Washington Statistical Society
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April 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.

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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
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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Conference on Federal Statistics and Counterterrorism

In many ways, at many agencies, the federal statistics community is becoming a key contributor to the war on terrorism. But often our efforts are fragmented, and similar problems are being solved in different ways at different departments. To help us coordinate our efforts and pool our resources, the Washington Statistical Society is sponsoring a conference on statistical issues in counterterrorism. The conference will be held on May 29-30 at the National Academies building (500 Fifth Street NW, near the Judiciary Square metro stop).

The scientific program focuses upon cybersecurity, syndromic surveillance, biometric identification, risk analysis, game theory, record linkage, confidentiality, contaminant detection, and related topics. Speakers include John Bailar, Kathy Wallman, Bill Winkler, Larry Cox, Ed Wegman, Alan Karr, and other important members or partners of the Washington statistical community.

To obtain more information about the program, and details on how to register, please go the our link at the WSS website.

This conference is co-sponsored by the Committee on National Statistics at the National Academies, by the ASA Sections on Government Statistics and Risk Analysis, and by the ASA Committee on Statisticians in National Defense and Homeland Security.

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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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Memorial Service of George E. Hall

Memorial services will be held at Joseph Gawler's Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. (at Harrison St.), on Saturday, April 5, at 2 p.m.

ASA Member and Past President of the Washington Statistical Society, George E. Hall, 72, passed away on March 13, 2003. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm on April 5 at Gawler's Funeral Home, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, 202-966-6400.

Mr. Hall began his career at the Census Bureau in 1959, first in the Housing Division, and then in the Demographic Surveys Division (DSD) serving as Chief of the Special Surveys Branch and later Assistant Division Chief. While in DSD he played a major role in the development and implementation of some of the most innovative and important special surveys, including the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Crime Victimization Survey.

His efforts in connection with the Crime Victimization Survey, and the entire program of crime-related studies which the Census Bureau undertook for the Justice Department, led to his appointment as Director of the National Criminal Justice Information and Statistics Service at the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in 1970, and then as Assistant Administrator in 1973. He was instrumental in establishing and nourishing the State network of criminal statistics, and fostering its professionalism.

Mr. Hall then served as Deputy Director of the Statistical Policy Division, later called the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from 1974 until mid 1979, and was instrumental in improving the coordination of Federal statistics. In July of 1979, he returned to the Census Bureau as Associate Director for Demographic Fields and played a major role in the development and implementation of the 1980 Census, for which he received the Gold Medal from the Department of Commerce. The success of the 1980 Census was due, in large measure, to his leadership. Mr. Hall retired from the Bureau in 1981.

Subsequently, Mr. Hall joined a number of his former Census colleagues to establish Cenex, Inc., a statistical consulting group, from 1981 to 1983. He then founded Baseline Data Corporation and co-founded Slater Hall Information Products in 1985. Slater Hall Information Products pioneered the publication of demographic and economic statistics on CD-ROM. He also designed, edited, and supervised publication of the early editions of several well-known data reference works still being published today. Slater Hall later merged with Bernan Press where he served as Senior Managing Editor until he retired in 2000.

He is survived by his wife, Clara, in Washington, DC; a son, Geoffrey, from NY; and a daughter, Karen, from Maryland. Return to top

Science Fair Volunteers

The Department of Energy is looking for volunteers for a Science Fair in May. If you are interested, please contact the office listed at the end of the announcement below:

The Department of Energy is running their Annual National Science Bowl on May 4 and 5 in Chevy Chase, MD, right outside of Washington, D.C., and they are looking for volunteers to help. Sixty-six teams of high schools students from 40 states the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands will participate in this event. More than 12,000 high school students are participated in regional events that are held at DOE sites, other Federal agencies, and educational institutions.

Why should you volunteer (besides having a great time)? Because you will get a lovely t-shirt, lanyard, posters, frisbee that changes colors, toy car, pen, buttons, blinking light toy...and plenty of soft serve ice cream. If you volunteer on Monday, you will get to see the Secretary of Energy, other VIPs, and professional TV reporters.

Volunteers are needed to serve as officials (moderator, scientific judge, rules judge, timer, and score keeper) and to assist us at Science Bowl Central for team information, etc.

Volunteers Needed:

  • May 4, 2003 -- National finals (175 volunteers)

  • May 5, 2003 -- National finals (30 volunteers)

Officials:

Scientific background

Moderator (scientific background preferred): reads the questions to the teams.

Scientific judge (scientific background required): works with moderator to ensure questions are read correctly, resolves challenges to the questions from the teams in their area of scientific expertise).

Non-scientific background

Rules Judge: ensures the rules of the game are enforced Timer: keeps time for each match (two 10-minute halves) Scorekeeper: maintains accurate scoring throughout each match Science Bowl Central: provide information to parents and visitors

Training:

Volunteers will need to attend at least one training session prior to the National tournament:

  • Thursday, April 3, 2003 10:00-11:00 a.m. DOE Forrestal, Room 6E-069

  • Thursday, April 10, 2003 1:30-2:20 p.m. DOE Forrestal, Room 6E-069

  • Thursday, April 10, 2003 6:00-7:00 p.m. DOE Forrestal, Room 6E-069

  • Wednesday, April 16, 2003 1:00-2:00 p.m. DOE Germantown Auditorium

The volunteer schedule will be completed by Monday, April 21, 2003, so be sure to sign up early.

More information can be found on the Science Bowl Website at www.scied.science.doe.gov

To volunteer or if you have any questions, contact Sue Ellen Walbridge (SC-1) at (202) 586-7231 or E-mail sue-ellen.walbridge@science.doe.gov

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SIGSTAT Topics for April 2003 to May 2003

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 June 2003 WSS NEWS should be submitted no later than April 29, 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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