Center for Statistics and MORE ONLINE Sciences (NISS)? Applications in Forensic Evidence—CSAFE); and To learn more about network modeling. Jerome Sacks and Actually, my earliest interactions with NISS came the award, visit www. via service on the board, which I joined almost at What advice would you give someone who is niss.org/people/ the outset and on which I served for more than a thinking about entering the field of statistics? jerome-sacks. decade. I pushed quite hard for a focus on develop- I’m reminded a bit about the scene in the 1960s ing the kinds of research projects that statisticians movie The Graduate, where Dustin Hoffman in the would typically not happen upon on the campuses title role is offered one word of advice: “Plastics!” of their own universities. This was before the era of My one word of advice to someone just entering the Big Data, but clearly in the spirit of such. And, of world of statistics is “applications.” While statistics course, the watchword was “interdisciplinarity.” has an intellectual core built around probability and inference, I have always drawn my inspiration from What was your favorite project you did real-world problems arising in other disciplines, and with NISS? that is, of course, where the data we analyze arise. So In the 1990s, I had been drawn into working on I tell my students to take applications seriously and the statistical problems associated with confidenti- to use them to motivate the methodological and ality and privacy protection. When Alan Karr and theoretical work they choose to do. I attended a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop launching NSF’s digital government ini- Anything else you would like to add? tiative, we realized it would be an ideal vehicle to Statistics is an amazing and challenging field. The pursue confidentiality and privacy issues of interest opportunities today are limited only by our collec- to government statistical agencies and develop new tive imagination. In some ways, it was serendipity methodology drawing together experts from a num- that led me into statistics more than 50 years ago. ber of university campuses. The successful proposal The ever-expanding interest in statistics by our we wrote went in from NISS, and it solidified my undergraduates and the demand for statisticians in links to NISS as well as my friendship with Alan. government, academia, and industry reinforce the The students and postdocs trained under our grant importance of thinking and working across bound- have gone on to make major contributions to this aries. That is what the NISS Sacks Award is really area of research. about and why I was so honored to receive it. n

may 2016 amstat news 13 And the Award Goes to … Leading statistical groups create prestigious platform to recognize far-reaching contributions

he music and entertainment industries have one, as do professions spanning the areas of international security, medicine, physics, Tand economics (just to name a few). Now, the field of statistics has an award of its own—the biannual International Prize in Statistics—recognizing a significant achievement by an individual MORE ONLINE The International or team in statistics. Prize in Statistics A joint effort created by five international sta- is also on twitter. tistical societies—American Statistical Association, Follow @StatsPrize International Biometric Society, International to keep up with the Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical global award. Statistics, and the Royal Statistical Society—the International Prize in Statistics also raises awareness management operations, saving endangered spe- of the invaluable role that statistics, data analysis, cies, and developing safer transportation and infra- probability, and the understanding of uncertainty structure systems. The work statisticians do has the play in science, technology, human welfare, and the power to transform the world around us, and yet FONT= Times Roman overall advancement of society. they do not receive the global recognition that is “Statisticians throughout the world actively work so well-deserved,” said Ron Wasserstein, executive behind the scenes growing regionalColors economies, director of the American Statistical Association. identifying migration patterns, pinpointingCMYK -Blue causes 100, 85,“As 6, the0 globalRGB population -Blue 26, 71,is estimated 150 toWEB-Blue exceed 1A4796 of public health epidemics, expandingCMYK -Goldthe food 0, 25, 100,11 billion 0 inRGB the next-Gold century, 255, 194, and 14 the anticipatedWEB -Gold FFC20E supply, creating environmentally friendly waste demand for Big Data experts will create more than four million jobs globally, it is imperative that an international platform exist to honor the dynamic and data-driven men and women of our field whose “The winner will be announced this contributions advance society.” While the impact statistics has on our daily October, and the award of $75,000 will life is a lasting one, the nomination period won’t be. Submissions must be received by August 15, so don’t delay in applying or nominating a wor- be presented at the ISI World Statistics thy candidate. The winner will be announced this October, and the award of $75,000 will be pre- Congress in July 2017.” sented at the ISI World Statistics Congress in July 2017. Visit statprize.org for nomination requirements and details. n

14 amstat news may 2016 New Journal Calls for Papers, Strives to Meet Goal Michael L. Cohen, Statistics and Public Policy Editor

n 2013, the American Statistical Association began Statistics and Public Policy Editorial Board publishing the open-access Michael Cohen, National Academy of Sciences onlineI journal Statistics and David Banks, Duke University Public Policy in conjunction with Taylor & Francis. The founding Georgiy Bobashev, RTI International coeditors—Sally Morton, David Alicia Carriquiry, Iowa State University Banks, Dan McCaffrey, and Sharon Lohr—established the Miguel de Carvalho, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile goal of publishing papers that Alan F. Karr, RTI International examined current public policy issues that require rigorous statis- Mary Beth Landrum, Harvard University Medical School tical analysis or insight to fully Michael D. Larsen, The George Washington University understand the policy question at hand. Members of the current Denise Lievesley, King’s College London editorial board hope to continue David Marker, Westat the progress made in the journal’s first two years. Toward that end, Salil Mehta, Georgetown University we encourage the submission of Jasjeet Sekhon, University of California at Berkeley articles that address local, national, or international policy questions in which the emphasis is on the application, rather than the novelty of the methodology. identification of childhood cancer submission momentum we need, The opportunity exists for our clusters in Florida through the we hope to increase awareness profession to provide insight into use of spatial clustering, model of this new journal throughout many important public policy uncertainty in environmental the statistics and affiliated com- questions for which key aspects dose-response risk analysis, the munities. Please visit our web- can only be understood through use of various metrics in assessing page at www.tandfonline.com/ the use of a careful statistical the difference between two dis- loi/uspp20#.VwV_ufkrKcM and analysis or argument. By doing tributions to determine minor- spread the word. so, not only do we shed new ity representation in jury pools, Statistics and Public Policy is light on important issues of the and the performance of and dif- a new journal with an energetic day, but we also demonstrate the ferences between major political editorial board that can provide value of our discipline in address- polls in battleground states from helpful editorial assistance and ing such issues. 2004 through 2012. expeditious decision making for Recent examples for which Despite the opportunity our authors. We will strive to con- Statistics and Public Policy has pro- journal provides for the dissemi- tinue identifying, refining, and vided new clarity are the sensitivity nation of such research, we have publishing research papers that to model form that should limit yet to fully achieve what was help clarify some of the most the role value-added models play envisioned. Our submissions vital issues of public policy of the in the assessment of elementary- numbers are not yet at a sus- day and, by doing so, also help and secondary-school teachers, the tainable level. To help build the promote the use of statistics. n

may 2016 amstat news 15 6000+ Statisticians Expected in CHICAGO The Extraordinary Power of Statistics ith more than 3,400 individual presenta- we’ll also have Spotlight Chicago, which will feature tions arranged into approximately 181 events throughout the week. Moreover, if you are invited sessions, 400 contributed ses- looking for a way to help the local community while Wsions, and 500 poster and speed presentations, the at JSM, you’ll want to visit IMPACT CHICAGO, 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings will be one of the also taking place in the exhibit hall. Finally, just out- largest statistical events in the world. side the exhibit hall, we’ll have an art show featuring In addition to the 45 parallel sessions taking data artists. place during most of the meetings, there are other Here are a few more highlights to let you know Register for the Joint activities you can add to your program for a fee: what to expect. We hope to see you there. Statistical Meetings Professional Development courses, roundtable dis- at www.amstat.org/ cussions, the Career Service, and workshops. jsmregistration. This year, the exhibit hall will be the place to be. The Opening Mixer will take place there, and

16 amstat news may 2016 FEATURED SPEAKERS

Monday, August 1 Tuesday, August 2

10:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. 4:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Medallion Lecture ASA Deming Lecture Tracing Pathways of Profound Knowledge Dependence: How Far Did We Get? from a Knowledge Use Perspective Nanny Wermuth, Johannes Gutenberg- Vincent P. Barabba, Market Insight Corporation University/Chalmers University of Technology This presentation will focus on the need to improve the manner in which knowledge developed Tracing pathways of dependence to understand from statistical practice is presented so that the sta- development was a main aim of geneticist Sewell tistically based knowledge will be effectively used to Wright when he formulated—a century ago— improve decisions. linear generating processes, represented them by directed graphs, and evaluated the fit to his data. This approach started to be generalized with graph- ical Markov models in the 1970s, permitting variables of any type, by using the concept of conditional independence and combining directed with 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. undirected graphs. We have now a most suitable subclass, named “traceable regressions,” to model ASA Presidential Address development in ordered single and joint responses and Founder & Fellows together with a set of context variables. A main dif- Recognition ficulty was to find special, testable properties of the Appreciating Statistics generated distributions needed to concentrate on Jessica Utts, University of California at Irvine conditional dependences in addition to Markov structure. Traceable regression includes linear regressions, generalized linear models, subclasses of struc- “Appreciating Statistics” as the title of this talk is tural equations for longitudinal studies, and mod- meant to convey a two-fold meaning. First, as stat- els for planned and virtual interventions. isticians, we have much to offer, and we need to Here, we use several examples of stud- make sure the importance of what we do is apparent ies to illustrate and summarize the now to a broad range of audiences. Historically, we have available features of traceable regressions not held a visible place of prominence with policy and to point at open research questions. makers, the media, the public, or the wide range of professionals who could benefit from understanding statistical information. We all can play a role in publicizing what statistics has to offer and fostering appreciation for what we do. The second meaning I hope to convey is that the value of a degree in statistics and related fields is appreciating in multiple ways. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “statistician” is projected to have the ninth-highest growth rate from 2014–2024 among all professions and the third-highest growth rate among those requiring a college degree. U.S. News and World Report ranked “statistician” as the number-one best business job based on a combination of financial and work-life issues. We need to educate students

may 2016 amstat news 17 and those who help them make career decisions about the many tangible and intangible benefits of 4:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. a career in statistics and encourage a diverse work- COPSS Fisher Lecture force to meet the needs of our profession. The ASA Personalizing Disease is implementing multiple initiatives to encourage and advertise both types of appreciation of statistics, Prevention: Statistical but as 2013 ASA President Marie Davidian noted, Challenges all of us can play a transformative role in promoting Alice S. Whittemore, Stanford University our discipline. Find out how you can help! School of Medicine

The recent presidential allocation of U.S. resources for precision medicine reflects a national focus on personalized health care. Patients and their doctors are increasingly basing such care on statistical risk models that use a person’s lifestyle Wednesday, August 3 and genetic covariates to assign him or her a probability of developing a disease or other adverse 2:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. health outcome in a given future time period. The Medallion Lecture use of such personal risk models will increase as Model Averaging and Post- we learn more about the genetic and epigenetic causes of disease, and as the routine sequencing of Model Selection peoples’ entire genomes becomes practical. In this Gerda Claeskens, KU Leuven talk, I will describe some of the statistical problems that arise when evaluating the accuracy and utility of Several choices have to be made such as “which these models. These problems would have interested and how many estimators to average over” and Sir Ronald A. Fisher, who did much of his seminal “which weights to use.” Data-driven weights can statistical work while serving as the Arthur Balfour be chosen by minimizing an estimator of the mean Professor of Genetics at the University of Cambridge. squared error. In general, those weights are not unique. We prove there are multiple weight vec- tors that yield equal model-averaged estimators in linear regression. A restriction to singleton models results in a drastic reduction in the computational cost. If we take into account that the weights are random variables, rather than fixed during selection, we show the averaged estimator is biased, even when the original estimators are unbiased, and its variance is larger than in the fixed weights case. This relates to the “forecast combination puz- zle”; there is no guarantee that the weighted averaged forecast will improve on the original forecasts. The distribution of model-averaged estimators is, in general, hard to obtain. We work out the special case of an estimator after model selection by the Akaike information criterion AIC. We exploit the overselection properties of AIC to construct valid confidence regions that take the model selection uncertainty into account.

