BIOMETRICS SECTION NEWSLETTER, OCTOBER 2007
Edited by Ralitza Gueorguieva, Biometrics Section Publications Officer

Recap of the 2007 JSM
The Biometrics Section held its annual Business Committee Meeting at the 2007 JSM in Salt Lake City .

The highlight of the meeting was the announcement that the Byar Award winner with a $1000 cash award was Egil Ferkingstad, a PhD student in the Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo , for the paper, "Covariate-modulated false discovery rates." A Travel Award winner with a $500 cash award was Min Zhang, a PhD student in the Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University , for the paper, "Improving efficiency of inferences in randomized clinical trials using auxiliary covariates.” Congratulations to Egil and Min from the Biometrics Section!

Also at the Business Meeting, Jeremy Taylor, the 2007 Chair-Elect, introduced (all in absentia) Dan Heitjan as the Section's Chair Elect for 2008, Debashis Ghosh as the Section's 2008 JSM Program Chair, and Tim Johnson as the 2008 ENAR Program Chair for the Section. On behalf of Dan Heitjan, Tom Ten Have introduced the corresponding program chairs for 2009: Jinbo Chen as the Section's 2009 ENAR Meeting Program Chair; and Wensheng Guo as the Section's 2009 JSM Program Chair.

Tom Ten Have, on behalf of Jianwen Cai, the Secretary-Treasurer, reported that the Section financial account stands at over $40,000. Thus the Section finances are in very good order. Consequently, the Section supports additional funding such as increased funding of the Section's strategic initiative projects and the introduction of sponsored posters by students. The Section welcomes input from members on other constructive and helpful ways to take advantage of our healthy asset base.   Mahlet Tadesse reported that two Continuing Education Short Courses were offered at JSM 2007 and that the Section has commitments for two short courses for JSM 2008: 1) Latent class modeling, by Bengt Muthen; and 2) Proteomics, by Scott Schmidler. Runze Li reported that the Biometrics Section sponsored 7 invited sessions, 4 topic contributed sessions, and 30 regular contributed sessions at JSM 2007. Overall, the Biometrics Section sponsored or co-sponsored a total of 141 talk sessions, panels, or posters. Members should keep in mind that all are welcome to organize topic contributed paper sessions for next year's JSM meeting.   For the 2007 ENAR Program, Tom Ten Have, on behalf of John Preisser, reported that the Section sponsored 3 invited sessions and 5 co-sponsored sessions. Mahlet's, John's, and Runze's excellent efforts in organizing Section programs were applauded. Look to future issues of the Biometrics Section's Amstat News Column for more information about these and other sponsored activities.

The Council of Section (COS) Representative, Diana Miglioretti reported that the COS seeks feedback on five questions from each Section. First, would the sections like to take over sponsorship of the Sunday evening mixer at JSM? The attendees at the Section Meeting were not enthusiastic about this option. Second, what comments do the sections have about the format changes to JSM meeting that are under consideration? One option is to eliminate Thursday sessions and starting JSM earlier on Sunday. The Section Meeting was not enthusiastic about starting earlier on Sunday. Another option entailed giving more prominence to posters. The section was supportive of giving more prominence to posters with subsidies to support the creation of posters. A third option was the institution of a peer-review system for papers and/or posters. The Section Meeting was supportive of moving to a peer-review system with the caveat that consideration be given to government and industry JSM attendees who are required to give a presentation for reimbursement of meeting expenses. The Section Meeting also liked the idea of trying to group like sessions over consecutive days, as long as there weren't overlapping sessions on the same topics. However, this would be difficult for the Biometrics session, since we sponsor so many sessions. Third, is attendance at JSM impacted by reduction in attendance of government employees? Government employees are an important part of our profession, so the Section supports attempts by the ASA to encourage government organizations to reimburse travel to these meetings. Fourth, do sections have any comments on the new ad hoc committee on individual accreditation? The Section Meeting was supportive of the ASA looking into this option as a service to members, as long as it is presented as an optional service. Finally, it was noted that thanks to Gerry Beck, Section information is kept up-to-date on the ASA Biometrics Section webpage, which is accessible from the ASA website ( http://www.amstat.org/sections/info/index.cfm?fuseaction=officers ).

The Section discussed its continuing efforts to increase interest in biostatistics among high school and undergraduate students. Past Section strategic initiatives from 2004 to 2007 were reviewed. A 2008 call for new proposals is included in this newsletter. Bonnie LaFleur is kindly chairing a sub-committee on these fronts.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Developing the Next Generation of Biostatisticians

The ASA Biometrics Section invites applications for funding to support projects developing innovative outreach projects focused on enhancing awareness of biostatistics among quantitatively-talented US students. We are particularly interested in projects that will encourage students to pursue advanced training in biostatistics. We anticipate funding up to four projects, with total funding of up to $3000 per project. All investigators are encouraged to apply.

The Section has provided funding for outreach projects for the last three years. In 2004, the Section provided funding for four outreach projects, involving the development and pilot-testing of materials for undergraduate classroom use, a college/university visitation program to raise awareness of biostatistics; a program to highlight advanced biostatistics training at conferences for undergraduate mathematics students; and an initiative to construct a Biometrics Section metaweb page to consolidate links to institutions offering biostatistics training. In 2005 two outreach projects were funded, on the development and pilot testing of biostatistics scenario-based learning modalities for high school students; the other in development and implementation of three seminars for recruitment of students to biostatistics programs at small universities in Arkansas. Last year we funded two projects. One was a synergistic effort to recruit future biostatisticians in local Arkansas high schools; and the other involved developing outreach materials for AP statistics students and their teachers: a case series in collaborative research.

We are especially interested in funding new projects that offer novel ideas for increasing awareness, synthesize or cross cut efforts ongoing in Biostatistics groups around the country to spark high school and undergraduate student interest in our field, or that reach out to under-served constituencies. However the Section is open to any and all new ideas.

A three-page application is due OCTOBER 15, 2007 and should be in the following format: Title; Objectives and Specific Aims; Background, Significance, and/or Rationale; Design and Methods; and Budget. The following types of expenditures are allowed: supplies, domestic travel when necessary to carry out the project, and cost of computer time. The following types of expenditures are NOT allowed: 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, 2007 and ending no later than December 31, 2008 should also be specified.

Applications should be submitted electronically to the Strategic Initiatives Subcommittee chairperson, Bonnie LaFleur at bonnie.lafleur@hsc.utah.edu. Questions concerning the application process may also be directed to Bonnie LaFleur. A committee of three Section Executive Committee members and members of the Strategic Initiatives Subcommittee will review the applications and expects to select projects for funding by November 15, 2007. All investigators will be expected to submit a brief report at the conclusion of the project to the Subcommittee chair.