The Statistical Computing and Statistical Graphics sections of the ASA are co-sponsoring a student paper competition on the topics of statistical computing and statistical graphics. Students are encouraged to submit a paper in one of these areas, which might be original methodological research, some novel computing or graphical application in statistics, or any other suitable contribution (e.g., a software-related project).

The selected winners will present their papers in a topic-contributed session at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings. The sections will pay registration fees for the winners as well as a substantial allowance for transportation to the meetings and lodging.

Anyone who is a student (graduate or undergraduate) on or after September 1, 2014, is eligible to participate. An entry must include an abstract, a six-page manuscript (including figures, tables, and references), blinded versions of the abstract and manuscript (with no authors or references that easily lead to identifying the authors), a CV, and a letter from a faculty member familiar with the student’s work. The applicant must be the first author of the paper. The faculty letter must include a verification of the applicant’s student status and, in the case of joint authorship, should indicate what fraction of the contribution is attributable to the applicant. Electronic submissions of papers in Postscript or PDF are preferred, and all materials must be in English.

Students may submit papers to no more than two sections and may accept only one section’s award. Students must inform both sections applied to when he or she wins and accepts an award, thereby removing the student from the award competition for the second section.

All application materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. EST, December 14, 2014. Members of the Student Paper Competition Award Committee of the Statistical Computing and Graphics sections will review the applications. The selection criteria used by the committee will include innovation and significance of the contribution as well as the professional quality of the manuscript. Award announcements will be made by January 15, 2015.

John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award

The Statistical Computing Section also announces the competition for the John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award. In 1998, the Association for Computing Machinery presented its Software System Award to John Chambers for the design and development of S. Chambers donated his award to the Statistical Computing Section to endow an annual prize for statistical software written by, or in collaboration with, an undergraduate or graduate student. The prize carries with it an award of $1,000, plus a substantial allowance for travel to the annual Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM), where the award will be presented.

Teams of up to three people can participate in the competition, with the cash award being split among team members. The travel allowance will be given to just one individual in the team, who will be presented the award at JSM. To be eligible, the team must have designed and implemented a piece of statistical software. The individual within the team indicated to receive the travel allowance must have begun the development while a student and must either currently be a student or have completed all requirements for her/his last degree after January 1, 2014. To apply for the award, teams must provide the following materials:

• Current CVs for all team members.
• A letter from a faculty mentor at the academic institution of the individual indicated to receive the travel award. The letter should confirm that the individual had substantial participation in the development of the software, certify her/his student status when the software began to be developed (and either the current student status or the date of degree completion), and briefly discuss the importance of the software to statistical practice.
• A one- to two-page description of the software, summarizing what it does, how it does it, and why it is an important contribution. If the team member competing for the travel allowance has continued developing the software after finishing her/his studies, the description should indicate what was developed when the individual was a student and what has been added since.
• An installable software package with its source code for use by the award committee. It should be accompanied by enough information to allow the judges to effectively use and evaluate the software (including its design considerations). This information can be provided in a variety of ways, including a user manual (paper or electronic), a paper, a URL, and online help to the system.

All materials must be in English. Electronic text submitted in Postscript or PDF is preferred. Entries will be judged on a variety of dimensions, including the importance and relevance for statistical practice of the tasks performed by the software, ease of use, clarity of description, elegance, and availability for use by the statistical community. Preference will be given to those entries that are grounded in software design, rather than calculation. The decision of the award committee is final.

All application materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. EST, February 17, 2015. The winner will be announced in May, and the award will be given at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings.

Application materials for either the student paper award or John Chambers Award can be sent to Aarti Munjal at aarti.munjal@ucdenver.edu.