18 amstat news may 2016 W. Chicago Ave. W. Superior. W. Huron St. O’HARE W. Erie St. INTERNATIONAL W. Ontario St. AIRPORT W. Ohio St. W. Grand Ave. N. Michigan Ave. N. Clark St. N. State St. N. Milwaukee St. N Columbus Dr. Navy Pier N. Illinois St. Sheraton N. Hubbard St. Grand Chicago

90 E. Wacker Dr.

94 W. Lake St.

W. Randolph St. E. Randolph St. N . Lake Shore Dr.

W. Washington St. 41 Millennium Park W. Madison St. S. Wacker Dr. Wacker Dr. S. S. Halstead St. W. Monroe St. E. Monroe St. THE SHUTTLE LOOP bus stop W. Adams St. Palmer The Art Institute of Chicago Union Station Willis House Tower LAKE W. Jackson Blvd. E. Jackson Blvd. MICHIGAN GREEK TOWN

W. Van Buren St. Hostelling

International S. Columbus Dr. Chicago 290 Eisenhower Expressway Congress Parkway Conference Chicago W. Harrison St. at the University Center Hilton 90 Chicago E. Balbo Ave. (HQ) 94 S. Financial Pl. S. La Salle St. S. Clark St. To Do in CHICAGO St. S. Wells : MuseumSHUTTLE Campus LITTLE bus stop ITALY Val Nirala, ASA Publications Coordinator

cCormick Place is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, John G. about a 20-minuteW. Roosevelt drive Rd. from downtown Chicago. ForE. Roosevelt Rd. Shedd Aquarium The Field Alder Planetarium those days when there isn’t enough time to venture out that Museum far,M there’s Museum Campus—a collection of some of Chicago’s top sites within 10 minutes. S. Halstead St. Dan Ryan Expressway S. Jefferson St. Chicago’s Museum CampusS. Clinton St. S. Canal St. was created after a reconfiguration of MUSEUM Lake Shore Drive in 1998 that tied the major attractions—the Shedd CAMPUS Aquarium, Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and Soldier Field— together by green space. CHICAGO RIVER

S. Lake Shore Dr.

THE ANCIENTW. 18th St. FIELD MUSEUM OF AMERICAS—13,000 years of NATURAL HISTORY ancient civilizations, including the 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive Aztec empire (312) 922-9410 GRAINGER HALL OF GEMS— www.fieldmuseum.org Jewels and gold from around the S. Indiana Ave. S. Prairie Ave. Hyatt Open Daily: 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. McCormick world Place Last admission at 4 p.m. THE TSAVO LIONS—Africa’s McCormick W. Cermak Rd. The Field Museum’s collection of man-eating lions Place West biological, anthropological,MIDWAY natural, INTERNATIONAL RONALD AND CHRISTINA AIRPORT SHUTTLE and historical items is one of the CHINA TOWN bus stop GIDWITZ HALL OF BIRDS—One of largest in the world, with more than the most exceptional collections in 20 million specimens. Sue—one of 55 Stevenson Expressway the world the museum’s most popular attrac- DNA DISCOVERY CENTER—How tions—is the largest, most complete, MAORI MEETING HOUSE, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus DNA works and tells us about life RUATEPUPUKE I—A sacred rex fossil ever discovered. on Earth place for religious rituals for the EXHIBITS INCLUDED WITH MCDONALD’S FOSSIL PREP LAB— Maori people Scientists prepare fossils for GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS all to see SUE—The largest, most complete, General Admission and best preserved Tyrannosaurus HALL OF JADES—he story of jade Adults, $22 rex fossil ever discovered and where it comes from Seniors and Students, $19 Children, $15 EVOLVING PLANET—Four billion PAWNEE EARTH LODGE—A years of life on Earth in videos, dis- full-size replica of a cultural time Discovery Pass plays, fossils, land- and seascapes, and place (general + one special exhibit) and a dinosaur hall TRAVELING THE PACIFIC—How Adults, $29 one vessel travels the Pacific Ocean INSIDE ANCIENT EGYPT—Egyptian Seniors and Students, $25 artifacts plus tombs and mummies PACIFIC SPIRITS—Ceremonial masks Children, $20 RESTORING EARTH—The museum’s and treasures from Melanesia conservation efforts AFRICA—Scenes from across Africa All Access Pass (general + all special exhibits) THE CROWNE FAMILY PROJECT HYENA DIORAMA— Adults, $35 PLAYLAB—A place for children to Crowdfunded by more than Seniors and Students, $30 experience hands-on science 1,500 supporters Children, $24

may 2016 amstat news 19 EXHIBITS INCLUDED WITH GENERAL ADMISSION ADLER PLANETARIUM WANT TO DO IT ALL? CARIBBEAN REEF— A 90,000-gal- AND ASTRONOMY All of Chicago’s Museum Campus lon circular tank filled with stingrays, MUSEUM sites and more are included with sharks, eels, a sea turtle, and tropical fish the purchase of a Go Chicago WATERS OF THE WORLD—The Card (http://bit.ly/1dwpPSc) world’s waterways in 90 habitats, or Chicago City Pass (http://bit. with animals such as giant octopus, ly/1VuInHq). shrimp, bluegills, and moon jellies AMAZON RISING—Toxic frogs, huge spiders, piranhas, and an anaconda

SHEDD AQUARIUM EXHIBITS FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE POLAR PLAY ZONE—A place for kids to try on a penguin suit and explore Arctic waters in a submarine AT HOME ON THE GREAT LAKES —Some of the Great Lakes’ most 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive notable animals (312) 922-7827 ABBOTT OCEANARIUM—A recre- www.adlerplanetarium.org ation of the rain forest of the Pacific Open Daily: 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Northwest, with animals such as sea The Adler Planetarium, founded stars, otters, dolphins, and beluga in 1930 by Max Adler, was the 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive whales United States’ first planetarium. (312) 939-2438 WILD REEF—Live coral and more It’s also one of the only ones that www.sheddaquarium.org than 24 sharks swimming in a features two full-size planetarium Open Daily: 9 a.m.– 6 p.m. 400,000-gallon habitat theaters: the Sky Theater, which has In the early part of the 20th century, The aquarium also has rotating spe- a traditional Zeiss projector, and the millionaire John G. Shedd spent cial exhibits and experiences you StarRider Theater, which allows you can enjoy for an additional fee. seven years and $3 million (the to feel as if you are floating in outer equivalent of $35 million today) to space. Additionally, the Doane TICKETS build the Shedd Aquarium. Since Observatory showcases a telescope then, it has added several exhibits, Online with a 20-inch diameter mirror that Express Pass–Adult $54.95, doubling its size. The centerpiece of gathers 5,000 times more light than Child $45.95 the aquarium, the Caribbean Reef, the human eye. is a 90,000-gallon circular tank Total Experience Pass–Adult filled with stingrays, sharks, eels, $39.95, Child $30.95 EXHIBITS INCLUDED WITH a sea turtle, and an assortment of Onsite GENERAL ADMISSION tropical fish. A diver hand feeds the Shedd Pass–Adult $30.95, Child MISSION MOON—America’s first fish and answers questions (while $21.95 steps into space through the eyes of underwater) several times a day. General Admission–Adult $8, NASA’s Captain James A. Lovell Jr. Child $6 and his family Visit www.sheddaquarium.org/ OUR SOLAR SYSTEM—Make plan-a-visit/Advance-Ticket-Options- a crater or touch a piece of the Tickets for information about what is Moon, the planet Mars, or a distant included with each ticket. asteroid

20 amstat news may 2016 COMMUNITY DESIGN LAB— TELESCOPES: LOOKING ASTRONOMY IN CULTURE— Hands-on activities that challenge THROUGH THE LOOKING Astrolabes, armillary spheres, and you to think about science GLASS—Learn how these light- sundials illustrate the medieval catching devices helped us discover European and Middle Eastern con- THE UNIVERSE: A WALK our universe ception of the universe THROUGH SPACE AND TIME— Witness how the universe evolved CLARK FAMILY WELCOME EXHIBITS FOR AN over 13.7 billion years GALLERY—Explore space in differ- ADDITIONAL FEE ent ways in this futuristic, constantly PLANET EXPLORERS—Prepare for a DOANE OBSERVATORY—The changing environment trip to space by exploring the Earth Doane telescope can gather more than 5,000 times more light than a human eye, allowing you to see the Moon, planets, stars, and galaxies that are trillions of miles away (open at select times) ATWOOD SPHERE—The night sky over Chicago as it appeared in 1913 SPACE VISUALIZATION LAB— Experience new interactive and immersive visualizations and attend presentations by astronomers and NEXT UP related researchers Tune in next month, The planetarium also has rotating when we will tell you a little about shows available for a fee. Chicago’s Chinatown. TICKETS Anytime All Access Pass (must be purchased onsite; available until 9 a.m. the day of admission)—Adult $34.95, Child $29.95 Basic Pass—Adult $24.95, Child $19.95 General Admission—Adult $12, SOLDIER FIELD Child $8 While not a museum, Soldier Field (www.soldierfield.net) Visit www.adlerplanetarium.org/ is located on Museum Campus. In fact, the majority of the visit/ticketing-options for information parking for the campus is located under the stadium and about what is included with you will pass the Memorial Water Wall—a monument to each ticket. U.S. veterans—while walking to the Field Museum.

Soldier Field underwent a renovation that was completed in 2003. The new look was controversial, and the National Register of Historic Places eventually stripped the stadium of its landmark designation in 2006.

may 2016 amstat news 21 A WORKSHOP FOR EXPERIENCED TEACHERS Sponsor: ASA-NCTM Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability

Wednesday, August 3, 2016 | 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Chicago, Illinois

The ASA/NCTM Joint Committee is pleased to sponsor a Beyond AP Statistics (BAPS) workshop at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings* in Chicago, Illinois, August 3, 2016. Organized by Roxy Peck, the BAPS workshop is offered for AP Statistics teachers and consists of enrichment material just beyond the basic AP syllabus. The course is divided into four sessions led by noted statisticians. Topics in recent years have included experimental design, topics in survey methodology, multiple regression, logistic regression, what to do when assumptions are not met, and randomization tests.

