Washington Statistical Society
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March 2003

Contents:


Herriot Award Nomination Sought

Nominations are sought for the 2003 Roger Herriot Award for Innovation in Federal Statistics. After the sudden death in May 1994 of Roger Herriot, an Associate Commissioner for Statistical Standards and Methodology at the National Center for Education Statistics, the Washington Statistical Society, the Social Statistics and Government Statistics Sections of the American Statistical Association established an award in his memory to recognize individuals who develop unique approaches to the solution of statistical problems in Federal data collection programs.

The award is intended to reflect the special characteristics that marked Roger Herriot's career.

  • Dedication to the issues of measurement;
  • Improvements in the efficiency of data collection programs; and
  • Improvements and use of statistical data for policy analysis.

The award is not limited to senior members of an organization, nor is it to be considered as a culmination of a long period of service. Individuals at all levels (from entry to senior), Federal employees, private sector employees, and employees of the academic community, may be nominated on the basis of the significance of the specific contribution.

The recipient of the 2003 Roger Herriot Award will be chosen by a committee of representatives of the Social Statistics Section and Government Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association and a representative of the Washington Statistical Society. Roger Herriot was associated with and strongly supportive of these organizations during his career. The award consists of an honorarium of $500.00 and a framed citation.

Joseph Waksberg (Westat), Monroe Sirken (National Center for Health Statistics), Constance Citro (National Academy of Sciences), Roderick Harrison (U.S. Census Bureau), Clyde Tucker (Bureau of Labor Statistics), Thomas Jabine (SSA, EIA, CNSTAT), Donald Dillman (Washington State University), Jeanne Griffith (OMB, NCES, NSF), and Daniel Weinberg (U. S. Census Bureau) are previous recipients of the Herriot Award.

A nomination form can be obtained by contacting Jerry Gates by phone: (703) 763-2515; fax (703) 457-2654; or email: gerald.w.gates@census.gov. All completed nomination forms should be either mailed to Jerry Gates, 8524 Wagon Wheel Road, Alexandria Virginia, 22309 or delivered to Jerry Gates at the U.S. Census Bureau, Room 2430, Building 3, Suitland Federal Center, Suitland, Maryland 20233. Completed nomination forms must be received by May 10, 2003.

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WINFORMS Symposium

WINFORMS (the Washington DC area chapter of INFORMS - Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) will hold a symposium on the 22nd and 23rd of April at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Building at 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. (near Metro Center). The theme for the symposium will be "Analysis in our Changing Times." Please mark your calendars. If you are interested in volunteering or presenting a paper, please e-mail winforms@mail.informs.org.

NCI Statistical Colloquia

The National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention sponsors a monthly Statistical Colloquia Series. This season's schedule should be of interest to many of you. Check the website below for updates including abstracts as they are posted. Address: Executive Plaza North; Conference Room G (usually); 6130 Executive Boulevard Rockville, Maryland. Bring photo ID, and check in with the guards at the entrance.

Date
 Speaker
 Topic
03/05/03
 Robert Gentleman
 Preprocessing and analysis of gene expression microarrays
04/02/03
 Sue Marcus
 Selection bias in the design of randomized clinical trials
06/5/03
 Joseph Ibrahim
 Bayesian analysis of gene expression micro-arrays

For Additional Information:
Office of Preventive Oncology
301-496-8640

On the Web - DCP Stat Series:
www3.cancer.gov/prevention/pob/fellowship/colloquia.html

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WSS Short Course - Survey Basics
April 23, 2003

Announcement & Registration Form (pdf)

Course Overview: The course will provide an overview of the primary decision-making points in designing, implementing, and managing a survey. Instructors from The George Washington University (GWU) Survey Design and Data Analysis Graduate Certificate Program will introduce students to elements of survey management, sampling, questionnaire design, and related statistical computing packages. Presented will be a starter set of tools and useful practical tips for the running of day-to-day survey operations.

