Edited by Feifei Wei, Biometrics Section Publications Officer

The Biometrics Section held its annual business committee meeting at JSM 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. Complete minutes of the meeting are available on the section website.

Section chair, Mike Daniels, introduced members of the executive committee and thanked 2014 ENAR Program Chair Jason Roy, 2014 JSM Program Chair Jonathan Schildcrout, and 2014 CE Chair Donglin Zeng for their outstanding service.

Election Results

Debashis Ghosh was elected section chair for 2016, Elizabeth Brown was elected representative to the Council of Sections for 2015–2017, and Jonathan Schildcrout was elected treasurer/secretary for 2015–2016.

Diana Miglioretti (chair-elect) appointed Rebecca Hubbard Biometrics Section program chair for JSM 2015 and Lihong Qi as Biometrics Section representative for the ENAR 2015 program committee.

JSM 2015

JSM 2015 Program Chair Rebecca Hubbard let everyone know the section was allocated four invited sessions for JSM 2015. Continuing Education proposals are being solicited by Andrea Troxel. Suggestions can be sent to her at atroxel@mail.med.upenn.edu.

ENAR 2015

Mike Daniels (on behalf of ENAR 2015 Representative LiHong Qi) reported that the program committee received 81 applications for invited sessions. Of these, 46 were selected and the section will sponsor 13.

News from the Council on Sections

Representatives Scarlett L. Bellamy and Limin Clegg reported the following:

• The ASA is encouraging better section archiving (including photos of past, current, and future chairs and other section leaders when gathered), especially this year as it celebrates 175 years.
• A new section, the Genetics and Genomics Section, was proposed.
• A question was posed and put to vote: In the process of establishing a new section, should there be an increased number of required signatures and a required interest group status, effectively creating a probationary period? Vote was 14 (yes) / 1 (abstained).
• Sections were strongly encouraged to renew and expand mentoring efforts within the section and reminded that materials have been developed and are available for customization, where applicable.
• There was a proposal to limit students’ applications for student paper competitions to a single application. This was voted on at the executive committee meeting. The vote was unanimous in favor of this limit. Note the Biometrics Section already had this requirement for submitting a paper for the Byar award.

Other News

Treasurer Yu Shen thanked current and past CE chairs, as the CE courses provide extra income for the section. Shen also stated the section’s financial status is sound.

Strategic Initiatives Chair Roslyn Stone and Co-Chair Page Moore reported that there were two outreach initiative calls in the past year. Of the applications submitted to the November 2013 call, three were funded. Of the applications submitted to the April 2014 call, two were funded. The next call will be sent out in April 2015.

Past Chair Jianwen Cai reported that the Byar Award committee was pleased with the response and exceptional quality of the papers received. Through a comprehensive review process, the committee chose eight travel award winners in addition to the Byar award winner.

2015 Byar Young Investigator Award and Biometrics Section Travel Awards

Do you know a young investigator who is planning to submit an abstract for the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings? If so, you may wish to let them know the ASA Biometrics Section is seeking applications for the 2015 David P. Byar Young Investigator Award.

This annual award is given to a young investigator for best paper to be presented at JSM. It commemorates the late David Byar, a biostatistician who made significant contributions to the development and application of statistical methods and was esteemed as an exceptional mentor during his career at the National Cancer Institute. The winner will receive $2,000.

In addition to the Byar Award, the section may provide travel awards to the authors of other outstanding papers submitted to the competition.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Have held a doctorate in statistics, biostatistics, or a related quantitative field for three or fewer years as of April 1 of the current year or be currently enrolled as a student in a doctoral program in statistics or biostatistics and in active pursuit of a doctoral degree.
• Be a current member of the Biometrics Section (applicant may join at the time of submission for a $5 annual membership fee [$3 for students]). Note that membership in the ASA does not automatically confer section membership.
• Be first author of the paper. The paper may be unsubmitted, submitted, or under review, but may not have appeared in a journal either online or in print at the time of the application or have been accepted for publication as of December 1, 2014.
• Be scheduled to present the same paper submitted for the award at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings in Seattle, Washington, as either a talk or poster.
• Not have submitted the paper to any other ASA section 2015 student/young investigator award competitions.

Previous Byar award winners and travel award winners are not eligible.

Applicants must submit their JSM abstracts to the Biometrics Section, which will organize a series of topic-contributed sessions to highlight the Byar award and travel award winners. Applicants must submit the following materials by December 1:

• A current CV
• A one-page cover letter that summarizes the paper’s content and contribution
• One copy of the paper

The paper should be a maximum of 25 double-spaced pages (with max of 25 lines per page) including references, but not including tables and figures. Papers that are not within these restrictions will not be considered.

All materials must be submitted electronically starting November 1. Questions should be sent to the section chair, Mike Daniels, at mjdaniels@austin.utexas.edu.

Finalists will be announced by January 15, 2015. Finalists should contact the 2015 section JSM program chair, Rebecca Hubbard, at hubbard.r@ghc.org and submit a topic-contributed abstract for JSM 2015.

Travel Award

The Biometrics Section funded an award for a PhD-level biostatistician interested in conducting methodological or collaborative research in radiology/imaging clinical trials to attend the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Clinical trials Methodology Workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona, from January 10–16, 2015. This award will cover up to $3,000 in travel costs. From 13 strong applications, Sarah Kreidler of the University of Colorado Denver was chosen as the person most likely to benefit from the course.