SRMS had a successful virtual business meeting during JSM on August 5. We thanked outgoing officers Kennon Copeland (past chair), Darcy Steeg Morris (treasurer), James Wagner (education officer), Jeff Gonzalez (program chair), Steven Pedlow (publications officer), and Jamie Ridenhour (Council of Sections representative) while welcoming incoming officers Jean Opsomer (chair-elect), Jessica Kohlschmidt (treasurer), Daniell Toth (education officer), Jana Asher (program chair-elect), Dan Liao (publications officer), and Stas Kolenikov (Council of Sections representative).

Volunteers are needed to run for open positions during the 2021 election. Those interested should email Jean Opsomer.

SRMS finances show our balance is in the recommended range of 2–3 times our annual expenses. $3 of our $8 dues provides access to the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology (JSSAM) for all SRMS members.

The ASA launched section awards for longtime service to the section. SRMS (volunteer) webmaster, Pushpal Mukophadhyay, was given our first SRMS award for his outstanding work on the SRMS website, including our proceedings website (all proceedings 1958–2019).

We also congratulated the five SRMS members who are among the newest ASA Fellows—Rebecca R. Andridge, Laura Lee Johnson, Rochelle W. Martinez, Matthias Schonlau, and Zhengyuan Zhu—as well as the Washington Statistical Society Student Travel Award winner, Aaron Williams of Georgetown.

Coming Up

• BigSurv20—virtual sessions throughout November on Fridays
• Webinars on respondent-driven sampling given by Krista Gile and weighting given by David Haziza

JSM 2021 Topic-Contributed Session Proposals

JSM 2020 was virtually just last month, but it is time to organize your potential JSM 2021 topic-contributed session; proposals can be submitted online from mid-November until early December.

Topic-contributed sessions include papers (five total speakers with 20 minutes each, at least three presenters and no more than two discussants), panels (3–6 panelists providing commentary about a topic), and posters (10–15 participants with posters addressing a common topic).

A topic-contributed session proposal includes a session title, general description of the session, list of participants, and tentative talk titles.

If you are interested in organizing a topic-contributed session, select a session topic and solicit potential speakers. Once you have a sufficient number of committed speakers, you can submit your proposal online.

JSM 2021 Student Travel Awards

SRMS offers student travel awards for students in any terminal degree program (bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral) in survey methodology or a survey research discipline.

Support is offered for student attendance at the Joint Statistical Meetings, to be held August 7–12 in Seattle, Washington. Preference is given to students presenting a paper or poster at the conference.

In addition to a short essay and college transcripts, applications must be supported by a current member of SRMS (with a letter of recommendation).

Typically, awards up to $825 are given, which provides $800 for JSM expenses and $25 for ASA student membership (student membership in SRMS is free).

Award recipients are expected to attend JSM sessions and the SRMS business meeting/mixer on Wednesday night to be recognized.

Previous SRMS student travel award winners and SRMS student paper competition winners are not eligible for this award.

The deadline for applications is December 18. Contact Darcy Steeg Morris with questions.