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AMSTATNEWS the Membership Magazine of the American Statistical Association • March 2015 • Issue #453 AMSTATNEWS The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical Association • http://magazine.amstat.org ACADEMIC SALARY SURVEY What’s Your NUMBER? ALSO: ASA Board of Directors Candidates ASA Members Break Record in Annual Fund Drive Contributions AMSTATNEWS MARCH 2015 • ISSUE #453 Executive Director Ron Wasserstein: [email protected] Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations Stephen Porzio: [email protected] features Director of Science Policy 3 President’s Corner Steve Pierson: [email protected] 5 Staff Spotlight: Alison Smith Director of Education Rebecca Nichols: [email protected] 5 Significance Magazine Opens Its Archives Managing Editor 6 ASA Members Break Record in Annual Fund Drive Megan Murphy: [email protected] Contributions Production Coordinators/Graphic Designers Sara Davidson: [email protected] 11 Washington Statistical Society Starts Mentoring Program Megan Ruyle: [email protected] 12 Academic Salary Survey: What's Your Number? Publications Coordinator Val Nirala: [email protected] 16 ASA Leaders Reminisce: Bob Mason Advertising Manager 18 Former Students Recall Gertrude Cox Claudine Donovan: [email protected] 21 Editor, Book Reviewers Wanted Contributing Staff Members Amanda Malloy • Joyce Narine • Steve Pierson • Jeff Myers 21 Nominations Wanted for Sacks Award 22 ASA Board of Directors Candidates Amstat News welcomes news items and letters from readers on matters of interest to the association and the profession. Address correspondence to 31 Q&A with UNL's Director of Computational Sciences Initiative 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. 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. columns Amstat News (ISSN 0163-9617) is published monthly by the American Statistical Association, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314- 38 STATtr@k 1943 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and additional How to Take Your Statistics Career Off the Beaten Path 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, ON L4B 4R6. Annual subscriptions are $50 per year for nonmembers. Amstat News is the member publication of the ASA. For annual membership rates, see www.amstat.org/join or contact ASA Member Services at (888) 231-3473. American Statistical Association 732 North Washington Street Alexandria, VA 22314–1943 USA (703) 684–1221 • FAX: (703) 684-2037 ASA GENERAL: [email protected] ADDRESS CHANGES: [email protected] AMSTAT EDITORIAL: [email protected] ADVERTISING: [email protected] WEBSITE: http://magazine.amstat.org Printed in USA © 2015 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]. Promoting the Practice and Profession of Statistics® Contributing Editor Sara Davidson is a graphic designer and production coordinator The American Statistical Association is the world’s largest for the American Statistical Association. After graduating from the community of statisticians. The ASA supports excellence in University of Missouri with a degree in photojournalism, she spent the development, application, and dissemination of statistical 10 years working in newspapers, most recently as a design editor at science through meetings, publications, membership services, Gannett’s Military Times family of publications. 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 Davidson inform public policy and improve human welfare. departments 35 education NSF Funds Research in Statistics Education Online Articles The following articles in this issue can be found online at http://magazine.amstat.org. Did you know statistics is the fastest-growing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduate degree in the United States? The ASA analyzed data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on 160 STEM bachelor’s degree categories granted by U.S. public and nonprofit ASA Members Break Record in Annual Fund Drive colleges and universities. To view the complete list, visit Contributions, Page 6 http://magazine.amstat.org. The Biometrics Section of the ASA is looking for volunteers for this year’s JSM in Seattle. If you are member news interested in getting involved, contact the section’s 41 Awards and Deadlines 2015 program chair, Rebecca Hubbard, at rhubb@ upenn.edu. To find out what courses and sessions will 42 People News be offered or who won the 2015 awards, visit http:// 44 Calendar of Events magazine.amstat.org/blog/category/membernews/ amstatsections. 45 Professional Opportunities The March 2015 special issue of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (JQAS) consists of five articles about prediction models and methods for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The solicitation for the articles in this issue originated from the “March Machine Learning Mania” Kaggle prediction contest held last year, in which contestants made probability predictions for all the team matchups in the 2014 NCAA tournament. Mark E. Glickman, JQAS editor, talks more about the articles you will read in this upcoming issue online at http://magazine.amstat.org. Students | The 21st Industrial Mathematical & Statistical Modeling (IMSM) Workshop for ASA Board of Directors Candidates, Page 22 Graduate Students will take place at North Carolina State University, July 13–22. The application deadline is April 15. Information is available at www.samsi.info/ Follow us on Twitter @AmstatNews IMSM15 and questions can be directed to grad@samsi. info. For details, visit http://stattrak.amstat.org. Join the ASA Community community.amstat.org Additional Resources at www.amstat.org Like us on Facebook 2 amstat news march 2015 president's corner Broadening Our Communication Through Collaboration he time has come for STATS.org website—described Tell us a bit about your statisticians to in Myers’ article, “ASA, Sense background. Why did you report the news!” – About Science USA Partner to join Sense About Science “TT. Butterworth Help Raise Media Statistical USA? How is your work Our mission statement says Literacy” (http://magazine. there helping you meet we will “seek opportunities to amstat.org/blog/2015/01/01/ your professional goals? advance the statistics profes- asa-stats-org-partner). This joint Trevor: I arrived in the United sion” and “promote the proper effort will expand our efforts to States from Ireland 22 years ago, application of statistics.” Our communicate our valuable con- ostensibly, to do preliminary work David Morganstein strategic plan includes the objec- tributions to nonstatisticians in for a PhD—but with little sense tive of “increasing the visibil- a readable format (avoiding our of what that work should be. I ity of the profession.” In one of often arcane terminology!). was all over the place, drawn to her President’s Corner columns, When you visit STATS.org, philosophy of language and intel- former ASA President Marie you’ll see a link to our home page. lectual history, but dissuaded by Davidian reminded us, “[W]e STATS.org is a nonprofit and a feeling that I did not possess a … seemed reluctant to promote nonpartisan project funded by a sufficiently mathematical mind ourselves in a significant way to grant from the Searle Freedom to do philosophy well and that fellow scientists and the public.” Trust and a donation from the much intellectual history was Many of us have an important ASA. The About Us page says, the history of badly done phi- role as a team losophy. Exhausted, player, but less I decided that what frequently are the I enjoyed most was people “out front” writing—and so I who lead or pro- launched my journal- mote the work. ism career as a media Fortunately, the critic after over- ASA added Jeff intellectualizing and Myers as our pub- under-reporting a lic relations coor- degree at Columbia’s dinator. From his journalism school. first day with us, he has sought “If you are a statistician, you are Ironically, I had found my sub- out journalists and engaged unlikely to engage in journal- ject: the power of the press to them in dialogue with our ism in a serious way, and if you misrepresent the world and the members. His efforts support- are a journalist, you are unlikely inverse relationship between such ing our mission and strategic to engage in statistics in a serious misrepresentation and statistical plan are paying off! way.” With our new partnership, understanding. In yet another step to we aim to change this. As a consequence, I was invit- advance our profession, I I’d like to introduce you to ed to speak at last year’s meeting worked with Executive Director Rebecca Goldin, professor of of the American Association for Ron Wasserstein to create a mathematical science at George the Advancement of Science by blog on “all things statistical,” Mason University, and Trevor the British charity Sense About which is targeted to journal- Butterworth, a journalist. They Science. The panel was on the ists and the general public. We are the talent behind STATS.org importance and use of evidence. I recently reached an agreement and our new partners.
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