Cost Provided Registration The course fee for the full day is $50. • Refreshments (lunch on your own) More information and online registra- Please note: Course attendees do • Handouts tion can be found at www.amstat. not need to register for the Joint org/education/baps. Registrations will • Pass to attend the exhibit hall at Statistical Meetings (JSM)* to par- be accepted until the course fills, but the Joint Statistical Meetings ticipate in this workshop, although should arrive no later than July 15, there is discounted JSM registration • Certificate of participation from 2016. Space is limited. If interested in for K-12 teachers available at www. the American Statistical Associa- attending, please register as soon as amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2016. tion (ASA) certifying professional possible. development hours Location • Optional graduate credit Chicago, Illinois, McCormick Place or Questions nearby hotel (room TBD) Contact Rebecca Nichols at [email protected] or call (703) 684-1221, Ext. 1877

*The Joint Statistical Meetings is the largest annual gathering of statisticians, where thousands from around the world meet to share advances in statistical knowledge. JSM activities include statistics and statistics education sessions, posters sessions, and the exhibit hall.

22 amstat news may 2016 NEW THIS MORE TO DO YEAR at JSM at JSM DIVERSITY WORKSHOP, DATA ART MENTORING PROGRAM The JSM Diversity Workshop and Mentoring SHOW Program brings minority statisticians at the early- For the first time at JSM, to mid-career levels together with senior statisti- there will be an exhibit cians and faculty in academia, government, and featuring data artists the private sector in a structured program at the annual JSM. This year, the workshop will take positioned just outside place July 31, and the program will take place the exhibit hall. This new August 1–3 in Chicago. feature will explore the relationship between The priority deadline for travel funding con- data and art, which promises to be both sideration for the program and mentor matching amazing and beautiful. Visit www.amstat.org/ is May 15. Priority deadline for travel funding meetings/jsm/2016/dataartshow.cfm for details. consideration is June 1. Submissions must be received by May 15. Interested statistics students/professionals are encouraged to apply/register on or before July 1. For more information and an application form, visit http://community.amstat.org/cmis/events/dmp. IMPACT CHICAGO

The ASA is committed to making an impact BE A DOCENT while we are in Chicago. Impact Chicago, If you have attended three or more JSMs, consider supported by the ASA Chicago Chapter, becoming a 2016 JSM docent by following these invites you to participate! five easy steps: There will be a school supply and book drive for local Chicago schools. Donate books, 1. Make plans to attend JSM 2016. school supplies, and other necessities appropriate for K–12 students or bring gift 2. Be willing to answer questions and help cards for teachers to use to supply their first-timers have a positive JSM experience. classrooms. The ASA will collect these items onsite and make sure they are delivered to 3. Attend an orientation session on July 31 local Chicago schools. and a thank-you reception on August 3. Look for details as we get closer to JSM! 4. Attend JSM events and invite first-timers to join you.

5. Send your contact information to [email protected] to receive more information.

may 2016 amstat news 23 Don’t Let What Happens at JSM Stay at JSM! How to get the most out your first Joint Statistical Meetings

Christopher Bilder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

he largest congregation of was in early February. For those Poster presentations are also statisticians in the world who did this, additional proof of separated into invited, topic- happens every August progress (e.g., drafts of a paper) contributed, and contributed Tduring the Joint Statistical for the presentation must be sub- sessions, with the vast majority in Meetings (JSM). More than mitted by mid-May. contributed sessions. These types 6,000 people attend these meet- A preliminary program list- of presentations involve speakers ings, which are sponsored by 11 ing the presentation schedule is being available for questions next Christopher Bilder statistical societies, including the now available at www.amstat.org/ to their displayed poster during is a professor in the American Statistical Association. meetings/jsm/2016/onlineprogram. the entire session. Most posters department of statistics The meetings offer a variety of Because there may be more than are of the traditional paper for- at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He activities such as attending 40 concurrent presentations mat, but an increasing number will be presenting the research presentations, interview- at any time, it is best to arrive now are in an electronic for- continuing education ing for jobs, taking professional at JSM with an idea of which mat. This latter format involves course “Analysis of development courses and work- to attend. This can be done by a large, high-definition TV Categorical Data” during shops, and browsing the exhibit examining the session titles and that shows all at once or cycles JSM. He earned his PhD hall. With so many opportuni- performing keyword searches in in statistics from Kansas through a small number of slides State University. ties, new attendees can be over- the online program prior to JSM. that would normally be printed whelmed easily by their first Oral presentations are separat- on paper. Relatively new to JSM JSM experience. ed into invited, topic-contributed, is a hybrid of an oral and poster Based on my familiarity with and contributed sessions, with presentation. The oral poster pre- attending meetings over the last each session lasting 1 hour and 50 sentation component begins with 16 years and the experiences of minutes. Invited and topic-con- a “speed session,” in which five- student groups I have led, I’m tributed sessions include groups minute presentations are given by going to tell you how to get the of related presentations that were each speaker. Later the same day, most out of JSM. If you would submitted together and selected electronic posters are made avail- like to share your own recom- by JSM Program Committee able for these same presentations. mendations, I encourage you members. These presentations Online registration for JSM to submit a comment at http:// each last for 25 or more minutes begins around May 1. For mem- stattrak.amstat.org. for invited and 20 minutes for bers of a sponsoring statistical topic-contributed. Contributed society, the cost is $430 during Before JSM paper sessions include groups of the early registration period. The Most new attendees who choose 15-minute oral presentations. cost increases to $525 if you reg- to present their research do so Unlike invited and topic-contrib- ister at JSM. Registration for stu- in a contributed session via an uted sessions, contributed pre- dent members is only $105, and oral or poster presentation. The sentations are submitted individ- this rate is available at any time. deadline to submit an abstract ually and then grouped by JSM Also starting around May 1, you for acceptance into the program Program Committee members. can reserve a hotel room through

24 amstat news may 2016 the JSM website. A number of convention center that can be docents will be available through- hotels near the convention center useful for finding session rooms. out the conference as well. are designated as official confer- There is a significant online Later on Sunday evening, ence hotels, and they discount presence during JSM. A main the Opening Mixer will be held their normal rates. However, resource is the JSM app that con- in the exhibit hall. This event is even with a discount, you can tains all the information found open to all attendees, and drinks expect to pay $200 or more per in the program book and more. and hors d’oeuvres will be served. night for a room. Also, the ASA posts the most up- In between the orienta- Attending JSM can be expen- to-date news about JSM through tion and the mixer, the ASA sive. Students have several its Twitter (@AmstatNews) and Awards Celebration and Editor options to reduce the cost bur- Facebook accounts. Attendees at Appreciation session is held. den. First, ask your adviser or JSM can use #JSM2016 to tag Many first-time attendees are department for funding. Many their JSM-related posts. honored during it due to being departments offer financial sup- To welcome and orient awarded a scholarship or winning port for students who present new attendees, the JSM First- a student-paper competition. their research at JSM. Students Time Attendee Orientation The main sessions start Sunday also may qualify for funding and Reception is scheduled for at 2:00 p.m. Many of the research from the student activities office early Sunday afternoon. At this presentations are difficult to on their campus. For example, reception, docents will be pres- understand completely. My goal when I was a student, my depart- ent (identified with a special ment’s statistics club received ribbon on their name badge) to funding this way, which paid for answer any questions you may most of my first JSM expenses. have about the meetings. These In addition to school-based resources, many ASA sections sponsor student paper competitions that provide travel support to award winners. For example, the Biometrics Section of the ASA sponsors the David P. Byar Young Investigators Award, with $2,000 awarded to the winner and separate $1,000 awards given to authors of other outstanding papers. Most competitions require a completed paper to be submitted many months prior to JSM. At JSM JSM begins on a Sunday afternoon in late July. Business casual clothing is the most prevalent attire, but some attendees wear suits and others wear T-shirts and shorts. When you arrive at JSM, go to the registration counter at the convention center to obtain your name badge and conference program book. The program book will contain a map of the

may 2016 amstat news 25 IMPORTANT LINKS JSM 2016: www.amstat.org/ many Professional Development message center for job seekers meetings/jsm/2016 courses and workshops available and employers to indicate their for an additional fee. However, interest in each other. Once a First-Time Attendees: you can attend a course for free common interest is established, www.amstat.org/meetings/ by volunteering prior to JSM an interview can be arranged for to be a monitor. Monitors per- during the meetings. jsm/2016/firsttimeattendees.cfm form duties such as distributing Other activities at JSM and picking up materials during include the following: Online Program: the course. As an added benefit, www.amstat.org/meetings/ monitors can attend one addi- Shopping at the ASA Store to jsm/2016/onlineprogram tional course for free without any purchase a statistics-themed duties. Those who are interested T-shirt or mug Job Seekers: should contact Rick Peterson at [email protected]. Attending an organized round- www.amstat.org/meetings/ Featured talks at JSM are usu- table discussion during breakfast jsm/2016/careerservice.cfm ally scheduled for late afternoon or lunch about a topic of inter- on Monday through Wednesday. est (pre-registration is required) Professional Development: On Tuesday evening, the ASA www.amstat.org/ presidential address is given, Taking a little time off from meetings/jsm/2016/ along with a number of awards and JSM for sightseeing or attend- an introduction to the new ASA ing a sporting event professionaldevelopment.cfm fellows. The fellows introduction is especially interesting because After JSM Student Paper Competitions: approximately 50 ASA members JSM ends in the early afternoon www.amstat.org/sections/ (<0.33% of all members) are rec- on Thursday. Don’t let what hap- studentpaperawards.cfm ognized for their contributions to pens at JSM stay at JSM! The the statistics profession. first thing I do after the meetings In addition to presentations, is prepare a short review of my the JSM exhibit hall features activities. Using notes I took dur- more than 70 companies and ing sessions, I summarize items for a session is to have 1–2 pre- organizations exhibiting their from presentations I want to sentations in which I learn some- products and services. Many examine further. I also summarize thing relevant to my teaching or exhibitors give away free items meetings I had with individuals research interests. This may seem (e.g., candy, pens, etc.). All the about research or other important rather low, but these items add major statistics textbook publish- topics. Much of this review process up after attending many sessions. ers and software companies are starts at the airport while waiting For attendees who teach intro- there. Textbook publishers usual- for my return flight. ductory courses, the sessions ly offer a discount on their books If you give a presentation at sponsored by the ASA Section during JSM and often for a short JSM, you may submit a corre- on Statistical Education are time after. The exhibit hall also sponding paper to be published often the easiest to understand. includes electronic charging sta- in the conference proceedings. Many of these sessions share tions and tables that can be used Papers are not peer-reviewed in innovative ideas about how to for meetings. It’s also the location the same manner as for journals, teach particular topics. for the poster presentations. but authors are encouraged to Introductory overview lectures The JSM Career Service have others examine their paper are another type of session that provides a way for job seekers before submission. The proceed- has easier-to-understand topics. and employers to meet. Pre- ings are published online around Recent lectures have included registration is required, and the November. Authors retain the introductions to Big Data, bio- fee is discounted if you regis- right to publish their research later informatics, and complex sur- ter before mid-July. The service in a peer-reviewed journal. n vey sampling. There are also works by providing an online

26 amstat news may 2016 columns

MWM Statistics Workshop for Middle- & High-School Mathematics and Science Teachers SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION (ASA) www.amstat.org/education/mwm

Based on the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (corestandards.org) and Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE): A Pre-K–12 Curriculum Framework (www.amstat.org/education/gaise)

Dates: Tuesday, August 2, and Wednesday, August 3, 2016, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Place: Chicago, Illinois, McCormick Place or nearby hotel (room TBD) Audience: Middle- and high-school mathematics and science teachers. Multiple mathematics/science teachers from the same school are especially encouraged to attend. Objectives: Enhance understanding and teaching of statistics within the mathematics/science curriculum through conceptual understanding, active learning, real-world data applications, and appropriate technology Content: Teachers will explore problems that require them to formulate questions; collect, organize, analyze, and draw conclusions from data; and apply basic concepts of probability. The MWM program will include examining what students can be expected to do at the most basic level of understanding and what can be expected of them as their skills develop and their experience broadens. Content is consistent with Common Core standards, GAISE recommendations, and NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.

