A Message from the Chair

James G. Wendelberger, Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of New Mexico

It has been a successful year for SPES. As I mentioned in my January message, SPES was able to partner with other sections to sponsor Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2017 talks and roundtables in Baltimore, allowed other sections to take advantage of our JSM mixer, continued our Marquardt speakers program, co-sponsored the Spring Research Conference (SRC), co-sponsored the Fall Technical Conference (FTC), and provided various awards to our members.

The Spring Research Conference on Statistics in Industry and Technology took place at Rutgers University May 17–19, 2017.

In August, SPES sponsored numerous sessions and roundtables at the 2017 Joint Statistical Meetings. This year, the joint mixer with the Quality and Productivity Section was expanded to include other sections and continued to be full of fun and fabulous door prizes.

The 61st annual Fall Technical Conference was held in Philadelphia October 4–6, 2017. The ASA’s 112th president, Barry Nussbaum, gave a luncheon talk, “It’s Not What We Said, It’s Not What They Heard, It’s What They Say They Heard.” SPES provided the wine and cheese reception and the conference was a resounding success.

Let us keep the SPES membership growing.

In closing, I would like to thank all the 2017 SPES officers and many volunteers for a successful year. Your dedication and service makes SPES a valuable organization for our members. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your chair this past year. I wish you all a happy holiday season and continued success in 2018!

Nominations Sought

Ming Li, SPES Awards Chair

The SPES award committee is seeking nominations for the 2018 award. In even-numbered years, the award is presented for distinguished work performed during the previous two years by a collaborative team of statisticians and practitioners in an industrial, manufacturing, or research organization. To be eligible for the award, at least one member of the team must be a member of the ASA and a member of the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences when nominated.

The deadline to submit nomination letters is February 20. The letters, along with any supporting materials, should be sent to Ming Li, chair of the Statistics in Physical Engineering Sciences Award committee. Unpublished work should be described in a format similar to a published paper.

Joint Research Conference

Joanne Wendelberger, Council of Sections Representative

The 2018 Joint Research Conference on Statistics in Quality, Industry, and Technology will take place June 11–14 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a joint meeting of the 25th Spring Research Conference on Statistics in Industry and Technology and the 35th Quality and Productivity Research Conference.

The goal of this conference is to stimulate interdisciplinary research and innovative solutions to practical problems through interaction among statisticians, quality professionals, engineers, and scientists from diverse fields. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Art and Science of Statistics.” The technical program will focus on statistical methodology and creative problem solving to address scientific, industrial, and business challenges, drawing upon advances from the fields of statistics, machine learning, and data science.

The conference will be hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory and co-sponsored by SPES, the Quality and Productivity Section, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

If you are interested in presenting a paper or poster on a topic relevant to Statistics in Quality, Industry, and Technology, email your abstract to jrc2018@lanl.gov and indicate your preference for a presentation or poster. The abstract should include the following information:

• Author(s) and Affiliation(s)
• Title of the Presentation
• Purpose of the Presentation (one sentence – i.e., “To inform, motivate, enlighten, etc.”)
• A Concise Summary of the Work Done

The deadline to submit abstracts is February 15. For more information, email jrc2018@lanl.gov or contact a member of the program committee:

• Anne Hansen, Contributed Papers Chair
• Brian Weaver, Program Committee Co-Chair
• Xinwei Deng, Program Committee Co-Chair
• Shane Reese
• C. Devon Lin
• Matthew Pratola
• Joanne Wendelberger, Conference Chair