Who should attend: The course is intended for an audience with little or no prior experience in survey. Instructors: Howard Hogan, Ph.D., Chief of the Economic Statistical Methods and Programming Division at the U.S. Census Bureau, and Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Cory Fleming, Senior Project Manager, International City/County Management Association. Fritz Scheuren, Ph.D., Vice President Statistics, National Opinion Research Organization (NORC) with the University of Chicago. Richard S. Sigman, Ph.D., Mathematical Statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau. Terry L. Richardson, Ph.D., Research Design Methodologist with the Applied Research and Methods Team, U.S. General Accounting Office. Kendall Golladay, Research Associate, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute. Patrick Baier, Ph.D., Statistical Consultant, National Opinion Research Center (NORC) with the University of Chicago

Course Schedule:
9:00 - 9:30 am
Registration/Coffee and Continental Breakfast
9:30 - 9:35 am
 Welcome and Introductions by Robin Lee
9:35 -10:05 am
 Course Overview and Learning Objectives by Howard Hogan
10:05-11:05 am
 Survey Management, Cory Fleming and Fritz Scheuren
11:05-11:15 am
 Morning Break
11:15-11:45 am
 Sampling, Part I, by Richard S. Sigman
11:45-12:15 pm
 Sampling Part II, in Computer Lab
12:15-1:00 pm
 Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 pm
 Survey Computing, Part I, by Kendall Golladay and Patrick Baier
1:30 - 2:00 pm
 Survey Computing, Part II, in Computer Lab
2:00 - 3:00 pm
 Questionnaire Design by Terry L. Richardson
3:00 - 3:15 pm
 Afternoon Break
3:15 - 4:15 pm
 Trends in Survey Design and Analysis by Howard Hogan
4:15 - 4:30 pm
 Wrap-up by Cynthia Powell

Registration: Fill out the registration form and mail/email with payment to the address on the bottom of the form. All registration materials including the payment should be received by Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Early registration to guarantee attendance is highly recommended. For billing and registration questions, call Robin Lee at (703) 750-6641. Registration is 9:00 - 9:30 AM, Thursday, April 3. Registration fee includes detailed course notes with an annotated bibliography of useful reading materials, continental breakfast, lunch, and afternoon break. Download the Announcement & Registration Form (pdf).

Location: The George Washington University Alexandria Campus is located at 1775-B Duke Street in Alexandria, Virginia. The campus is across from the King Street Metro Station on the Blue and Yellow Lines. There is garage parking available at $9 for all day.

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International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA)
ICSA 2003 Applied Statistics Symposium
JUNE 22-24, 2003 San Diego, California

Please see website for more information on the symposium.

THEME: Statistics in Bio-tech Research and Computing Intensive Methodologies

DATE: June 22 to 24, 2003. Short courses on Sunday, June 22, and technical sessions on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24.

LOCATION: University of San Diego. For local attractions, please visit the hotel website http://www.sandiego.org/whattodo.asp.

CALL FOR PAPERS: The program committee invites you to submit statistical papers to be considered for presentation at the symposium. Abstracts are due March 31, 2003. Please submit abstracts to: Professor Gang Li, University of California at Los Angeles, email address: gangli@sunlab.ph.ucla.edu. The abstract should include the name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the author, and should not exceed 200 words. A template for the abstract can be downloaded from the ICSA website at http://www.icsa.org.

STUDENT AWARDS AND TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS: The deadline is February 28, 2003 (see a separate page in this issue for detailed information). For further questions, please contact Professor Kung Jong Lui, San Diego State University, kjl@rohan.sdsu.edu.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

Keynote Speakers (June 23-24,2003):
Bradley Efron, Professor of Statistics and Biostatistics, Stanford University, President-Elect, ASA. http://www-stat.stanford.edu/people/faculty/efron.html
and
George Tiao, W. Allen Wallis Professor of Econometrics and Statistics, University of Chicago, http://gsb.uchicago.edu/fac/george.tiaoM.A<

Plenary Sessions (June 23-24, 2003): Recent developments in nonparametric inferences with applications to biomedical studies and financial modeling, by Janqing Fan, Current Statistical Issues in Clinical Trials for Drug Development, by Tze Leung Lai , AND Banquet Speaker: Arlene S. Ash, Boston University.