Presenters: GAISE Report authors and prominent statistics educators Format: Middle-school and high-school statistics sessions Activity-based sessions, including lesson plan development Provided: • Refreshments • Handouts • Certificate of participation from the ASA certifying professional development hours • Optional graduate credit Cost: The course fee for the two days is $50. Please note: Course attendees do not need to register for the Joint Statistical Meetings* to participate in this workshop. Follow up: Follow-up activities and webinars (www.amstat.org/education/webinars) Networking with statisticians and teachers to organize learning communities Registration: More information and online registration is available at www.amstat.org/education/mwm. Space is limited. If interested in attending, please register as soon as possible. Contact: Rebecca Nichols, [email protected]; (703) 684-1221, Ext. 1877

*The Joint Statistical Meetings is the largest annual gathering of statisticians, where thousands from around the world meet to share advances in statistical knowledge. JSM activities include statistics education sessions, posters sessions, and the exhibit hall. education

Third eCOTS to Focus on Changing with Technology

he 2016 Electronic Conference on Teaching new opportunities and demands when it comes to Statistics (eCOTS) will be held online May statistics education. eCOTS 2016 is designed to spark 16–20. eCOTS is hosted by the Consortium new ideas for how to change with technology, help Tfor the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics bring existing ideas to fruition, and provide a forum Education (CAUSE) during even years and focuses for us to learn from and engage with each other. on undergraduate statistics education. eCOTS 2016 will feature two keynote speak- This year’s conference theme is “Changing with ers: Andrew Gelman of Columbia University will Technology.” Advances in technology provide both give a talk titled “Changing Everything at Once: Student-Centered Learning, Computerized Practice Exercises, Evaluation of Student Progress, and a Undergraduates: Applications Modern Syllabus to Create a Completely New Wanted for Project Competition Introductory Statistics Course” and Michael Jordan of the University of California at Berkeley will give a The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics talk titled “Computational Thinking and Inferential Education (CAUSE) in conjunction with the American Statistical Thinking: Foundations of Data Science.” Association is accepting applications for its seventh annual under- eCOTS will also include 18 active half-hour graduate statistics project competition (USPROC). breakout sessions, 34 virtual poster presentations The purpose of USPROC is to encourage the development (short recorded videos), three two-hour workshops of data analysis skills, enhance presentation skills, and recognize disseminating the results of NSF-supported proj- outstanding work by undergraduate statistics students. ects in statistics education, eight birds-of-a-feather Cash prizes will be awarded and winners will present their small-group discussions, and five panel discussions projects; however, all students will have the opportunity to focusing on hot topics in teaching with technol- give an e-poster presentation about their project at the second ogy, including two invited panels: “Teaching with annual electronic Undergraduate Statistics Research Conference Simulation-Based Inference” with Nicola Justice, (eUSRC) October 21. Robin Lock, Allan Rossman, and Chris Wild and There are two main categories for submissions: “Teaching Data Science” with Nicholas Horton, Jeff Leek, Deborah Nolan, and Andrew Schaffner. • The Undergraduate Statistics Class Project (USCLAP) com- In addition to teaching simulation-based infer- petition is for undergraduate students taking an applied ence and data science, topics covered will include statistics course(s) at an introductory or intermediate level teaching a flipped or blended course; teach- in which a class project is part of the course work (either ing with R/RStudio, Minitab, or JMP; teaching required or optional). online; and “free and simple” ways to incorporate • The Undergraduate Statistics Research Project (USRESP) technology into your teaching. competition is for undergraduate students who conduct Registration for eCOTS also includes the either methodological or applied research projects that are opportunity to participate in one of nine one- statistically related. These projects may include research work day, face-to-face conferences happening in various from REU research projects, senior capstone research proj- regions throughout the country that are designed ects, or independent research projects that are not based on to build local statistics education communities and a specific course. integrate with the eCOTS theme of “Changing with Technology.” All levels of projects for both competitions are encouraged. A See www.causeweb.org/cause/ecots/ecots16 for project can only be submitted to USRESP or USCLAP—not both. more information and to register. Questions about Visit the competition website at www.causeweb.org/usproc for eCOTS 2016 can be directed to the program chair, details. The submission deadline is May 31. Kari Lock Morgan, at [email protected]. n

28 amstat news may 2016 columns

SCIENCE POLICY Evidence-Based Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor Demetra Smith Nightingale

I’m pleased to have Demetra Nightingale—the chief evaluation officer for the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL)—as this month’s science policy guest colum- nist. Nightingale describes her office’s evidence-based approach for improving the effectiveness of DoL’s many programs. The DoL evaluation work is fre- quently highlighted in the federal government’s work to better integrate evidence and rigorous evaluation in budget, management, and policy decisions. ~ Steve Pierson, ASA Director of Science Policy

he federal government is in the department’s strategic plan. A 2012 experimental study— Demetra Smith focused on improving the Evaluation and research activities Impact of the Reemployment Nightingale is the effectiveness of govern- include the following: and Eligibility Assessment (REA) chief evaluation Tment by using data more effi- Initiative in Nevada by Marios officer for the • Formal program evalua- ciently and conducting rigorous tions using experimental Michaelides and coworkers— U.S. Department program evaluations to build evi- evaluated strategies to speed of Labor. She is and nonexperimental responsible for dence about “what works.” designs the rate at which unemployed coordinating the The U.S. Department of workers become reemployed department’s Labor (DoL) is responsible for • Testing new approaches and found that “rapid reemploy- evaluation agenda workforce development, job through pilots and demon- ment is more likely to occur and working with all training, unemployment insur- strations when unemployment insurance agencies to design ance, and labor standards enforce- claimants receive targeted indi- and implement • Exploratory quantitative evaluations. ment through worker protection and qualitative analysis vidualized employment services. programs such as those in the The treatment group claimants Occupational Safety and Health • Capacity-building related collected 3.13 fewer weeks and Administration (OSHA)— to evaluation $873 lower total unemployment which enforces workplace safety Formal experimental evalua- benefit amounts than the control laws—and the Wage and Hour tions with random assignment to group.” These findings suggest- Division—which enforces mini- treatment and control groups are ed the resulting public savings mum wage and overtime laws. common in the workforce devel- exceeded average program costs The evidence-based approach opment policy area, estimating by more than four times. at DoL involves both program the net impact of a program or Another net impact evalua- evaluation and performance strategy compared to a counterfac- tion—An Effectiveness Assessment management. tual condition representing what and Cost-Benefit Analysis of the impact would be without the Registered Apprenticeship in 10 Evaluation and Research intervention. For example, evalu- States by Deborah Reed and col- The evaluation emphasis at DoL ations are conducted to determine leagues—used nonexperimental is led by the Chief Evaluation the effectiveness of employment multivariate modeling to estimate Office, which coordinates a services and job training to iden- the effectiveness of registered department-wide evaluation pro- tify practices that can be replicated apprenticeships, which provide gram responsive to overarching across the public workforce devel- individuals with long-term training policy priorities and goals set forth opment system and to identify leading to certificates and licenses possible efficiencies.

may 2016 amstat news 29 columns

in electrician and other trade federal agencies about how to bet- ethnic minorities, and veterans occupations. That analysis found ter inform workers and employers returning from active duty. that “participation in registered about labor regulations. Thus, a culture of evidence apprenticeship was associated with A number of capacity-build- is emerging at DoL, due in part substantial gains in earnings of ing activities are also underway to the active, empirically based, $47,000 over a nine-year period to improve federal employ- and comprehensive program of following enrollment in the pro- ees’ knowledge about evalua- research and evaluation, con- gram and $99,000 over the career tion, including methodological sciously linked to management of an apprentice.” seminars, statistical user groups, and operations through strate- The statistically significant and established guidelines for gic planning and performance positive evidence from these high-quality evaluations. The management. Rigorous evalu- (and other) evaluations has guidelines are posted on DoL’s ations help policy makers and been used to justify expanding evidence-based Clearinghouse of administrators understand why the strategies. Labor, Evaluation, and Research public programs may or may Evaluations and statistical (CLEAR) website, clear.dol.gov, not be meeting their goals, the analysis of program outcomes which includes systematic evi- relative effectiveness of different also are conducted in worker dence reviews of evaluations spon- strategies to achieve goals, and protection programs, often sored by DoL or other researchers. how informed evidence can help using program management identify what needs to change to data in more analytic ways than Performance improve results. Editor’s Note: Management The opinions the program agencies other- The statistical community expressed here are wise have resources to do. For The Performance Management can play an important role in those of the author example, embedded within Center (PMC) leads DoL’s per- furthering the progress made in and should not be a large evaluation of OSHA formance management activities. evidence-based policy by shar- attributed to the enforcement activities is a sub- The priority goals laid out in the ing the latest statistical tech- U.S. Department study testing whether targeted strategic plan are operationalized niques with the public policy of Labor or the federal mailings to businesses increase in annual operating plans for each and evaluation community. government. requests for free onsite consulta- DoL agency. Through quarterly First, the evidence-based cli- tions to assess workplace health review meetings with the deputy mate in the federal government and safety conditions. Firms ran- secretary, the department’s agency requires that publicly funded domly assigned to receive the tar- heads discuss their agency’s perfor- evaluations and research—as geted notice were 25% more like- mance progress compared to pre- well as performance measure- ly to request the free assistance viously established targets. ment—adopt the best methods, compared to firms that received Evaluations contribute evi- including applications for cre- regular general information, thus dence that feeds into the per- ating appropriate comparison increasing voluntary compliance formance management process groups, using the most appro- and deterring injuries. through analysis of factors asso- priate matching and estimation In addition to formal evalu- ciated with current measures techniques, or considering exter- ations and analyses, DoL spon- to consider definitional refine- nal validity when designing evalu- sors surveys on high-priority ments or new measures to more ations. In addition, access to topics. To better understand the fully capture performance. In timely, high-quality, and secure effects of the Family Medical one study, management data data for research and evaluation Leave Act (FMLA), nationally from workers’ compensation representative samples of work- programs were analyzed to iden- purposes is critical. ers and employers were surveyed tify factors associated with the The statistical community can about their use of and perspec- rate at which individuals return continue to enthusiastically sup- tives about family and medical to work after receiving compen- port federal data and statistical leave. The findings—as explained sation payments because of a systems and the statistical agencies, by Jacob A. Klerman and his work-related injury. Statistical which undergird the foundation of associates in the report “Family analysis is also examining evidence-based policy making. n and Medical Leave in 2012”— employment-related services provided useful information to the to subgroups such as women,

