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WSS NEWS
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The 2008 WSS election will be held online from Monday, May 5, through Friday, May 30. Instructions on voting will be sent to members the first week of May. Below are the candidates for this year's election. All WSS members are urged to vote once the balloting begins. The results will be announced at the WSS Annual Dinner on June 25.
John L. Eltinge received a Ph.D. from the Department of Statistics at Iowa State University in 1987. From 1988 to 1999, he served as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Statistics at Texas A&M University, where he taught statistics and survey sampling, and consulted with the BLS, the NCHS and several Texas state agencies. In 1992-1993, he was an ASA/NSF/BLS Research Fellow. From 1999 to 2004, he worked as the Senior Mathematical Statistician in the Office of Survey Methods Research at the BLS. Since 2004 he has served as the Associate Commissioner for Survey Methods Research at the BLS.
His previous professional service includes work as the program chair for the ASA Survey Research Methods Section (2000); the overall program chair for the Joint Statistical Meetings (2003); Associate Editor for Journal of the American Statistical Association (1992-1998); Associate Editor for The American Statistician (2000-2004); Associate Editor for Survey Methodology (1998-present); and Associate Editor for Journal of Official Statistics (2001-present). He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, and has primary research interests in survey inference, cost structures, optimization, nonresponse and small area estimation.
Marilyn Seastrom erves as the Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistical Standards Program at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the US Department of Education. Prior to joining NCES in 1988, she conducted demographic and health analyses for seven years in various components of HHS.
Seastrom received her Ph.D. in Sociology (Demography and Applied Social Statistics) and an MS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In her current position, she led the 2002 revision of the NCES Statistical Standards, which serve as a guide for NCES staff and contractors in conducting surveys and reporting on survey results. She has published both substantive and methodological work using administrative records and sample survey data in government reports and a number of refereed journals.
Seastrom is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association; and has previously served on the Executive Committees of both the Survey Research Methods and Social Statistics Sections of the ASA. She has been a member of the American Statistical Association for 30 years and is also member of the Washington Statistical Society, where she served as Co-Chair Social Arrangements Committee from 1986 to 1987 and as a member of the Herriot Award Committee in 2004. Seastrom has been a member of the OMB Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology since 2003.
Brian Meekins is currently a research statistician at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. His primary areas of study are latent variable models, measurement error, and telephone survey methodology. Brian received his doctorate from University of Virginia where he worked at the Center for Survey Research for a number of years. Recently, Brian served as the SRMS Section Newsletter Editor from 2004 to 2006.
Dr. Y. Michael Yang is Chief Statistician at the Survey Research Center at ICF International, a global consulting services firm headquartered in Fairfax, VA. Dr. YangÕs research encompasses survey sample design, post-survey data adjustment, and survey data analysis. He has served as senior statistician on many large scale survey projects, responsible for sample design, estimation, and related methodological research. He joined ICF from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, where he was Senior Statistician in the Statistics and Methodology Department from 2000 to 2007. He has also worked as Senior Methodologist/Statistician at The Gallup Organization.
Jim Knaub has worked for the Federal Government for 30 years, with a variety of science-oriented job titles, and has been a member of ASA and WSS for 18 years. Qualifications include six years on the Mathematics Advisory Committee for the Arlington Public Schools, including one year as the chair, suggesting and following through with projects, and also substantial work as a referee or editor for statistics journals, including the Journal of Official Statistics (JOS), and InterStat (an online journal at http://interstat.statjournals.net/), with an emphasis on constructive help for authors. He has presented numerous proceedings papers, most (at least 15) for JSM sessions, and has twice chaired at the JSM, presented two WSS Seminars, and has also published articles on InterStat. In June 2006 his book review of Estimation in Surveys with Nonresponse, by Carl-Erik Sarndal and Sixten Lundstrom (Wiley), appeared in JOS (http://www.jos.nu/Articles/abstract.asp?article=222351). Jim has written two entries for the Sage Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics, and two other entries for the yet-to-be-released Sage Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods, including one entry on cutoff sampling. Further, Jim has presented several times to the ASA Energy Committee; is a former member of the ASA Human Rights Committee; and has been a WSS science fair judge and presented for WSS to scouts. At the Electric Power Division within the Energy Information Administration, Jim developed estimation procedures and samples for electric power surveys with emphasis on integrating with the total survey systems, including data quality and error measurement considerations. Over a number of years he has developed an extensive system, and as lead statistician in that area, now organizes the work of others. His first Govt. supervisor called Jim a problem solver and self-starter, and he continues to strive for that. Jim considers himself well rounded due to other interests. (Come hear the band: http://www.viennacommunityband.org/concertschedule.php! Jim plays trombone in a concert band.)
