Business Meeting Covers Much at JSM

Edited by Page Moore, Biometrics Section Publications Officer

The section held its annual business committee meeting at JSM 2010 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the section’s website. Section chair, Barry Graubard, called the meeting to order, welcomed members and guests, and introduced members of the executive committee. The minutes of last year’s meeting were distributed and accepted.

Graubard introduced James Cochran of Louisiana Tech University, who gave a lively presentation about international work being done by Statistics Without Borders. He noted that a key ingredient to being successful in this kind of work is an innate intellectual curiosity, and he encouraged Biometrics Section members to pursue their interests in this direction.

Mike Daniels noted that the Vancouver meeting was the third-largest JSM in terms of attendance. He also gave a report from the Council of Sections on focus areas for the ASA leadership. Details about the algorithm used to allocate invited sessions were mentioned, and feedback was requested from sections about how to get young people more involved in the ASA. There was follow-up discussion about the section cosponsoring conferences, which led to consensus for having the section leadership explore such possibilities.

Thanks were expressed to Hormuzd Katki for his efforts on the JSM 2010 program. Graubard reported for Katki on the enormous task of organizing 399 abstracts into sessions. It was mentioned that the section’s executive committee approved a modest budget for next year’s program chair to host a gathering, such as a pizza party, that would bring in others to share the workload.

Jerry Heatley reported on the continuing education program. Frank Harrell’s short course, “Regression Modeling Strategies” sold out and is expected to generate roughly $4,700 for the section.

Tianxi Cai spoke about the JSM 2011 program. The section will sponsor four invited sessions and be able to participate in the invited session competition. Anyone with invited session proposals should submit them to Cai at tcai@hsph.harvard.edu soon. Also, there will be drop-down menus with categories available for people to self-classify their submissions. This is expected to ease grouping submissions into sessions. It also was noted that anyone with continuing education course ideas should submit them soon to Annie Qu, incoming section continuing education chair.

Graubard gave a heart-felt presentation on David Byar, after whom the section’s young investigator award is named. Byar started with medical training, but recognized early in his career the importance of statistics. In addition to his contributions to biostatistical methods in cancer research, he had a great gift for identifying talented individuals and inspiring them to greater heights, which he exhibited in multiple leadership roles at the National Cancer Institute.

Past section chair, Dan Heitjan, introduced X. Jessie Jeng of the University of Pennsylvania as the winner of the 2010 David P. Byar Young Investigator Award and Jaeun Choi of The University of North Carolina, Eunhee Kim of Brown University, and Elif F. Acar of the University of Toronto as recipients of the Biometrics Section travel awards. It also was noted that historical information about previous David P. Byar Young Investigator Award winners will be posted on the section’s website.

Tom Belin reported that the section is in strong financial shape, having started the year with a fund balance of $36,768.95 and having a current fund balance of $36,606.00. One key contribution to the section’s financial health is last year’s continuing education program revenue, which netted the section more than $10,000. It is anticipated that this year’s continuing education revenue will be strong, as well. Also, section dues were increased last year from $3 to $5 for regular members. The executive committee confirmed this year that student dues would remain at $3. It was noted that there were no expenses last year from the section’s strategic initiative program due to a lack of applications. Members interested in pursuing strategic initiatives were encouraged to submit ideas.

Graubard explained that, for the 2010 Biometrics Section officers election, there was supposed to have been two candidates running for representative on the Council of Sections, but this was mistakenly not done. The section will hold a special election by email in the fall to elect a representative for 2011–2013.

Call for Proposals

The section invites applications for funding to support projects developing innovative outreach projects focused on enhancing awareness of biostatistics among quantitatively talented U.S. students. Of particular interest are projects that will encourage students to pursue advanced training in biostatistics. Funding for up to four projects is anticipated, with total funding of up to $3,000 per project.

A three-page application is due October 30 in the following format:

Title
Objectives and Specific Aims
Background, Significance, and/or Rationale
Design and Methods
Budget

Expenditures for supplies, domestic travel when necessary to carry out the project, and cost of computer time are allowed; however, expenditures are not allowed for secretarial/administrative personnel, tuition, foreign travel, and honoraria and travel expenses for visiting lecturers to the investigator’s home institution. A project period with start date no earlier than December 1 and ending no later than December 31, 2011, also should be specified.

Applications should be submitted electronically to the Strategic Initiatives Subcommittee chair, Roslyn Stone, at roslyn@pitt.edu. All investigators will be expected to submit a brief report to the subcommittee chair at the conclusion of the project.

Byar and Travel Awards

Do you know a young investigator who is planning to submit an abstract for the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings? If so, you might mention that the ASA Biometrics Section is seeking applications for the 2011 David P. Byar Young Investigator Award. This annual award is given to a young investigator for best emerging work to be presented during JSM. The award commemorates the late David Byar, a biostatistician who made significant contributions to the development and application of statistical methods and was esteemed as an exceptional mentor during his career at the National Cancer Institute. The winner will receive a $1,500 award. Additionally, the section may provide travel awards to the authors of other outstanding papers submitted to the competition.

Applicants must have held a doctorate in statistics, biostatistics, or a related quantitative field for three or fewer years as of April 1 of the current year or be enrolled as a doctoral student in statistics or biostatistics and in active pursuit of a doctoral degree. They also must be current members of the ASA Biometrics Section and first author of the paper submitted. (Membership in the ASA does not automatically confer section membership.

Applicants may join at the time of submission for a $5 annual membership fee [$3 for students].) The paper may be submitted to a journal or under review, but may not have appeared online or in print at the time of the application or have been accepted for publication as of January 1, 2011. Also, the paper may not have been submitted to any other ASA section student/young investigator award competition. Finally, applicants must be scheduled to present the submitted paper at JSM 2011 in Miami, Florida, as a talk or poster presentation.

Applicants must submit their JSM abstracts to the Biometrics Section in addition to submitting them to the ASA by February 1, 2011. They also must contact Cai, 2011 JSM section program chair, at tcai@hsph.harvard.edu prior to the abstract deadline. The section will organize a series of topic-contributed sessions to highlight the submitted papers.

By March 1, applicants should complete their application by submitting a cover letter certifying that they meet the eligibility requirements and are not submitting the paper to another ASA section student/young investigator award competition, a current CV, and one copy of the finished paper. All materials must be submitted electronically to Graubard at graubarb@mail.nih.gov.

The 2011 awards committee is composed of the current and past section chairs and chair-elect, as well as three individuals appointed by the section chairs. More information can be found on the section website, easily accessed by clicking on the “Section” tab at the top of ASA website.