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The Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award

On receiving the Roger Herriot Award in June 2001, Jeanne Griffith said:

One of the most rewarding aspects (of Federal statistics) for me was the opportunity to promote creative activities and energies among my staff

Dr. Griffith died in August 2001 after working for more than 25 years in the Federal statistical system. Throughout her career, and especially in her senior management positions at the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Science Foundation, one of Jeanne's highest priorities was to mentor and encourage junior staff to learn, to grow, and to recognize and seize career opportunities as they came along.

This is to announce the establishment of The Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award. The purpose of the award is to encourage the mentoring of younger staff in the Federal statistical system.

This award is co-sponsored by the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Council for Excellence in Government, the Washington Statistical Society, the Social Statistics and Government Statistics Sections of the American Statistical Association, and the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics. It will be presented yearly supervisor who is nominated by coworkers and supervisors, and chosen by the Award Selection Committee.

The first of these yearly awards will be presented in 2003. Submission of nominations should begin in November 2002; nominations will be due back by April 1, 2003; and the Award Committee will make its determination of the award winner by May 1, 2003. The award will consist of a $1,000 honorarium and a citation.

The winning mentor will be selected for his or her efforts in supporting the work and developing the careers of younger staff. Such efforts would include the following types of activities:

  • Working with junior staff to help develop their skills, knowledge, experience, self-confidence, and insights into organizational functioning;

  • Advising junior staff to help them develop career opportunities, networking skills, and contacts;

  • Making resource support available for junior staff attendance and oral presentations at meetings, training courses, and conferences;

  • Providing opportunities for junior staff to participate in meetings with higher level officials and staffs of other agencies and to represent the office atexternal meetings;

  • Offering informal feedback and coaching to assist junior staff in developing analysis, writing, presentation, and other professional skills.

For further information on the award, contact Ed Spar, Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) by phone: 703-836-0404; fax: 703-684-3410; or by e-mail: copafs@aol.com. A nomination form can be obtained by contacting Ed Spar or downloaded from the COPAFS website at http://www.copafs.org. All nomination forms should be returned to the Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award Committee c/o COPAFS, 1429 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 by no later than April 1, 2003.

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SIGSTAT Topics for March 2003 to May 2003

March 12, 2003 - Exploratory Data Analysis and Statistical Modeling using S and R (www.r-project.org)

This discussion will provide the fundamentals of exploratory data analysis and statistical modeling using S, or the GNU version of S, R. We will start with a brief introduction and review features, functions, and libraries of interest. S includes 4500 built-in functions, a comprehensive programming language, and several application libraries, including robust methods and missing value imputations. After the overview, an example study using nonlinear mixed effects modeling will be presented. Finally, graphical functions will be reviewed using a biopharmaceutical exploratory data analysis example. The presentation will be given by Sarah Marston.

April 9, 2003 - SAS 9.0 (www.sas.com)

Linda Atkinson will present a demo of the latest release of SAS.

May 14, 2003 - SAS/IML Workshop 2.0 (www.sas.com)

SAS/IML Workshop is a graphical user interface and extension of SAS/IML software that enables you to explore data interactively using standard statistical graphics and tables. IML Workshop provides an integrated development environment for writing, debugging, and executing IML programs. IML Workshop also implements the IMLPlus programming language, which is an enhanced version of the IML programming language. IMLPlus provides new language features such as the ability to call SAS procedures and external C/Fortran/Java functions. IML Workshop requires a PC running the Microsoft Windows operating system.

SIGSTAT is the Special Interest Group in Statistics for the CPCUG, the Capital PC User Group, and WINFORMS, the Washington Institute for Operations Research Service and Management Science.

All meetings are in Room S3031 (Food Safety and Nutrition Room), 1800 M St, NW from 12:30 to 1:30. Enter the South Tower and take the elevator to the 3rd floor to check in at the guard's desk.

First-time attendees should contact Charlie Hallahan, 202-694-5051, hallahan@ers.usda.gov and leave their name. Directions to the building and many links of statistical interest can be found at the SIGSTAT website, www.cpcug.org/user/sigstat/

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Note From The WSS NEWS Editor

Items for publication in the May 2003 WSS NEWS should be submitted no later than March 25, 2003. E-mail items to Michael Feil at michael.feil@usda.gov.

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Click here to see the WSS Board Listing (pdf)
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