Jeff Morris, 2016 JSM Program Chair

The 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) will take place in Chicago, Illinois, from July 30 to August 4. The program committee is soliciting proposals for invited sessions, which disseminate some of the most innovative, impactful, and cutting-edge work in our profession while drawing some of the highest session attendance at our meeting. Most invited sessions originate from proposals assembled by members of the sponsoring societies—and we encourage you to consider putting together a session!

The theme for the 2016 meetings—announced by 2016 ASA President Jessica Utts—is “The Extraordinary Power of Statistics.” Quantitative analysis increasingly undergirds decisions made in nearly all sectors of society—government, education, health care, marketing, business, finance, and even entertainment and sports—and statistics is fundamental to the success of these endeavors. Our discipline has extraordinary power to extract information and inform decisions based on data, and consequently has the potential to greatly affect all aspects of life. This theme emphasizes the opportunity presented by the JSM program to highlight and promote the power of our methods, as well as to illustrate how powerful statistical results can inform and benefit society.

The sessions can be oral presentations or panel discussions. An invited paper session consists of two to six people, including speakers and discussants. For an invited panel, the session consists of three to six people who provide commentary, discussion, and engaging debate on a particular topic of contemporary interest. The ideal session involves fresh, important work that many JSM attendees will find interesting. Many of the most stimulating sessions present diverse viewpoints and strategies on a common topic, with speakers coming from different institutions and taking different approaches toward similar problems.

To organize a session, you should first set a theme of broad interest and identify and contact potential participants. Once these are arranged, you should write a proposal consisting of the title, a brief abstract/rationale, a list of participants, and tentative titles for the talks (titles can be changed later). When planning an invited session, please note that JSM has strict guidelines for participation. Talk to potential speakers to ensure they are not committing to multiple invited proposals.

Once written, you need to submit the session proposal on or after July 15 via the online system, indicating type of session and proposed sponsor. You are encouraged to contact a member of the program committee before submitting to see if they are willing to sponsor the session. If you are a member of an ASA section or another sponsoring society, going through the corresponding representative is often a good way to proceed. They may accept the session outright for one of their allocated spots, or they may enter it into a general competition in which selection is decided by a consensus vote of the entire program committee. In either case, only sessions submitted via the online system will be considered. Session proposals must be submitted online by September 3, and decisions about the invited program will be made by the end of September. I urge you to contact program committee members well ahead of the September deadline.

The program committee (see the next page) includes the program chairs for the ASA sections and committees and representatives from the partner societies.

If you have ideas but are not sure which sponsor to choose, you may contact me at jefmorris@mdanderson.org or one of the associate program chairs—Veera Baladandayuthapani at veera@mdanderson.org or Scott Holan holans@missouri.edu —for invited papers or panels. Although we have little discretion to accept a session, we can steer your proposal to appropriate program committee members for consideration.

Given the limited number of sessions and increasing attendance, the process is competitive and many strong sessions are not selected for the invited program. If your session is not chosen, you can submit it to be considered as a topic-contributed session at a later date.

I also am soliciting ideas for introductory overview lectures (IOLs), which are high-quality introductions to timely and important statistical topics of interest to large numbers of JSM attendees. Note that IOL speakers also can present an invited or contributed paper, panel, or poster. If you have good ideas for topics or speakers, please let me know.

Additionally, there will be an invited poster session consisting of 20 electronic posters at the opening mixer, so if you have ideas for this session, you can email them to the poster chair, Genevera Allen gallen@rice.edu.

On behalf of all program committee members, I thank you in advance for your participation and efforts in making the JSM 2016 a stunning success. See you in Chicago!