The National Institute of Statistical Sciences hosted a workshop on computational advertising in November of 2009 that focused on display advertising, search engines, and recommender systems.

November 10, 2009, marked the first webinar in a series the ASA Survey Research Methods Section is sponsoring this year and next.

Professional statisticians, through the ASA, have begun providing pro bono statistical consulting at the international and national levels through the Special Interest Group on Volunteerism. However, there is still a need for statistical consulting services at the community level. This is where student statisticians, through programs such as Statistics in the Community (StatCom), can help their communities while earning valuable consulting experience.

Most statisticians know the National Institutes of Health is a major source of funding for statistical methodology research relevant to the health sciences through investigator-initiated research grants. Less well known is that NIH has a variety of mechanisms, which vary according to purpose and target audience.

These are the highlights of the December issue of the Journal of the American Statistical Association. Included is a special message from outgoing editor, David Banks.