For the first time, the Risk Analysis Section jointly sponsored a mixer with the Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security at JSM. The event was successful, attracting 50 members from the two sections. Highlights included presentations of awards, discussion of future plans, and a prize raffle where many of those present won books, software, and vouchers. We plan to make the joint mixer a regular JSM event.

The main awards given by the Risk Analysis Section were for the student paper competition. First prize went to Ya-Hsiu Chuang of the University of Pittsburgh for her paper (with Sati Mazumdar), “Bayesian Model Averaging in Health Effect Studies: Sensitivity Analyses Using PM10 and Cardiopulmonary Hospital Admissions in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, and Simulated Data.” Second prize was awarded to Tim van Erven of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica Amsterdam, The Netherlands, for his paper (with Peter Grunwald and Steven de Rooij), “Catching Up Faster by Switching Sooner: A Prequential Solution to the AIC-BIC Dilemma.”

The section will hold the student paper competition again in 2010; section members should bring the award to the attention of students. Additionally, there will be an award for the best talk given at a contributed paper session. This year’s winner will be announced in the future.

Risk Analysis cosponsored 12 JSM sessions—five invited, two topic-contributed, and five contributed. The invited paper sessions illustrated the wide range of members’ interests: social network analysis of the spread of disease; terrorist risk assessment, personal credit risk, and chronic occupational disease; health effects of climate change; macroeconomic forecasting; and quantitative security and cybersystems. The two topic-contributed sessions illustrated some of the more theoretical interests of section members: predictive and prequential statistics and semiparametric procedures in statistical analysis.

Section officers welcome feedback, including alternative suggestions for future activities. If you have questions or comments, email Richard Smith, section chair, at rls@email.unc.edu.