The 60th annual Fall Technical Conference (FTC) will be held at the Courtyard Downtown by Marriott in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The theme of the conference, “Statistics and Quality: Twin Pillars of Excellence” is intended to engage researchers and practitioners in a dialogue about the effectiveness of using statistics in quality areas. If you are interested in presenting an applied or expository paper in statistics, quality, experimental design, or tutorial/case studies, contact one of the following committee members:

Q&P: John Szarka (chair), jszarka@wlgore.com

SPES: Greg Steeno, gregory.s.steeno@pfizer.com

STAT: Mindy Hotchkiss, mindy.hotchkiss@rocket.com

CPID: Stephanie DeHart, stephanie.pickle@gmail.com

Work should be strongly justified by application to a problem in engineering, manufacturing, Big Data, process/chemical industry, the physical sciences, or a service industry. The mathematical level of the papers may range from basic to that of the Journal of Quality Technology or Technometrics. Please note which level of audience is targeted (introductory, intermediate, or advanced) so the committee can assign papers appropriately and plan a balanced program.

The abstract submission deadline is February 28, 2016.

Members of the program committee also welcome suggestions for special session topics or speakers. Ideas can be emailed to one of the listed program committee members.

QPRC

In addition to FTC, the section is sponsoring the Quality and Productivity Research Conference (QPRC), which will take place June 14–16, 2016, in Tempe, Arizona. The goal of the conference is to stimulate interdisciplinary research among statisticians, scientists, and engineers in quality and productivity, industrial needs, and the physical and engineering sciences. This year’s theme is “Integrating Quality and Statistics: A Transformative Alliance.” Abstracts can be submitted to Connie Borror at conni@asu.edu by March 1, 2016.

Gerald J. Hahn Award

The Gerald J. Hahn Q&P Achievement Award is presented at the Fall Technical Conference to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding and sustained achievement and leadership in developing, promoting, and successfully improving the quality and productivity of products and organizational performance using statistical concepts and methods for 20 or more years. This award is named after the first American Statistical Association Q&P chair, Gerald (Gerry) J. Hahn, who exemplified these traits throughout his long and successful career.

The award winner must have done the following:

• Delivered measurable and significant value to his/her organization, as recognized by peers and organizational leaders, in applying statistical concepts and methods to improving quality and productivity over a sustained period of time
• Successfully led and promoted the use of statistical concepts in methods to improve quality and productivity both within the organization and profession

Congratulations to Bill Meeker from Iowa State University for winning the 2015 award! Nominations for the 2016 award are due February 28, 2016. For information about the nomination process, visit the Q&P website. For more information about the award, contact the committee chair, J.D. Williams, at jdwilliamsphdstat@gmail.com.

Message from Outgoing Chair

It has been an exciting year for the Quality and Productivity (Q&P) Section. Here are some highlights:

The 32nd Quality and Productivity Research Conference was held June 10–12 in Raleigh, North Carolina, and hosted by the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. Two students were awarded the Mary G. and Joseph Natrella Scholarship: Keivan Sadeghzadeh of Northeastern University and Youngjun Choe of the University of Michigan. Janet Myhre, professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College, was the conference honoree and gave the plenary talk at the Wednesday evening banquet. Major thanks go to Di Michelson of the SAS Institute and members of the QPRC conference committee for putting together a great conference. I also want to thank Jeff Hooper, QPRC steering committee chair, for his leadership in planning the QPRCs many years in advance.

The Q&P Section also offered travel grants for students to attend JSM 2015 in Seattle. Five $400 travel grants were awarded to Ahmed Eshebli of Missouri University of Science and Technology; Michael Walker and Rong Zhang, both of the University of Alabama; Rich Seymour of the Air Force Institute of Technology; and Yandan Yang of Southern Methodist University. These students were recognized at the joint Q&P/SPES mixer during JSM.

The Joint Q&P/SPES mixer in Seattle was a success, as usual. Thank you to all the donors who provided the fun door prizes and helped make the annual joint mixer an event to look forward to.

The 59th Annual Fall Technical Conference was held October 8–9 in Houston, Texas. William Q. Meeker, professor of statistics at Iowa State University, gave the plenary address and was presented with the Gerald J. Hahn Q&P Achievement Award. Thanks to Alix Robertson of Sandia National Labs, 2015 program chair, for her service on the program committee. Thanks also to Connie Borror for her service on the FTC steering committee.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who have served the Q&P Section this year!

As we approach 2016, I invite all those willing to serve the section in any capacity to contact William Brenneman at brenneman.wa@pg.com for possible volunteer opportunities. I’m looking forward to a great 2016!