30 amstat news may 2016 columns

STATtr@k Key Strategies for a Successful Analytics Job Search

f you’re getting started in the popular fields of Avoid Being Overly Casual or analytics or data science, odds are you’re well Presumptuous in Interviews—Save any dis- aware of the attention the quantitative fields 4.cussion of benefits, salary, or vacation time for haveI been getting lately. While there are many after the first interview. Bringing it up too soon can opportunities for early-career analytics profession- leave a really bad impression because it makes it seem als, being well prepared for your job search will save like you’re not even interested in the job or company. you time and yield the best opportunities. Your first goal should be to prove you’re the right pro- One of the trickiest parts of being early in your fessional for the role. Interviews are also not the place career or a new professional to the field is that many to experiment and see whether the company culture Katie Ferguson spent employers are often looking for someone with prior is open to swearing, offensive jokes, or sweat pants. the last 13 years as a work experience, so anything you can do to give Follow up After Interviews—This is crucial. recruiter and human resource generalist. As a yourself real-world data experience or to make the It is customary to send each of your inter- specialist in quantitative hiring process smoother will be to your advantage. 5.viewers a personalized thank-you note after marketing, she helped I put together a previous list of tips (see http://stat- an interview. Emails are fine, but make sure the notes launch Burtch Works’ trak.amstat.org/2015/06/01/10-tips-for-entry-level- are pleasant and unique to each recipient. mid- and junior-level analytics practice and analytics-professionals) for analytics professionals, Keep Your List of Target Companies/Areas but here are more job search strategies to help: has been working with Open—The more you can keep your list of analytics professionals Write a Concise and Relevant Résumé— 6.target companies or geographic areas open, for eight years. Résumés should never be longer than 1–2 the more opportunities you’re going to have. Limiting 1.pages. Keep irrelevant experience brief (or just yourself to only name-brand companies or one city eliminate it altogether), and focus on any experience might mean you miss out on a higher salary or more you have that is relevant to the role you’re applying opportunity for advancement. for. Describe the effect you’ve had or projects with Have Realistic Salary Expectations— real-world data you’ve worked on, rather than just Salaries vary widely based on industry, expe- listing tasks you were responsible for. 7.rience, location, and many other factors. Have a Professional Social Media Presence To get a better idea of what to expect, I’d recom- —Companies will check your social media mend checking out Burtch Works’ salary studies for 2.profiles before hiring you. Either make sure Predictive Analytics, Data Science, and Marketing your presence on those networks is professional, or set Research professionals at www.burtchworks.com/ all your profiles to private. LinkedIn is a great network big-data-analyst-salary/big-data-career-tips/the-burtch- to keep track of your professional achievements and works-study, which are all available for free. make a good first impression to employers, so make Evaluate Growth Opportunities, Not Just sure your profile is complete and up-to-date. Salary—Although salary may be an impor- Research Potential Employers Before the 8.tant factor in your decision, it should not be Interview—I’ve included this on my lists the only factor. Make sure to take other things into 3.before, but it bears repeating because it’s so account, such as whether there are growth and learn- incredibly important! Employers want to know you ing opportunities and cultural fit. Choosing a job that are interested in their company, that you know at least doesn’t have any growth opportunities for a higher sal- a little bit about what’s going on with the company, ary in the short-term might mean that you will actu- and hopefully that you’ve even researched your inter- ally earn less in the long-term, so carefully evaluate all viewers on LinkedIn. Being knowledgeable about the aspects of the potential company. company and your interviewers is a great way to stand For more information about job searching and out and show them you’re interested in their job, not the analytics hiring market, be sure to check out just any job. the Burtch Works blog at www.burtchworks.com/ blog. Best of luck with your search, and make sure to connect with me on LinkedIn! n

may 2016 amstat news 31 awards & deadlines

William G. Hunter Award Any outstanding leader in the Janet Norwood Call for Nominations field of applied statistics, regardless Award for Outstanding of ASQ or ASQ Statistics Division Achievement by a Woman membership status, is qualified. in the Statistical Sciences Candidates must have demon- strated a high level of profession- alism, significant contributions to the field, and a history of inspira- tional leadership. A person may be nominated many times, but can win the award only once. The nominator must have the permission of the person being nominated and letters from at least two other people support- ing the nomination. Claims of accomplishments must be supported by objective evidence. Examples include publication William Hunter lists and letters from peers. Nominators are encouraged The American Society for to read “William G. Hunter: Quality (ASQ) Statistics Division An Innovator and Catalyst for Janet Norwood, 1989 is accepting nominations for its Quality Improvement,” writ- 2016 William G. Hunter Award. ten by George Box in 1993, at The department of biostatis- The statistics division estab- williamghunter.net/george-box- tics and school of public health lished the William G. Hunter articles/william-hunter-an-inno- at the University of Alabama at Award in 1987 to encourage and vator-and-catalyst-for-quality- Birmingham (UAB) are request- promote outstanding accom- improvement to get a better idea ing nominations for the 14th plishments during a career in the of the characteristics this award annual Janet L. Norwood Award broad field of applied statistics seeks to recognize. for Outstanding Achievement by a and recognize implementers who Nominations will be accepted Woman in the Statistical Sciences. get results. until June 30. Those received The honoree will deliver a Hunter was the founding after June 30 will be held until lecture at the UAB award cer- chair of the statistics division of next year. A committee of past emony on September 14. In the American Society for Quality leaders of the statistics division addition to the $5,000 prize, all Control (now American Society selects the winner, and the award travel expenses will be covered. for Quality). His leadership as a is presented at the Fall Technical Eligible individuals are communicator, consultant, edu- Conference in October. women who have completed cator, and innovator and his abil- The award criteria and nomi- their terminal degree, have made ity to integrate statistical think- nation form can be downloaded extraordinary contributions, and ing into many disciplines serve from http://asq.org/statistics/about/ have developed an outstanding as exemplary models for the divi- awards-statistics.html or obtained record of service to the statisti- sion’s members. from Necip Doganaksoy at cal sciences, with an emphasis [email protected]. n on both their own scholarship and teaching and leadership of the field in general and of women in particular.

32 amstat news may 2016 awards & deadlines

Send a full curriculum vitae accompanied by a letter of not more than two pages describ- Pickard Lecture Call for Nominations ing the nature of the candidate’s contributions. Contributions The Harvard University Statistics Department is soliciting may be in the area of develop- nominations for the 2016 Pickard Lecture Award. ment and evaluation of statistical This biennial award is funded by the David K. Pickard methods, teaching of statistics, Memorial Endowment in memory of David Pickard, a pro- application of statistics, or any fessor of statistics. Every two years, the department hosts a other activity that can arguably lecture and reception to recognize an outstanding university be said to have advanced the faculty member, who then gives a talk on a topic relating to field of statistical science. Self- teaching and pedagogy. nominations are acceptable. Nominations will be accepted until June 15. All university Nominations should be sent faculty from outside Harvard are eligible. to David B. Allison at dallison@ Send your nominee’s CV and a letter of recommendation uab.edu by June 24. Electronic to Madeleine Straubel at [email protected]. You may submissions are encouraged. The direct any questions to her, as well. honoree will be announced by Additional information about the award and previous July 4. If selected, the honoree winners is available at www.stat.harvard.edu/Site_Content/ must be willing to deliver a lec- Pickard_Lecture.html. ture at the award ceremony. For details about the award, visit www.soph.uab.edu/awards/ norwoodaward. n

may 2016 amstat news 33 people news

an ASA fellow and served as the University in 1960, Cox became 2013 Joint Statistical Meetings the first head of the statistical Program Committee chair. research division at the newly Mukherjee will give the Cox founded RTI. She was a found- Award presentation at RTI ing member of the International International on June 28, prior to Biometric Society (IBS) and, in the WSS Annual Dinner. 1949, became the first woman The award was established elected into the International in 2003 through a joint agree- Statistical Institute. She served as ment between the Washington president of both the American Statistical Society and RTI Statistical Association (1956) and Bhramar Mukherjee International to recognize stat- the IBS (1968–1969). In 1975, isticians in early to mid-career she was elected to the National The Washington Statistical (roughly no more than 15 years Academy of Sciences. Society (WSS) and RTI after terminal degree) who have This award is made pos- International chose Bhramar already made significant contri- sible by funding from RTI Mukherjee, John D. butions to statistical practice. International, and the recipient Kalbfleisch Collegiate Professor The award is in memory of is chosen by a six-person com- of Biostatistics at the University Gertrude M. Cox (1900–1978). mittee—three each from WSS of Michigan, as this year’s In 1945, Cox became director of and RTI. The award includes a recipient of the Gertrude M. the Institute of Statistics of the $1,000 honorarium, paid travel Cox Award. Consolidated University of North to attend the Cox Award pre- Since earning her PhD from Carolina. In the 1950s, as head sentation/WSS Annual Dinner, Purdue University in 2001, of the department of experimen- and a commemorative plaque Mukherjee has collaborated on tal statistics at North Carolina containing the WSS logo. Past more than 100 refereed publica- State College, she played a key recipients include Sharon Lohr, tions in areas such as Bayesian role in establishing mathemati- Alan Zaslavsky, Tom Belin, Vance analysis of data generated under cal statistics and biostatistics Berger, Francesca Domenici, case‐control and outcome depen- departments at the University of Thomas Lumley, Jean Opsomer, dent sampling mechanisms gene‐ North Carolina. Upon her retire- Michael Elliott, Nilanjan environment interaction. She is ment from North Carolina State Chatterjee, Amy Herring, Frauke Kreuter, Jerome Reiter, and Jae Kwang Kim.Alyson Wilson. n

This year’s Army Wilks Award winner is Alyson Wilson, professor of statistics at North Carolina State University. The award—established to commemorate the career of Samuel S. Wilks and his service to the Army—is given to a deserving individual who has made a substantial contribution to statistical methodology and application affecting the practice or application of statistics to problems in defense and security. The Army Wilks Award is given periodically at the Conference on Applied Statistics in Defense (CASD), which was held October 19–22, 2015, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. n

34 amstat news may 2016 section • chapter • committee news

Twin Cities Chapter Members Represent Statistics at Career Fair

Chapter members Lindsey Dietz, Thomas Erdahl, and Charlotte Bolch enjoy sharing aspects of their experiences within the field of statistics with students.

everal members of the Twin Cities Chapter volunteered their time on February 27 to talk “I felt that we were able to open up with high-school students about potential careersS in statistics at a career fair in Elk River, Minnesota. This second annual event was held for many students’ minds to the possibility local students to meet and talk with various career professionals. More than 100 students attended to of what a degree in statistics is …” talk with professionals representing 15 careers. Chapter members Lindsey Dietz (PhD candidate in the University of Minnesota Statistics Department), Thomas Erdahl (recent statistics “I felt that we were able to open up many stu- MS graduate of St. Cloud State University), and dents’ minds to the possibility of what a degree in Charlotte Bolch (biostatistician at Chronic Disease statistics is, as well as the wide variety of companies Research Group) enjoyed sharing aspects of their and organizations that are currently in demand for experiences within the field of statistics to students. statisticians and data scientists,” said Bolch. The chapter members were able to promote The Twin Cities Chapter hopes to represent and the study of statistics and help students under- promote statistics as a career during the career fair stand the many ways statisticians contribute to next year. n society through materials from the ASA’s “This is Statistics” campaign.