Tim Kennel enjoys learning about statistics, using statistics to improve surveys, and interacting with the wonderful Washington statistical community. Presently, Tim is a second year doctoral student studying survey methodology at the University of Maryland and a Mathematical Statistician at the US Census Bureau. When he is not working or studying, Tim likes cooking, going to museums, and spending time with his delightful wife. For the past four years, Tim has humbly served on the WSS membership committee with joy. He hopes to serve this community in a new way.
Elizabeth Margosches would like the opportunity to be more active with the WSS and serving as a representative at large seems to her a good way to start and a way her other experiences can best inform her service. Currently Statistician in the Existing Chemicals Assessment Branch, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS), US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Washington, DC, Dr. Margosches has been in the Agency since 1980 in various risk-assessment-related roles and serving on a variety of Agency and external workgroups and committees. Coming to the EPA fresh from her PhD and MPH in Biostatistics at the University of Michigan, she joined the Washington Statistical Society soon after (ASA membership was not a requirement at the time). Then professionally junior, she was encouraged by the WSSÕs offshoot of a group (the Washington Alliance of Statisticians) to mentor statisticians in the early years of their careers. Eventually, she did join the American Statistical Association (where she has served on the Committee on Women in Statistics since 2003, as chair in 2005) and the Government Statistics Section (this latter about 5 years ago). She also belongs to the International Biometric Society/Eastern North American Region (ENAR; Regional Advisory Board, 2002-2004), the Caucus for Women in Statistics (Representative at Large, 1992-1994; President, 1998 with 1997-2000 term), and the Association for Women in Science/DC Chapter (Treasurer 1988-2003).
Darryl V. Creel is a Research Statistician at RTI International and has worked there for three and a half years. Prior to working at RTI, he worked at Mathematica Policy Research. In 1997, he received an M.S. in Statistical Science from George Mason University and became a member of the Washington Statistical Society. His general research interest is the survey process. His specific research areas of interest are imputation, nonresponse adjustments, and the analysis of survey data. For a decade, he has enjoyed the benefits of being a WSS member and would like the opportunity to give something back to the statistical community.
Jane Li is a sampling statistician at Westat since August 2007. She received her master's degree in Economics from University of Delaware in December 2002. After that she was admitted to the doctoral program in the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at University of Maryland and received her Ph.D. in December 2007.
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| 2:00 p.m. |
Light refreshments for Seminar Guests NAS Great Hall |
| Seminar (Auditorium) | |
| 2:30 |
Welcome and Introduction Bill Eddy, CNSTAT and Carnegie Mellon University |
| 2:35 p.m. |
Developments at the OMB Statistical and Science Policy Office Katherine Wallman, Chief Statistician |
| 2:45 p.m. |
Featured Topic: 25 Years (and Counting) of Cognitive Survey Research: Accomplishments, Current Work, and Future Opportunities
Panel:
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| 3:45 p.m. | Floor Discussion |
| 4:00 p.m. |
Reception Great Hall |
| 5:00 p.m. | Adjourn |
Abstract: The May 2008 seminar celebrates the 25th anniversary of the NSF-funded "advanced research seminar" organized under CNSTAT. This intense activity brought together survey researchers and cognitive psychologists to brainstorm about how cognitive research insights could enhance the design of survey questionnaires to improve the completeness and accuracy of reporting.
The seminar's report, Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology (NRC, 1984), boosted efforts by statistical agencies and other organizations to adopt cognitive questionnaire testing as standard best practice for survey work.
A distinguished panel will offer their observations on cognitive survey research-past, present, and future. Roger Tourangeau, director of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland at College Park, helped produce the 1984 CASM report; he will review the history and past accomplishments of the field. Gordon Willis, who used cognitive methods extensively at the National Center for Health Statistics and is now Cognitive Psychologist at the National Cancer Institute, will discuss current cognitive survey work. Fred Conrad, research associate professor, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, will challenge the field to strengthen its grounding in evidence-based research as it looks to the future.
Special guests will include the chair and members of the original CASM advanced research seminar: Judy Tanur, SUNY Stony Brook (chair), Tom Jabine, CNSTAT consultant, Norman Bradburn, NORC, Monroe Sirken, NCHS retired, and Miron Straf, National Academies.
Note: All venues are handicapped-accessible. There is limited first-come, first-served parking in the visitors' lot on 21st St. The nearest Metro station is Foggy Bottom at 23rd and I Sts., NW (Blue and Orange Lines).
Please RSVP by May 6 to Bridget Edmonds at 202-334-3096 or cnstat@nas.edu.
Jill Montaquila, former president of the Washington Statistical Society, recently forwarded the following information to me. The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE) has announced its second biennial Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition (USPROC). The competition is open to undergraduate students globally. Under the guidance of at least one instructor sponsor, working in groups of up to three people, students participating in the competition will present posters showcasing a study in which they have applied statistical methods to real-world data. The top four projects will earn monetary awards of $750 for first place, $500 for second place, $250 for third place and $100 for fourth place.
