Clifford Spiegelman

On April 20, Clifford Spiegelman was named the first official statistician of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

Spiegelman will aid in producing the Educator Survey, a major project for the commission. The survey will help the commission gain an understanding of what Texas educators know of the Holocaust and what they are teaching about this seminal event.

William McWhorter, executive director of the commission, wrote that the survey is critical to meeting the commission’s mission and, with Spiegelman’s assistance, they hope to produce the most effective Educator Survey possible.

Visit the commissions’ website for details.

Elizabeth “Liz” A. Stuart

Elizabeth “Liz” A. Stuart, professor in the mental health, biostatistics, and health policy and management departments at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and associate dean for education, was recently named this year’s recipient of the Gertrude M. Cox Award.

Stuart earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Smith College and a PhD in statistics from Harvard University, where she worked with Donald Rubin, Gary King, and Alan Zaslavsky. Her primary research interests are in statistical methodology for mental health research, particularly relating to causal inference and missing data.

Stuart has published broadly on propensity score method, analysis of observational data, and applications. She is a founding member of the ASA’s Mental Health Statistics Section, an active participant in society leadership and conference organization, a member of multiple editorial boards and grant review panels, and a participant on numerous national and international advisory panels. Among other awards and honors, she became a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2014. Stuart has advised at the master’s and doctoral levels, mentored postdoctoral fellows, taught courses in biostatistics and mental health, received funding as principal investigator and co-investigator from a variety of sources, and presented regularly at statistics and other meetings and in other contexts.

Part of Stuart’s personal statement is as follows: “Trained as a statistician, my primary research interests are in the development and use of methodology to better design and analyze the causal effects of public health and educational interventions. In this way, I hope to bridge statistical advances and research practice, working with mental health and educational researchers to identify and solve methodological challenge.”

She will give the Cox Award presentation at RTI International on the afternoon of June 28, the same day as the Washington Statistical Society (WSS) Annual Dinner.

The award was established in 2003 through a joint agreement between the WSS and RTI International for the purposes of recognizing statisticians in early to mid-career (roughly no more than 15 years after terminal degree) who have already made significant contributions to statistical practice.

The award is in memory of Gertrude M. Cox (1900–1978). In 1945, Cox became director of the Institute of Statistics of the Consolidated University of North Carolina. In the 1950s, as head of the department of experimental statistics at North Carolina State College, she played a key role in establishing mathematical statistics and biostatistics departments at The University of North Carolina. Upon her retirement from North Carolina State University in 1960, Cox became the first head of Statistical Research Division at the newly founded RTI. She was a founding member of the International Biometric Society (IBS) and, in 1949, became the first woman elected into the International Statistical Institute. She served as president of both the ASA (1956) and IBS (1968–1969). In 1975, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

This award is made possible by funding from RTI International, and the recipient is chosen by a six-person committee—three each from WSS and RTI. The award includes a $1,000 honorarium, paid travel to attend the Cox Award presentation/WSS Annual Dinner, and a commemorative plaque containing the WSS logo.

Past recipients include Sharon Lohr, Alan Zaslavsky, Tom Belin, Vance Berger, Francesca Domenici, Thomas Lumley, Jean Opsomer, Michael Elliott, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Amy Herring, Frauke Kreuter, Jerome Reiter, Jae Kwang Kim, and Bhramar Mukherjee.