Biometrics Section Gears Up for JSM

Edited by Songthip Ounpraseuth, Biometrics Section Publications Officer

The David P. Byar Young Investigator Award is given annually to a new researcher in the Biometrics Section who presents an original manuscript at the Joint Statistical Meetings. The award commemorates David Byar, a renowned biostatistician who made significant contributions to the development and application of statistical methods during his career at the National Cancer Institute. This year, there were 26 papers submitted and the committee chose five travel award winners in addition to the Byar award winner.

Daniela Witten of the University of Washington is this year’s Byar award winner for “Penalized Classification using Fisher’s Linear Discriminant.” She will receive $1,500 and present her paper at JSM in Miami.

This year’s travel award winners are the following:

• Genevera Allen, Rice University, for “A Generalized Least Squares Matrix Decomposition”
• Qunhua Li, University of California at Berkeley, for “Measuring Reproducibility of High-Throughput Experiments”
• Jessica Minnier, Harvard University, for “Risk Classification with an Adaptive Naïve Bayes Kernel Machine Model”
• Layla Parast, Harvard University, for “Landmark Prediction of Long-Term Survival Incorporating Short-Term Event Time Information”
• Sihai Dave Zhao, Harvard University, for “Grouped Variable Selection via Hierarchical Models”

Each travel award winner will receive $800 toward the expenses to attend JSM and present their papers. They also will receive a certificate and plaque commemorating their awards at the Biometrics Section mixer and business meeting on August 1 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The mixer—an excellent networking opportunity—is open to all JSM attendees.

JSM 2011 Program

The Biometrics Section is pleased to sponsor the following two continuing education courses and six invited sessions:

CE Courses

• Mixed Effects Models, taught by Charles McCulloch of the University of California at San Francisco
• Semiparametric Theory and Missing Data, taught by Butch Tsiatis of North Carolina State University

Invited Sessions

• Classification in the Real World: The Development of Practical Predictions from High-Dimensional Markers, organized by Karen Bandeen-Roche of the Johns Hopkins University
• New Advances in Censored Data Analysis, organized by Lu Tian of Stanford University
• Statistical Methods for Risk Prediction Using High-Throughput Genomic Data, organized by Xihong Lin of Harvard University
• Recent Advances in Statistical Genomics, organized by Hongyu Zhao of Yale University
• Innovative Applications of Non- or Semiparametric Methods in the Fields of Biology and Medicines, organized by Naisyin Wang of the University of Michigan
• New Developments in Sufficient Dimension Reduction, organized by Xiangrong Yin of the University of Georgia

Visit the online program for updates on locations and times.

JSM 2012

It’s time to start thinking about invited sessions for next year’s Joint Statistical Meetings, which will be held July 28 to August 2 in San Diego, California. Anyone who is interested in organizing an invited session or who has ideas for one should contact the section’s 2012 program chair, Timothy D. Johnson, at tdjtdj@umich.edu.

A typical invited session consists of three 30-minute talks followed by a 10-minute invited discussion and 10 minutes of floor discussion. However, other formats are possible. The 2011 program is a good source for examples.

Remember, the most mature ideas will have an advantage in competing for the limited number of slots. The Biometrics Section will have at least four invited sessions, but if we generate enough good ideas, we will be able to compete for additional slots.

Ideas for short courses are also wanted and can be submitted to the section’s continuing education chair, Annie Qu, at anniequ@illinois.edu.