Students conducting their projects in Spring of 2008 are encouraged to submit their projects as early as May 2008. CAUSE will be accepting submissions for USPROC starting May 5th, 2008, up to January 26th, 2009. Winners will be announced March 7th, 2009. To learn more about the competition, including project scope, the criteria by which projects will be judged, and guidelines for submission, see this document:
http://bist.pbwiki.com/f/Guidelines_USPROC_2009.doc
Or visit the CAUSE website:
http://www.causeweb.org/usproc/
Thanks for this information, Jill!
If you're a student attending a high school or middle school in the Washington, D.C. area, here's an announcement for a competition for you to consider: the Curtis Jacobs Memorial Prize For Outstanding Statistics Project. Students must have a teacher or an advisor who will cover material on statistics during the 2007/2008 academic year, and must submit a five- to ten-page typewritten report of their statistical project. The deadline is May 18, 2008.
See this web page for details:
http://www.scs.gmu.edu/~wss/jacobs.html
If you don't have plans for the summer, consider taking a summer course in statistics. I recently received in the mail an announcement for the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. It has a fairly large and varied course offering, ranging from undergraduate to graduate-level and beyond. Most of them are held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the University of Michigan. For more details, see this web page: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/summerprog. I note that by the time you read this, the deadline will unfortunately have passed for most of the offerings. But perhaps you can still take one of the 3- or 5-day workshops.
If you're in the situation where there's a topic that you simply must learn about, then perhaps you might consider taking one of the workshops. For example, maybe you have sunk a lot of time into your thesis when you realize that there is some statistical topic that you need to learn about, but that isn't offered by your department. Perhaps you can take one of the summer workshops, then.
Registration for the Joint Statistical Meetings opens May 1, 2008. See this web page for details:
http://www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2008/
This month, I'll present the second of this two-part tutorial on getting started with C++. Last month, we installed Dev-C++, a full-featured C++ integrated development environment. Then we used Dev-C++ to compile a small "Hello World" program, and to compile Newmat, a C++ implementation of useful linear algebra classes and functions into a statically linked library. This month, we'll make a small program that demonstrates some of the possibilities with Newmat and with C++ in general. Afterwards, I'll give some suggestions for further projects. I will assume that you have already gotten through the first part of this tutorial.
Let's continue, then.
This concludes the tutorial. Of course, we've only barely scratched the surface here. Newmat has many more linear algebra operations for you to use. Similarly, Dev-C++ has many features, and we've only seen the basics. As for C++, there are many books and online tutorials for you to try; I suggest one possible book for further study in the References section below.
That's all for this month. If you have any feedback on this column or ideas for future topics, please email me at jmm97@georgetown.edu. As always, your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Joe Maisog
Georgetown University / Medical Numerics
(again, with thanks to Lanlan Yin for test-driving this tutorial; any errors remain my own).
References
Benjamini Y and Hochberg Y, Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Stat Soc Ser B 57: 289 - 300 (1995).
Brown D and Satir G, C++: The Core Language, Cambridge, MA: O'Reilly, Inc., 1995.
Davies R, Newmat website, http://www.robertnz.net/nm11.htm
Dev-C++ website, http://www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html
Press WH, Teukolsky SA, Vetterling WT, and Flannery BP, Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition: The Art of Scientific Computing, 3rd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Tobia RD, Rom D, Wolfinger RD, Hochberg Y (authors), Westfall PH (ed.), SAS Institute (corporate author), Multiple Comparisons and Multiple Tests Using the SAS System, Cary, NC: SAS Institute, 1999.
May 21, 2008: Survival Models in SAS: PROC PHREG - Part 2
(http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?pc=55233)
Continuing the series of talks based on the book "Survival Analysis Using the SAS System: A Practical Guide" by Paul Allison begun in October 2007, we'll start Chapter 5: Estimating Cox Regression Models with PROC PHREG.
Topics covered are: Tied data
June 18, 2008: Survival Models in SAS: PROC PHREG - Part 3
(http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?pc=55233)
Continuing the series of talks based on the book "Survival Analysis Using the SAS System: A Practical Guide" by Paul Allison begun in October 2007, we'll start Chapter 5: Estimating Cox Regression Models with PROC PHREG.
Topics covered are: Time-Dependent Covariates
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, 1800 M St, NW from 12:00 to 1:00. Enter the South Tower & 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 & many links of statistical interest can be found at the SIGSTAT website, http://www.cpcug.org/user/sigstat/.
Items for publication in the June issue of the WSS NEWS should be submitted no later than May 15, 2008. E-mail items to Michael Feil at michael.feil@usda.gov.
Washington Statistical Society
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First posted March 31, 2008 |
http://galileo.gmu.edu/~wss/wss0805.shtml |