WSS
NEWS

News about activities of the Washington Statistical Society
A Chapter of the American Statistical Association

June 1998

  

Contents:


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1998 Annual Dinner

The WSS Annual Dinner will be held Wednesday, June 17, at Athenian Plaka Restaurant in Bethesda. We are pleased to have Leslie Kish (Institute for Survey Research, Univ. of Michigan) as the featured speaker. Please see the reservation form for details. This is a great opportunity to see friends, meet colleagues, and make new acquaintances! All are invited. We hope to see you there!

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Open Board Meeting

You are invited to the June WSS Board of Directors Meeting which will be held on Tuesday, June 30, 1998; 12:30 pm, in the BLS Cognitive Lab, Postal Square Building, 2 Massachusetts Avenue. If you are interested in attending, for security purposes, you must submit your name to Elizabeth Nichols(Elizabeth.May.Nichols@ccmail.census.gov) prior to the meeting.

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1998 Science Fair Winners

WSS presented awards to 54 Washington area students at five regional science fairs this spring (District of Columbia, Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, Prince George's County). Since 1986, WSS has been recognizing students whose projects demonstrate excellence in the application of statistical methods. This year, the Gallup Organization generously donated $800 for prizes. Of this amount, a total of $500 was divided among 7 first place winners (prizes ranged between $50 and $150) and $300 was used to purchase ASA school memberships for the winners' schools. There were 11 second place winners and each received a book (Statistics: A Guide to the Unknown, by Tanur, et al., or Statistics: Concepts and Controversies, by Moore). All first and second place winners also received a one-year subscription to STATS magazine. Others received certificates of honorable mention.

The judging was coordinated by Lee Abramson. Thanks to all WSS members who volunteered as judges. They are: Lee Abramson*, Dwight Brock, Eugene Burns*, Bill Cleveland, Bob Clickner*, Michael Cohen, Brenda Edwards, Gloria Gridley, Linda Hardy, Ellen Hertz, Gene Heyman*, Tzu-Cheg Kao, Fotios Kokkotos, Jurate Landwehr, Ruey-Ping Lu, Fred Olson, Arnold Reznek, John Rogers, Fritz Scheuren, Sid Schwartz, Stuart Scott, Mike Stoto, Steve Thomson, Glenn White*, Lorie Wijntjes. (* Chief Judge)

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November 15-17, 1999: FCSM Research Conference

The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, which is composed of the senior statisticians from several federal statistical agencies and is sponsored by the Office of Management and Budget, is planning a research conference to be held November 15-17, 1999 in the Washington, DC area. The conference will consist primarily of contributed papers, most of which will receive formal discussion at the conference. The conference will feature papers and demonstrations on topics related to a broad range of government statistical research interests. Papers and demonstrations may address methodology, empirical studies, or relevant issues. Final papers will be due prior to the conference. Papers and demonstrations must be original and not previously published or disseminated.

To have a paper or demonstration considered for presentation, an abstract of at least one page will be required by December 1, 1998. Submit both a hard copy and an ASCII text file by Internet or on a 3 1/2" IBM-PC compatible disk. Limit columns to 7" or less. Include the presenter s name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and E-mail address, if available.

To submit abstracts or obtain additional information, contact:

Ruth Detlefsen
Bureau of the Census Bureau
Room 1182-3
Washington, D.C. 20233
Phone: 301-457-3390
Fax: 301-457-3396
E-mail: fcsm@ccmail.census.gov

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SIGSTAT Meetings for June 1998

April - June 1998

The June meeting of SIGSTAT on the 17th (Note June's meeting is on the 3rd Wednesday) features a demonstration of two products from Ward Systems, the developer of the neural network software NeuroShell. Easy Predictor/Easy Classifier are designed for users with no previous experience with neural networks. Easy Predictor treats neural networks with a continuous output while Easy Classifier deals with categorical outputs. Instead of manuals each product comes with an online Instructor to guide the user through the process of building a neural network.

All SIGSTAT meeting are held in Waugh A on the 3rd floor of 1800 M St, NW. Directions to the meetings and a full schedule can be found on the SIGSTAT website www.econ.ag.gov/sigstat/. First-time attendees should contact Charlie Hallahan at 202-694-5051 or hallahan@econ.ag.gov to leave your name for admittance to the building.

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WSS Newsletter Editors Position

You too can be a newsletter editor! Please contact Mike Feil at mfeil@helix.nih.gov if you are interested in the process of editing newsletters or in learning how to do it.

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WSS People

President
Graham Kalton (301) 251-8253
 Past President
Phillip Kott (703) 235-5211 ext. 102
 President-Elect
Dwight Brock (301) 496-9795
Secretary
Elizabeth Nichols (301) 457-4865
 Treasurer
Carolyn Shettle (301) 215-1500

Vice Chair for District 2 of
Council of Chapters
Andrew A. White (202) 334-2511
 Council of Chapters Representative
Ron Fecso (703) 306-1780 ext. 6906.
Representatives-at-Large
N. Clyde Tucker (202) 606-7371
Sandra West (202) 606-7384
  
Alan R. Tupek (703) 306-1780
David Marker (301) 251-4398
WSS Program Chairs
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Bill Iwig (202) 720-3895
Stan Freedman (202) 426-1099
 Economics
Linda Atkinson (202) 219-0934
Art Kennickell (202) 452-2247
Methodology
Karol Krotki (202) 944-5243
Brenda Cox (202) 484-4231
 Public Health and Biostatistics
Trena Ezzati-Rice (301) 436-7022 ext. 133
Rene Gonin (301) 517-8084
Public Policy
Carolee Bush (202) 366-6946
Phil Ross (202) 260-5244
 Quality Assurance
Amrut Champaneri (202) 690-3130
Glenn White (202) 327-6414
Statistical Computing
Bob Jernigan (202) 885-3170
Mike Fleming (703) 235-5213 ext. 170
 Social & Demographic Statistics
Michael Horrigan (202) 606-5905
Edith McArthur (202) 219-1442
Short Courses
Roberta Sangster (202) 606-7517
Fritz Scheuren (703) 549-1120
 Data Collection Methods
Brad Edwards (301) 294-2021
Linda Stinson (202) 606-7528
Employment
Bill Arends (202) 720-6812
WSS NEWS Editors
Michael Feil (301) 443-4234
Fran Chevarley (301) 436-7093 ext. 153
Electronic Mail
Michael L. Cohen (202) 334-3765
Michael Greene (703) 247-1575
S.V. (Vince) Massimini (703) 883-5893
 Membership
Renee Miller (202) 426-1117
Antionette Martin 202) 426-1110
Fritz Scheuren (703) 549-1120
Quantitative Literacy
Carolyn Carroll (703) 352-1712
 Science Fair
Lee Abramson (301) 415-6180
Videotapes
Mel Kollander (202) 973-2820
 Social Arrangements
Jill Montaquila (301) 517-4046
Local Arrangement
Wendy Rotz (202) 874-0969
 WSS Historian
Michael P. Cohen (202) 219-1917
WSS Committee on ASA Fellows
Brenda Cox (202) 484-4231

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First posted May 20, 1998
Last modified May 20, 1998

Webmaster: Dan Jacobs, Maryland Sea Grant