may 2016 amstat news 35 section • chapter • committee news

San Antonio Chapter Hosts Statistics Career Day

o emphasize the significance of statistical and quantitative education in Tany career path, as well as raise awareness regarding statistics as a rewarding profession, the San Antonio Chapter hosted Statistics Career Day March 5 in collaboration with the TRiO Program and department of management science and statistics at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Students from various local high schools attended the event, which took place at UTSA’s main campus. Following a welcome speech by Daniel Hollas, senior associate dean of the Daniel Hollas, senior associate dean of The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Business, gives a welcome speech to the students UTSA College of Business, stu- who attended Statistics Career Day on March 5. dents attended interactive lectures and participated in hands- on statistical activities. The lectures provided a broad view of statistical applications in many fields. Speakers included statisticians from local research, teaching, consulting, business, In a lab session, students financial, and insurance orga- analyze and nizations such as USAA, Frost visualize their Bank, H-E-B, SwRI, UT Health own data Science Center, and UTSA. Each using R. career-oriented talk offered a brief overview of real-life, day-today statistics applications. Students were also introduced to R, the popular statistical pro- gramming language and a leading data science software. In the hands-on lab sessions, they were able to experience the entire process of statistical analysis by importing, analyzing, visualizing, and interpreting their own data. The students had many interesting questions and fully enjoyed the day-long event, learning about diverse career opportunities in statistics. n 36 amstat news may 2016 section • chapter • committee news

aspects of designed experimentation. In the second session—Powerful Experimental Designs for Non- Gaussian Responses—attendees will hear more about different strategies for designs, followed by a discussion. Q&P is also sponsoring the following three sectionnews roundtable discussions at JSM this year: From Statistician to Data Scientist: How to Biometrics Prepare? – led by Ming Li, REANCON. Edited by Sheng Luo, Biometrics Section Publications Officer Break the Chicken and Egg Cycle: Increasing an Organization’s Analytic Maturity – led by It’s time to start thinking about invited sessions for Sarah Kalicin, Intel Corporation. next year’s Joint Statistical Meetings, which will be held July 29 to August 3 in Baltimore, Maryland. Postdocs in Statistics: No Longer the Unicorn Anyone who is interested in organizing an invited – led by Karl Pazdernik, North Carolina State session or who has ideas for one should contact the University n section’s 2017 program chair, Barbara Englehardt, at [email protected]. A typical invited session consists of three Statistics in Epidemiology 30-minute talks followed by a 10-minute invited discussion and 10 minutes of floor discussion. The Statistics in Epidemiology Section is beginning However, other formats are possible. The 2016 pro- a pilot of its new one-on-one mentoring program. gram is a good source for examples. Recognizing it can be helpful for junior statisticians The most mature ideas will have an advantage to gather feedback and advice from both within in competing for the limited number of slots, so and outside of an institution, the section seeks 10 it’s best to have your ideas in final form by the volunteer mentors and 10 volunteer mentees from middle of June. The Biometrics Section will have its membership. at least four invited sessions, but we will be able to These individuals will be matched and pairs will To list your section’s compete for additional slots if we generate enough be notified by June 31. There will be an opportu- news in Amstat News, nity for the pairs to meet in person at JSM 2016 in send an email to good ideas. Managing Editor Megan It’s also time to submit ideas for short courses Chicago, and there will be a special occasion for this Murphy at megan@ to our 2016–2017 continuing education chair, at the awards ceremony for the section. amstat.org with the Rosemarie Mick, at [email protected]. Feedback will be gathered by October 1, and a details. For more information about the section’s role in full-scale version of the program will be launched in JSM 2016, visit http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/ 2017, if the pilot program proves successful. category/membernews/amstatsections/biometrics. Mentees are individuals who wish to grow professionally through a one-on-one professional Funding Opportunity relationship with a senior statistician as mentor. The Biometrics Section also invites applications for Benefits include an introduction to the role of a funding to support projects developing innovative statistician and professional/social contacts with outreach projects focused on enhancing awareness other applied statisticians. of biostatistics among quantitatively talented U.S. Mentors are supportive individuals who wish students. Of particular interest are projects that will to work with a junior statistician and build a long- encourage students to pursue advanced training in term relationship by offering guidance, support, biostatistics. For more information, visit http://stattrak. and encouragement to cultivate the mentees’ career amstat.org/2016/04/01/biometrics-apr16. n development. We seek applicants with extensive experience in mentoring junior statisticians or Quality and Productivity graduate students. The Quality and Productivity (Q&P) Section will A mentor will be matched with a mentee offer two invited sessions at JSM 2016. The first according to the overlap of their research inter- session—The Extraordinary Power of Designed ests. Interested volunteer mentees should complete Experiments—features presenters from industry, the form at http://bit.ly/1SqT6ig and send a CV to government, and academia and will cover different [email protected]. n

may 2016 amstat news 37 section • chapter • committee news

Statistics in Defense and National Security ers and uses this data to produce accurate indicators of current influenza epidemic severity. However, The Section on Statistics in Defense and National ILINet indicators are typically reported at a lag of Security sponsored the student poster awards at the 1–2 weeks. Another source of severity data, Google Conference on Data Analysis (CODA), which was Flu Trends (GFT), is calculated by aggregating held March 2–4 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. CODA Google searches for certain influenza-related terms. highlights data-driven problems of interest to the GFT data is provided in near-real time, but is a less U.S. Department of Energy. This year, there were direct measurement of severity than ILINet indica- attendees from 10 national laboratories, 20 univer- tors and is likely to suffer from bias. We create a sities, and a variety of companies. hierarchical model to estimate epidemic severity for Poster Award Winners the 2014–2015 epidemic season, which incorpo- First prize ($400) was awarded to Thomas rates current and historical data from both ILINet Catanach from Caltech for “Power System and GFT, allowing our model to benefit from both Dynamic Estimation.” the timeliness of GFT data and the accuracy of Abstract: Because power systems are becoming ILINet data. To forecast for the 2014–2015 influen- increasingly complex and subject to disturbances, za epidemic season, we provide our model with both developing methods for state estimation and system ILINet and GFT data from previous seasons, start- identification is essential for increasing the reliability ing with the 2004–2005 epidemic season and going of the power grid. Currently, this problem is solved through the 2013–2104 epidemic season. The hier- on slower, steady-state, time scales; however, faster archical structure of our model allows ILINet and estimation is now possible with the deployment of GFT data from previous seasons to inform epidem- phasor measurement units (PMUs). Many meth- ic severity prediction in the current season. ILINet ods have been studied for dynamic state estimation, data is modeled as being an unbiased but noisy esti- including both local and global filtering methods. mate of the true, unknown influenza severity. GFT One of the main challenges for global methods is severity measurements, on the other hand, are influ- how the filter integrates the differential algebraic enced by external factors such as media coverage. equations (DAE) that describe the power system. These factors could consistently bias GFT severity This work applies implicit methods used to solve estimates to over- or under-estimate the true epi- DAEs to improve the performance and robustness demic severity, depending on the intensity of media of an extended Kalman filter, making it an attrac- influenza coverage in a season. To account for this tive state estimation choice. Further, we introduce potential bias in GFT data, we include a temporally techniques to reduce the effect of temporary dis- correlated error term that allows over- or under- turbances on the state estimated to help track the predictions made by GFT data in one week to carry state through these faults where the network model over into the next. Estimation is performed using is no longer accurate by creating a layered estima- the Bayesian statistical software JAGS. We exam- tion architecture. This architecture integrates state ine the increase in forecast accuracy that GFT data estimation, change point detection, and classifica- provides by comparing the forecasting ability of our tion of disturbances. model using both GFT and ILINet data to that of a model given only ILINet data. The two models Second prize ($100) was awarded to Nicholas are evaluated for their ability to predict epidemic Michaud from Iowa State for “A Bayesian Hierarchical severity multiple weeks into the future, and we find Model for Estimating Influenza Severity.” that combining up-to-date GFT data with accurate Abstract: Timely monitoring and prediction of ILINet data improves epidemic severity forecasting the trajectory of seasonal influenza epidemics allows ability significantly. hospitals and medical centers to prepare for and pro- Honorable mentions went to Michael Grosskopf vide better service to patients with influenza. The from Simon Fraser University and Ben Newton from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. n ILINet system collects data on influenza-like illnesses from more than 3,300 health care provid-

38 amstat news may 2016 calendar of events

May

»16–18—39th Annual Midwest The following events are the latest additions to Biopharmaceutical Statistics the ASA’s online calendar of events. Announce- Workshop (MBSW), Muncie, ments are accepted from education and not-for- Indiana profit organizations only. To view the complete list For more information, visit www. of statistics meetings and workshops, visit www. mbswonline.com or contact Melvin amstat.org/dateline. Munsaka, One Takeda Parkway, Deerfield, IL 60015; (224) 554-2846; * Indicates events sponsored by the ASA or one of [email protected]. its sections, chapters, or committees

23–25—61st Annual Meeting ›› Indicates events posted since the previous issue of the Brazilian Region of the International Biometric Society (RBras), Salvador, Brazil For more information, visit www. 6–8/12—2016 MBI 12–15—The 25th ICSA Applied RBras2016.org or contact Paulo Undergraduate Summer Statistics Symposium 2016, Rodrigues, Federal University Research Program, Atlanta, Georgia of Bahia, Salvador, International Columbus, Ohio For more information, visit www. 40170110; +557193749078; For more information, visit http:// math.gsu.edu/~icsa or contact [email protected]. mbi.osu.edu/education/summer- Yichuan Zhao, Department of undergraduate-program or con- Mathematics and Statistics, Atlanta, »23–26—UT Summer Statistics tact Tony Nance, 1735 Neil Ave., GA 30303; (404) 413-6446; yichuan@ Institute, Austin, Texas Columbus, OH 43210; (614) 292- gsu.edu. For more information, visit stat. 4220; [email protected]. utexas.edu/training/ssi or contact 12–18—AMS Mathematics Sasha Schellenberg, GDC 7.504, 8–10—SIS 2016 - 48th Scientific Research Community on 2317 Speedway D9800, Austin, TX Meeting of the Italian Statistical Algebraic Statistics, Snowbird, 78712-1823; (512) 232-9217; sasha. Society, Fisciano, Italy Utah [email protected]. For details, visit meetings. For details, visit www.ams.org/ sis-statistica.org/index.php/SIS2016/ programs/research-communities/mrc »*25–27—Spring Research home or contact Marcella Niglio, Via or contact Tom Barr, 201 Charles Conference 2016, Chicago, Giovanni Paolo II, 132, Fisciano (SA), St., Providence, RI 02904; Illinois International 84084, Italy; (401) 455-4101; [email protected]. For details, visit iit.edu/src2016 or [email protected]. contact Lulu Kang, 10 W. 32nd St., 13–17—ISBA 2016 World RE-208, Chicago, IL 60616; (312) 9–10—International Conference Meeting, Santa Margherita di 567-5322; [email protected]. on Nuclear Medicine and Pula, Italy Radiation Therapy, Cologne, For details, visit www.isba2016.org 25–28—12th International Germany or contact Michele Guindani, Box Conference on Order Statistical For details, visit nuclearmedicine. 90251, Duke University, Durham, NC Data, Piraeus, Greece conferenceseries.com or contact 27708-0251; (713) 563-4285; [email protected]. For details, contact George Amelia Johnson, 2360 Corporate Iliopoulos, 80 Karaoli and Circle, Suite 400, Henderson, NV Dimitriou St., Piraeus, International 89074-7722; (702) 508-5200; »*14–16—2016 Quality 18534, Greece; +302104142406; nuclearmedicine@conferenceseries. and Productivity Research [email protected]. com. Conference, Tempe, Arizona For more information, visit qprc2016. 10–11—Advances in Statistics, com or contact Steven Rigdon, June Probability, and Mathematical Saint Louis University, Salus Center Physics: A Conference in Honor 481, St. Louis, MO 63103; of Eugenio Regazzini, Pavia, Italy (314) 977-8127; [email protected]. 6–10—Statistical Challenges For information, visit matematica. in Modern Astronomy VI, unipv.it/eugenioconference or con- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania tact Antonio Lijoi, via san Felice 5, For details, visit www.scma6.org or Pavia, International 27100, Italy; +39 contact Chad Schafer, 5000 Forbes 0382 986220; [email protected]. Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213; [email protected].

