Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition Announced

Jean A. Scott, CAUSE Program Coordinator

The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics (CAUSE) has announced the third biennial Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition (USPROC). The purpose of the competition is to encourage the development of data analysis skills, to enhance presentation skills, and to recognize outstanding work by undergraduate statistics students.

The competition is open to undergraduate students globally. The project topics must involve statistical applications using data. The criteria for project evaluation include appropriateness of data collection, data analysis and conclusion, clarity of presentation, and originality and importance of the topics. Student teams can submit projects as long as the team members are undergraduates at the time of conducting the research, even though they might not be undergraduate students in spring 2011, when the projects are judged.

Hold the Date!
The fourth biennial U.S. Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS), hosted by CAUSE, will take place May 19–21, 2011, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cary, North Carolina.

Cash prizes and a plaque will be provided to the top three winners, who will be invited with their project advisors to present their winning project at the 2011 United States Conference on Teaching Statistics to be held May 19–21, 2011.

Guidelines and details for the competition are available at the USPROC web site, here. The USPROC Committee, chaired by Carl Lee of Central Michigan University, welcomes submissions for the 2011 competition as early as May 2010, with a final deadline of February 2011.

Free Pre–JSM Workshop

Going to Joint Statistical Meetings in Vancouver? An exceptional professional development opportunity is being offered on Saturday, July 31, and the morning of Sunday, August 1, preceding the opening of the JSM. The workshop, “Computationally Intensive Methods in Teaching Introductory Statistics,” will be presented by Webster West of Texas A&M University and Roger Woodard of North Carolina State University.

This free workshop provides an overview of methods such as randomization tests and bootstrap confidence intervals that can be used in introductory courses. West and Woodard will explain the motivations and pedagogical advantages of teaching these modern methods. This workshop will showcase materials developed by the presenters under funding from National Science Foundation that allow instructors to quickly implement them in their own classroom. The workshop will help participants develop their own teaching materials.

Participants will be further supported after the workshop by an online community hosted by the presenters. Details and registration are available on the CAUSE web site here.