BIOMETRICS SECTION NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2009

BIOMETRICS SECTION NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2009
Edited by Page Moore , Biometrics Section Publications Officer

2010 ENAR SPRING MEETING
We are very pleased to invite you to New Orleans , LA , March 21-24, 2010 for the ENAR Spring Meeting in conjunction with Sections of ASA and IMS. We have an exciting program planned, with strong representation from the ASA Biometrics Section, and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

This year's Presidential Invited Speaker is Robert Kass of Carnegie Mellon University , whose research ranges from geometrical foundations of inference to the statistical assessment of time-varying dependence between neurons. The IMS Medallion Lecturer is Marie Davidian of North Carolina State University , who has made substantial contribution to the fields of longitudinal data, nonlinear mixed models, and biostatistics. Up to 20 Distinguished Student Paper Awards will be presented at ENAR. Applicants for these awards must submit all required materials before November 1, 2009. The complete invited portion of the scientific program is available at the ENAR website, and the deadline for receiving all abstracts is November 15, 2009.

Three invited sessions are sponsored by ASA Biometrics Section. The topics are: ROC Methods: Experiments with Time-Dependent and Clustered Data; Competing Risks in Action; and Statistical Analysis of Brain Imaging Data.

The continuing education program consists of six half- and full-day short courses, five tutorials, and eleven roundtable discussions. The topics of the short courses include Practical Introduction to Bayesian Statistics, Statistical Methods for Analysis of High-Dimensional Data with Applications in Biosciences, Analyzing Complex Survey Data, Bioinformatics, Metabolomics, and Adaptive Randomization for Phase III Studies. The tutorials are on Bayesian Computation in SAS, Comparative Effectiveness Research, SWEAVE, Statistical Challenges in Genome-Wide Association Studies, and Likelihood Methods for Measuring Statistical Evidence.

Two workshops will also be offered. The workshop “Fostering Diversity in Biostatistics” will provide a forum for discussion of important issues related to diversity. Themes of the workshop will include career and training opportunities within biostatistics. The workshop will target racial/ethnic groups who are traditionally underrepresented in the field of biostatistics. The Workshop for Junior Researchers is aimed at promoting the career development of junior investigators by bringing them together with a prestigious panel of senior investigators.

2010 Joint Statistical Meeting
Topic-contributed sessions are nice alternatives to regular contributed sessions because: the sessions are organized around a central topic, the talks are longer (20 minutes rather than 15), and one can have discussants as well as regular talks. Typically sessions consist of five speakers (i.e., four speakers and one discussant; three speakers and two discussants). The 2010 JSM Biometrics Section Program Chair, Hormuzd Katki , is collecting proposals for topic-contributed talks. If you are interested in organizing a topic-contributed session, please contact him at katkih@mail.nih.gov directly . While the deadline for submitting topic contributed session abstracts is February 2nd, proposals should be sent to the program chair as early as possible.

APPLICATIONS INVITED FOR 2010 BYAR YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD AND BIOMETRICS SECTION TRAVEL AWARDS
Do you know a young investigator who is planning to submit an abstract for the 2010 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM)? If so, you may wish to alert that individual that the ASA Biometrics Section is seeking applications for the 2010 David P. Byar Young Investigator Award. This annual award is given to a young investigator for best emerging work to be presented at the 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 cash award.

In addition to the Byar Award, the Section may provide travel awards to the authors of other outstanding papers that are submitted to the competition.

Have held a doctorate in statistics, biostatistics or a related quantitative field for three years or less as of April 1 of the current year, or be currently enrolled as a student in a doctoral program in statistics or biostatistics and in active pursuit of a doctoral degree.
Be a current member of the Biometrics Section (applicant may join at the time of submission for a $5 annual membership fee). Please note that membership in ASA does not automatically confer Section membership; ASA members must join individual sections in addition to their generic membership.
Be first author of the paper. The paper may be unsubm itted, submitted or under review, b ut may not have already appeared in a journal either on-line or in print at the time of the application or have been accepted for publication as of January 1 of 2010.
Be scheduled to present the same paper submitted for the Award at the 2010 Joint Statistical Meetings in Washington , DC as either a talk or poster.
Not have submitted the paper to any other ASA section 2010 student/young investigator award competition.

Applicants must submit their JSM abstracts to the Biometrics Section, which will organize a series of Topic Contributed sessions to highlight the submitted papers.

For the 2010 competition, applicants should first submit a Topic Contributed abstract to the JSM by the usual abstract deadline of Feb. 1, 2010. Applicants should contact the Section JSM Program Chair, Hormuzd Katki ( katkih@mail.nih.gov ), prior to the abstract deadline.

Then by March 1, applicants should complete their application by submitting the following materials:

A cover letter certifying that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements and is not submitting the paper to any other ASA section student/young investigator award competition.
A current CV.
One copy of the finished paper.

All materials must be submitted electronically on or before March 1, 2010 . Applications and questions should be sent to Daniel Heitjan at dheitjan@upenn.edu .

The 2010 Awards Committee is composed of the 2010 current and past Section Chairs and Chair-Elect as well as three additional individuals to be appointed by the Section Chairs prior to the competition. Information regarding this award is also available on the Section webpage, easily accessed by clicking on the “Section” tab at the top of the ASA website ( www.amstat.org ).