may 2016 amstat news 39 calendar of events

15–18—Second International »22–23—41st Annual SIAS, Congress on Actuarial Science Provo, Utah July and Quantitative Finance, For more information, visit statistics. Cartagena, Colombia byu.edu/content/40th-annual- »4–8—31st International For details, visit icasqf.org or contact summer-institute-applied-statistics Workshop on Statistical Jaime Londoño, Cra 27 # 64-60, or contact Amy Royer, 223 TMCB, Modeling, Rennes, France Manizales, International 170004, Department of Statistics, Provo, UT For details, visit www.lebesgue.fr/ Colombia; [email protected]. 84602; (801) 422-4506; aroyer@stat. content/sem2016-iwsm2016 or byu.edu. contact Jean-François Dupuy, 20 19–22—36th International Avenue des Buttes de Coësmes, Symposium on Forecasting, 29–7/1—The 2016 International Rennes, International 35708, France; Santander, Spain Conference of Computational +33 2 23 23 86 32; jean-francois. For information, visit forecasters. Statistics and Data Engineering, [email protected]. org/isf or contact Pamela Stroud, 53 London, United Kingdom Tesla Ave., Medford, MA 02155; (781) For more information, visit www. 10–15—2016 International 234-4077; [email protected]. iaeng.org/WCE2016/ICCSDE2016. Biometric Conference, Victoria, html or contact IAENG Secretariat, Canada *20–23—Fifth International Unit 1, 1/F, 37-39 Hung To Road, For details, visit biometricconference. Conference on Establishment Hong Kong, International HK; (852) org or contact Dee Ann Walker, Surveys, Geneva, Switzerland 3169-3427; [email protected]. 1444 I Street NW, Washington, DC For more information, visit www. 20005; (202) 712-9049; dawalker@ portal-stat.admin.ch/ices5 or contact bostrom.com. Polly Phipps, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20212; (202) 691-7513; [email protected].

40 amstat news may 2016 calendar of events

11–12—International 4333 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 13–20—Assimilating Long-Term Conference on COPD, 98105; [email protected]. Data into Ecosystem Models, Brisbane, Australia Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin For details, visit copd. *30–8/4—2016 Joint Statistical For more information, visit www. conferenceseries.com or contact Meetings, Chicago, Illinois paleonproject.org or contact Jody Clara Williams, 2360 Corporate For details, contact ASA Meetings, Peters, 294 Galvin, Notre Dame, IN Circle, Suite 400, Henderson, NV 732 North Washington St., 46556; (574) 631-2175; 89074-7722; (888) 843-8169; Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 684- [email protected]. [email protected]. 1221; [email protected]. 17–19—Small Area Estimation »11–29—2nd Summer Institute Conference 2016, Maastricht, in Statistics for Big Data, Seattle, August The Netherlands Washington For details, visit www.sae2016.nl For more information, visit www. or contact Bart Buelens, CBS-weg 5–8—SIAM Conference on biostat.washington.edu/suminst/ 11, Heerlen, International 6401 Uncertainty Quantification sisbid/register or contact Andrea CZ, Netherlands; +31455706000; (UQ16), Lausanne, Switzerland Hitlin, 4333 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., [email protected]. For more information, visit www. Seattle, WA 98105; [email protected]. siam.org/meetings/uq16/?utm_ source=ASA_calendar&utm_ »18–21—The 2016 International »11–29—8th Summer Institute medium=listing&utm_ Indian Statistical Association in Statistics and Modeling in campaign=UQ16_ASA_calen- Conference: Statistical and Data Infectious Diseases, Seattle, dar_posting or contact Frank Sciences - A Key to Healthy Washington Kunkle, 3600 Market St., 6th Floor, People, Planet, and Prosperity, For details, visit www.biostat. Philadelphia, PA 19104; (267) 350- Corvallis, Oregon washington.edu/suminst/sismid/ 6388; [email protected]. For more information, visit register or contact Andrea Hitlin, iisaconference.org or contact 4333 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA Subrata Kundu, 801 22nd St. NW, »7–10—Ordered Data and 98105; [email protected]. Washington, DC 20052; kundu@ their Applications in Reliability intindstat.org. and Survival Analysis: An »11–29—21st Summer Institute International Conference in in Statistical Genetics, Seattle, Honour of N. Balakrishnan for 22–23—5th International Washington His 60th Birthday (ODRS 2016), Conference on Computational For more information, visit www. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Systems Biology, Philadelphia, biostat.washington.edu/suminst/ For details, visit odrs.math.mcmaster. Pennsylvania sisg/register or contact Andrea Hitlin, ca or contact William Volterman, For more information, visit www. 4333 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 215 Carnegie Hall, Syracuse systemsbiology.conferenceseries. 98105; [email protected]. University, Syracuse, NY 13244; (315) com or contact Mark Twain, 443-1460; [email protected]. 2360 Corporate Circle, Suite 400, »13–15—International Henderson NV 89074-7722; (888) Conference on Applied 843-8169, systemsbiology@ 11–13—International omicsgroup.com. Statistics (ICAS 2016), Phuket, Conference on Anatomy and Thailand Physiology, Birmingham, United For details, visit icas2016.org or con- Kingdom tact Kamon Budsaba, Department For more information, visit September of Mathematics and Statistics, anatomy-physiology.conferenceseries. Pathumthani, International 12121, com or contact Eva Simons, »5–8—RSS 2016 International Thailand; 66851818740; kamon@ 2360 Corporate Circle, Suite 400, Conference, Manchester, United mathstat.sci.tu.ac.th. Henderson NV 89074-7722; (888) Kingdom 843-8169; anatomy-physiology@ For details, visit www.rss.org.uk/ »25–29—3rd Summer Institute conferenceseries.com. conference2016 or contact Tessa in Statistics for Clinical Pearson, 12 Errol St., London, Research, Seattle, Washington International EC1Y 8LX, United For details, visit www.biostat. Kingdom, 02076143947; washington.edu/suminst/siscr/ [email protected]. register or contact Andrea Hitlin,

may 2016 amstat news 41 calendar of events

»14–16—6th International *28–30—2016 ASA Conference and Exhibition on Biopharmaceutical Section October Nutrition, San Antonio, Texas Regulatory-Industry Statistics »*6–7—Fall Technical For more information, visit www. Workshop, Washington, DC Conference, Minneapolis, nutritionalconference.com or For more information, visit www. Minnesota contact Angelina Grace, 611 amstat.org/meetings/biopharmwork- For details, visit asq.org/ NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX shop/2016 or contact ASA Meetings, conferences/fall-technical or contact 78216; (650) 268-9744; nutrition@ 732 N. Washington St., Alexandria, Shari Kraber, 2021 E. Hennepin Ave., insightconferences.com. VA 22314; (703) 684-1221; meet- #480, Minneapolis, MN 55413; (612) [email protected]. 746-2035, [email protected]. »14–15—International Conference on Histochemistry »*30–10/2—AISC 2016 - 14–16—International and Cytochemistry, Phoenix, International Conference on Conference on Statistical Arizona Advances in Interdisciplinary Distributions and Applications For more information, visit http:// Statistics and Combinatorics, (ICOSDA 2016), Niagara Falls, histochemistry.conferenceseries. Greensboro, North Carolina Canada com or contact Anna Gloria, For more information, visit www. For details, visit people.cst.cmich. Phoenix Airport Marriott, 1101 uncg.edu/mat/aisc/2016/index.html edu/lee1c/icosda2016 or contact N. 44th St., Phoenix, AZ 85008; or contact Sat Gupta, Department Felix Famoye, Department of (650) 268-9744; histochemistry@ of Math/Stats, 317 College Ave., Mathematics, Mt. Pleasant, MI insightconferences.com. Petty Building, Greensboro, 48859; (989) 774-5497; felix.famoye@ NC 27412; (336) 554-4608; cmich.edu. [email protected].

east_Arch_amstat_advert_6.4.pdf 1 3/29/16 2:03 PM

New Version 6.4

Y CM New Look, New Capabilities, Same Reliability MY

CY Improve the way you design, simulate and monitor your

CMY adaptive and fixed clinical trials with East version 6.4

K • Forecasting of enrollment and events using blinded or unblinded interim data • Two-stage designs with adaptive treatment selection and p-value combination • Dose escalation designs for single or dual agents • Multi-arm multi-stage group sequential designs www.cytel.com

42 amstat news may 2016 calendar of events

»19–21—International Conference on Machine December February Learning and Data Analysis *4–9—72nd Annual Deming *23–25—2017 American 2016, San Francisco, California Conference on Applied Statistical Association For more information, visit www. Statistics, Atlantic City, New Conference on Statistical iaeng.org/WCECS2016/ICMLDA2016. Jersey Practice, Jacksonville, Florida html or contact IAENG Secretariat, For more information, visit www. For more information, contact ASA Unit 1, 1/F, 37-39 Hung To Road, demingconference.com or contact Meetings, 732 N. Washington St., Hong Kong, International HK; (852) Walter Young, 16 Harrow Circle, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 684- 3169-3427; [email protected]. Wayne, NJ 19087-3852; (415) 819- 1221; [email protected]. 8884; [email protected]. 20–22—Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference, 6–8—The 15th Conference of June Charlotte, North Carolina International Association for »20–23—The 10th International For more information, visit www. Official Statistics (IAOS), Abu Conference on Multiple amstat.org/meetings/wsds/2016 or Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Comparison Procedures, contact ASA Meetings, 732 For details, visit www.iaos2016.ae or Riverside, California N. Washington St., Alexandria, contact Kris Olarte, 9F Dubai World For details, visit www. VA 22314; (703) 684-1221; Trade Centre Building, Sheikh Zayed mcp-conference.org or contact [email protected]. Road, Dubai, International 124752, Xinping Cui, 1337 Olmsted Hall, United Arab Emirates; +971 4 311 University of California at Riverside, 6359; [email protected]. Riverside, CA 92521; (951) 827-2563; November [email protected]. »15–17—Conference on 9–13—International Conference Experimental Designs and on Questionnaire Design, Analysis (CEDA) 2016, Taipei, July Development, Evaluation, and Taiwan Testing (QDET2), Miami, Florida For details, visit www3.stat. For more information, visit sinica.edu.tw/ceda2016 or contact »3–7—IWSM 2017, Groningen, www.amstat.org/meetings/qdet2 or Frederick Kin Hing Phoa, The Netherlands contact ASA Meetings, 732 128 Academia Road Section For more information, visit N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 2, Nangang District, Taipei, iwsm2017.webhosting.rug.nl or con- 22314; (703) 684-1221; International 115; (886) 2-6614- tact Marco Gzegorczyk, Nijenborgh [email protected]. 5645; [email protected]. 9, Groningen, International 9747 AG, Netherlands; +31503633985; [email protected]. »14–16—6th International Conference and Exhibition on Metabolomics, Orlando, Florida »9–13—38th Annual For more information, visit www. 2017 Conference of the International metabolomicsconference.com/ Society for Clinical Biostatistics, america or contact Isaac Samuel, Vigo, Spain Double Tree by Hilton Hotel January For details, visit jacobo.webs.uvigo. Orlando Airport, 5555 Hazeltine es/Flyer_ISCB38.pdf or contact National Drive, Orlando, FL 32812; Jacobo de Uña Álvarez, University of (702) 508-5200; metabolomics@ »24–26—International Vigo, Department of Statistics and conferenceseries.net. Conference on Computational OR, Vigo, International 36310, Spain; Mathematics & Statistics 986812492; [email protected]. (ICCMS-2017), Banasthali, Rajasthan, India *29–8/3—2017 Joint Statistical For more information, visit Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland www.iccms2017bu.in or contact For more information, contact ASA Shalini Chandra, Department of Meetings, 732 N. Washington St., Mathematics and Statistics, Tonk, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 684- Bansathali, International 304022, 1221; [email protected]. n India; [email protected].

