Daniell Toth, Bureau of Labor Statistics
The 2026 Joint Statistical Meetings will take place August 1–6 in Boston, Massachusetts. The theme for JSM 2026, selected by ASA President-Elect Jeri Mulrow, is “Communities in Action: Advancing Society.” Recently, the program committee finalized the invited program, choosing 181 of the top proposals out of more than 350 submitted. The selected sessions cover topics including the following:
- Innovations in Functional Data Methods for Large-Scale Biomedical and Wearable Data
- Statistical Modeling for Sports Performance and Injury Analytics
- Synthetic Data: Applications Across the Federal Statistical System
- Advancing Statistics Education Through AI: Research-Based Insights and Pedagogical Innovation
- Adaptive Borrowing as an Alternative to Randomized Clinical Trials
- Bridging Statistics and Modern AI: Foundations for Deep Learning and Generative Models
- Statistical and AI Innovations for Modeling Spatial and Perturbation Complexity in Human Cells
- Deep Learning for Statistical Inference on Spatial Data
There is still room on the program and opportunities to be actively involved in the meetings, including the following:
Topic-Contributed Sessions
Consider organizing a topic-contributed session. These sessions are 110 minutes in length and consist of a collection of contributed talks and/or discussions that share a common topic. There must be five presentations of 20 minutes each, with five minutes at the end for questions, floor discussion, and any concluding remarks by the session chair. The deadline for submitting proposals is December 10.
Speed Sessions
Speed sessions allow for an electronic poster presentation that can include video, animation, interactive statistical graphics, and dashboards. A speed session consists of 20 oral presentations of approximately four minutes, with a five-minute break after the first set of 10 talks. These short oral presentations are followed by an e-poster session, which lasts 45 minutes.
Only for speed sessions will the regular 110-minute contributed poster sessions be divided into two sessions. There will be 45 minutes for a first group of 20 presenters, a 20-minute transition period, and then 45 minutes for the second group of 20 presenters. The program committee tries to cluster speed session posters by topic to attract a large and focused audience.
The following incentives are offered to presenters who participate in speed sessions:
- Electronic poster boards, so there are no additional costs associated with printing or transporting a poster
- The ability to present orally and through an electronic poster
When submitting a contributed abstract, simply select “Speed” as the subtype.
Poster Sessions
Poster sessions allow for face-to-face extended discussions with individuals or small groups. Advantages include direct feedback and the ability to display extensive graphical or tabular materials, possibly in addition to a handout. No audiovisual equipment or electricity is provided; therefore, laptops are discouraged at poster sessions.
Contributed Sessions
Nearly half of JSM sessions are contributed. Contributed paper sessions consist of seven papers with 15 minutes of presentation time for each, including the introduction of the speaker and questions. Contributed abstract submission closes February 2, 2026, and notifications about acceptance will be sent by early April 2026.
Session Chairs
Each JSM session requires a chair, who is responsible for contacting speakers with session information before JSM and introducing speakers and managing presentation time during the session. Chairing a session is a way for researchers who are new to the profession to build a professional network and get involved with JSM. To be a chair, volunteer to the program committee member of a section or society of interest. Questions can be emailed to Daniell Toth.
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