Sastry Pantula, 2010 president of the ASA, looks back on his years of service to the association and enthusiastically views the years ahead.

In 2010, with the support of the ASA and Population Association of America, former ASA Director of Education Martha Aliaga and other ASA staff members worked with prominent statisticians and statistics educators to launch the U.S. version of Census at School—a free, international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problemsolving using their own real data. The Census at School project began in the United Kingdom in 2000 and now includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Japan, and the United States.

The ASA is building upon the success of the UK and other countries in using Census at School to enhance statistical problemsolving and interdisciplinary studies using real data of interest to students. Through Census at School, grade 4–12 teachers can enhance their statistics knowledge to better teach the increased statistics content in the Common Core State Standards.

In the November issue of Math Horizon’s Aftermath column, the essay “Statistics à la Mode,” written by Meg Dillon, discussed the difficulty she experienced as a mathematics professor teaching an introductory statistics course. In response to her essay, several members of the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education explain how teaching statistics is different than teaching mathematics.

Lamar University’s department of mathematics will host the Conference of Texas Statisticians from March 2–3 in Beaumont, Texas.

Steve MacEachern, 2012 JSM program chair, encourages readers to participate in the meetings, not only by attending talks, visiting the poster presentations, and joining continuing education courses and mixers, but also by giving a presentation. Abstract submission will close on February 1, so submit early.

Over the past nine months, members of the Conference on Statistical Practice organizing and conference committees have envisioned and worked toward a conference focused on the needs of applied and consulting statisticians concerned with urgent problems, issues, and systems for clients and organizations to improve processes, products, and decisions. That vision will become a reality from February 16–18, 2012, as the first ASA Conference on Statistical Practice takes place in Orlando, Florida.

The American Statistical Association sponsored a two-day Meeting Within a Meeting (MWM) statistics workshop for middle- and high-school mathematics and science teachers August 2–3 in conjunction with the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach, Florida.

Pictures from the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach, Florida.

The highlights of this year’s Joint Statistical Meetings include those statisticians who were recognized during the ASA Presidential Awards and Address Ceremony on August 2 in Miami Beach, Florida. First up, however, JSM Program Chair David Judkins gives his thoughts about Miami as a venue for the meetings and discusses the growing number of attendees presenting.

The American Statistical Association (ASA)/National Council of Teachers (NCTM) of Mathematics Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability sponsored a Beyond AP Statistics (BAPS) workshop during the annual Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach, Florida, on August 3. This year, 25 teachers attended the full-day workshop, designed to strengthen and expand teachers’ statistics backgrounds.