may 2016 amstat news 43 professional opportunities

Professional Opportunity listings may not exceed 65 words, plus equal opportunity information. The deadline for their receipt is the 20th of the month two months prior to when the ad is to be published (e.g., May 20 Illinois for the July issue). Ads will be published in the next available issue follow- n University of Illinois at Urbana/ ing receipt. Champaign, Interdisciplinary Listings are shown alphabetically by state, followed by international list- Health Sciences Initiative, Senior ings. Vacancy listings may include the institutional name and address or be Biostatistician. The Interdisciplinary identified by number, as desired. Health Sciences Initiative, formed to catalyze health sciences-related activities Professional Opportunities vacancies also will be published on the ASA’s on campus and with clinical partners, is website (www.amstat.org). Vacancy listings will appear on the website for seeking a senior biostatistician, whose the entire calendar month. Ads may not be placed for publication in the primary responsibility is to manage magazine only; all ads will be published both electronically and in print. the University of Illinois’s Biostatistical Rates: $320 for nonprofit organizations (with proof of nonprofit status), Core and to provide expert biostatisti- $475 for all others. Member discounts are not given. For display and online cal guidance to the clients of the core. advertising rates, go to www.amstat.org/ads. Visit: https://jobs.illinois.edu for more Listings will be invoiced following publication. All payments should be information. University of Illinois is an made to the American Statistical Association. All material should be sent equal opportunity employer. to Amstat News, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314- 1943; fax (703) 684-2036; email [email protected]. Iowa Employers are expected to acknowledge all responses resulting from n The College Board, the national edu- publication of their ads. Personnel advertising is accepted with the under- cational organization, is conducting a standing that the advertiser does not discriminate among applicants on search for a senior assessment specialist the basis of race, sex, religion, age, color, national origin, handicap, or sex- who will assist in the development of ual orientation. new assessments and related products Also, look for job ads on the ASA website at www.amstat.org/jobweb. that support significant segments of the organization with respect to math assessment. This position reports to a senior director and is resident in our Iowa City office. Apply Here: www. Click2apply.net/sn9shdmb85 EOE. California Florida Kentucky n The University of California at n Located in the medical city in n Lecturer or senior lecturer in sta- Riverside (UCR) is embarking on a Orlando, FL, the University of Central tistics, beginning 8/15/16. Primary major new hiring initiative that will Florida College of Medicine (UCF- responsibility will be teaching in our add 300 tenured and tenure-track COM) is seeking applicants for either a new online master of applied statis- positions in 33 cross-disciplinary tenure track or non-tenure track (multi- tics program or online undergraduate areas selected through a peer-reviewed year) appointment in the College of courses. Email ([email protected]) CV, competition (for more information, Medicine, working primarily in the teaching statement and have three let- visit www.clusterhiring.ucr.edu). This Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, ters of reference sent electronically. announcement aims to fill two of an for the position of biostatistician. Please Visit our website at http://stat.uky.edu. eventual three positions in the area of apply at www.jobswithucf.com/ Position subject to budgetary approval. Required: PhD in statistics, biostatis- Business Analytics with a desired start postings/44569 EOE. date of June 30, 2016. EOE. tics, or related field. To enrich education through diversity, the University of Kentucky is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.

44 amstat news may 2016 Massachusetts Texas n Assistant/associate professor level: The n The Survey and Data Management n Assistant/associate professor level: The University of Texas Health Science Center Core (SDMC) in the Division of University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, UTHealth, School of Public Population Sciences at the Dana-Farber at Houston, UTHealth, School of Public Health-Austin regional campus, invites Cancer Institute (DFCI) seeks a PhD- Health, Austin regional campus, invites applications for a tenure-track faculty level Survey Methodologist with exper- applications for a tenure-track faculty position in the department of biostatis- tise in research and survey design and position in the department of biostatistics. Full details and to apply, visit requisi- psychometrics. Quantitative psychology, tics. Full details and to apply, visit requisi- tion #161643 at https://jobs.uth.tmc.edu/ educational measurement, psychometry, tion #161643 at https://jobs.uth.tmc.edu/ applicants/Central?quickFind=109371. or closely related field, with expertise in applicants/Central?quickFind=109371. Please include a cover letter, CV, and survey design and psychometrics EOE. Please include a cover letter, CV, and contact information for three professional contact information for three professional references. Only applications received Ohio references. Only applications received through the online system will be considered. UTHealth is an EOE/AA employer. n The Department of Quantitative through the online system will be consid- UTHealth does not discriminate on the Health Sciences at the Cleveland Clinic ered. UTHealth is an EOE/AA employer. basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual is recruiting for faculty and master’s-level UTHealth does not discriminate on the orientation, national origin, age, disabil- biostatisticians and statistical programers. basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual ity, genetic information, gender identity Details for all positions, as well as appli- orientation, national origin, age, disabil- or expression, veteran status or any other cation instructions, are on our website: ity, genetic information, gender identity basis prohibited by law or university www.lerner.ccf.org/qhs/jobs. EOE. or expression, veteran status or any other basis prohibited by law or university policy. EOE/M/F/Disabled/Vet. policy. EOE/M/F/Disabled/Vet.

BIOSTATISTICIANS | Senior Staff and Non-Tenure Track Faculty Positions The Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics of the Sidney Kim- methodology. The position requires a doctorate mel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, founded in 1988, or master’s degree in biostatistics, statistics, or is a leader in statistical applications in cancer research. We conduct related area and at least ten (10) years of expe- methodologic research in biostatistics and bioinformatics to advance rience in biomedical study design and analysis. cancer research, provide biostatistics and bioinformatics support to Strong written and oral communication skills medical investigators in cancer and other biomedical areas, and teach re- are necessary, as is experience with a range of statistical software. search methodology in a wide variety of academic programs in the Johns Both positions will expand a highly successful group of quanti- Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health. The Division currently tative scientists working collaboratively with both clinical and basic has 16 doctoral-level and 6 masters-level biostatisticians or bioinformati- science faculty in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. cians and has strong research connections with the Departments of Bio- Application Procedure: Applicants should send a Curriculum Vitae statistics and Epidemiology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. (including personal website URL if available), letter of application, and Please visit our website: www.cancerbiostats.onc.jhmi.edu two or more letters of reference to: Principal Biostatistician: We are recruiting a PhD or MS-level For electronic communication: [email protected] biostatistician to work with Division faculty on collaborative biomed- For paper communication: ical research. The position requires a doctorate or master’s degree in Search Committee biostatistics, statistics, or a related field and at least eight (8) years Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics of experience in biomedical study design and analysis, preferably in 550 North Broadway, Suite 1103 oncology. Strong written and oral communication skills are necessary, Baltimore, MD, 21205-2013 as is experience with a range of statistical software. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled. Assistant Research Biostatistician: We are recruiting a PhD-lev- The Johns Hopkins University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirma- el biostatistician to collaborate with Cancer Center investigators on tive Action employer. We strongly encourage qualified women and biomedical research projects. There are also opportunities to develop new under-represented minorities to apply.

may 2016 amstat news 45 International n SUNY Korea, a global campus of Stony Brook University, seeks applicants for two tenure-track faculty positions starting Fall 2016. Qualifications: American education experience; fluent English; PhD in mathematics, statistics, or a related field. To apply: send the following items to [email protected]: cover letter, CV, teaching statement, and list of three references. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Websites: www. sunykorea.ac.kr or www.ams.stonybrook. edu EOE.

conference Statistics and Data Science

Attend Save October the date 20-22, 2016 Registration & Hotel Reservations Open | June 2 Charlotte, Early Registration Deadline | September 6 North Carolina Hotel Reservation Deadline | September 20 Regular Registration Deadline | October 4

www.amstat.org/wsds

46 amstat news may 2016 AMSTATNEWS ADVERTISING DIRECTORY

Listed below are our display advertisements only. If you are looking for job-placement ads, please see the professional opportunities section. For more job listings or more information about advertising, please visit www.amstat.org.

misc. products and services Annual Reviews...... cover 2 The Pennsylvania State University...... p. 40 professional opportunities The Johns Hopkins University...... p. 45 U. S. Census Bureau...... p. 47 Westat...... p. 46 software Cytel...... p. 42 Minitab Inc...... centerfold NCSS...... p. 33 Salford Systems...... centerfold JMP software from SAS...... cover 3 SAS institute Inc...... cover 4

may 2016 amstat news 47 SOCIAL CHATTER What our followers are saying online FOLLOW US In honor of Mathematics Awareness Month, we We posted this quote on social media and received community. amstat.org asked our followers to tell several comments. Here is what some of our followers us what they think the next had to say: www.facebook. big statistics trend will be. com/AmstatNews

@AmstatNews

www.instagram .com/AmstatNews Ryan Carr undoing all “People are realizing that the damage done by “Data STATISTICAL LITERACY Scientists” who don’t understand is an important component of being a the concept of quantifying uncertainty? WELL-EDUCATED PERSON and is relevant to daily life.” Jessica Utts, 2016 ASA President

Melinda Higgins ‏ @mhiggins2000 More common modeling practices using variance as a predic- tor or as an outcome or both. AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION

This month, we’ll ask

our readers to think Susan Duke Well educated, yes! And it makes people less back in time and tell us prone to those with their own agenda. How can we make sta- where their student- tistical literacy relevant to people’s lives and put some fun in it too? #letsdoourselvesafavor self thought they would be now. Follow Anicet Yalaho Sure, generalizing statistical literacy will enable everyone to understand as well the downside of statisti- us to read the respons- cal tool –Manipulation es or send us one of your own. Don’t forget to tag @Amstat News. Sally Morton @sallycmorton Statistical and data literacy are essential for everyone

48 amstat news may 2016