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

Recap of the 2009 JSM
The Biometrics Section held its annual Business Committee Meeting at the 2009 JSM in Washington DC . Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Section website (http://www.bio.ri.ccf.org/Biometrics).

At the Business Meeting, Dan Heitjan, 2009 Chair, welcomed members and guests and introduced the members of the Executive Committee.

Dan Heitjan introduced Steve Pierson, ASA Director of Science Policy. He described efforts to develop brochures in a series titled “Statistical Significance” that underscore key areas where statisticians have an impact on policy so that policymakers can acquire a better understanding of what statisticians do. He views his role in part as involving education of the ASA membership about ways to influence policy and noted that 120 meetings were scheduled on Capitol Hill on Thursday, with efforts focusing in particular on funding for NIH and NSF as well as for statistical literacy.

Hormuzd Katki issued a call for invited session proposals to be submitted by September 9, noting that the Section has four invited session slots and can compete for up to two more. Jerry Heatley reported on the success of this year's continuing education courses and noted that there is a September 30 deadline for CE course proposals for next year's JSM.

The Section recognized the efforts of Jerry as 2009 CE Chair and Wensheng Guo as 2009 JSM Section Program Chair.

Past Section Chair Jeremy Taylor introduced Sonja Greven ( Johns Hopkins University ) as the winner of the David P. Byar Young Investigator Award and Xiaoxi Zhang (Pfizer) as the recipient of the Biometrics Section travel award.

Bonnie LaFleur described the section's Strategic Initiative program, which made four grants this year with a total budget of $12,000. Bonnie introduced Roslyn Stone ( University of Pittsburgh ), recipient of multiple Strategic Initiative awards from the Biometrics Section, who described her group's work with a local high school where AP Statistics is taught. The project involved developing take-home materials for students, teachers, and parents to encourage understanding of and enthusiasm for statistics as a profession. The section's support provided a foundation for the group to develop a successful application for NIH/NHLBI funding to broaden dissemination of such materials. Jeremy Taylor paid tribute to the leadership of previous Section Chair Dennis Dixon, who initiated the Section's Strategic Initiative program.

Treasurer Tom Belin reported that the section started calendar year 2008 with a balance of $35,585.54 and ended 2008 with a balance of $26,081.67. It was noted that while the drawdown was intentional as part of the effort to maintain Section funds at reasonable levels (approximately twice annual expenses), such an imbalance could not continue indefinitely. It was announced that the Executive Committee had voted to raise Section dues from $3 to $5, that $4,500 would be budgeted for student awards, with the Byar Award winner to receive $1,500 and the remainder for travel awards, and that an initiative to provide refreshments (e.g., muffins) and/or coffee between the morning sessions at JSM was being explored.

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.

A three-page application is due OCTOBER 15, 2009 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, 2009 and ending no later than December 31, 2010 should also be specified.

Applications should be submitted electronically to the Strategic Initiatives Subcommittee chairperson, Bonnie LaFleur at bonnie.lafleur@hsc.utah.edu. All investigators will be expected to submit a brief report at the conclusion of the project to the Subcommittee chair.

SECTION DUES INCREASE
By Daniel Heitjan, 2009 Section Chair

As noted above, the Section Executive Committee voted on August 2 to increase annual dues from $3 to $5. Why raise dues now? Read on.

A bit of history: Although our Section is the largest in the ASA, with over 2,000 paying members, traditionally we have been among the low-dues/low-service sections. In recent years, however, there has been interest in increasing the Section's role in professional outreach. In 2003, then-Section Chair Dennis Dixon initiated our strategic initiative grants program (see above), which last year made $12,000 in grants, by far the largest item in our budget. We hope to continue this important initiative. We would also like to raise our Section's profile at the JSM by holding a morning refreshment event. And of course we must also periodically raise levels of our young investigator awards, and the prices of traditional budget items (the Executive Committee meeting and Mixer) do not stand still. Although we have tried to cut costs in other areas (e.g., by holding the Executive Committee meeting off-site), our expenses were so modest before that there is little room for savings.

In any event, if we are to continue our effort to become a more dynamic section, we will need to realize more revenue. Raising our dues to $5 will leave us still in the low to middle range among ASA sections, but will give us another $4,000 of revenue to work with. Although nobody likes to ask for more money, particularly in these challenging times, we hope that the benefits we realize will be worth the price.

As always, please feel free to share your comments and suggestions with me ( dheitjan@upenn.edu ) or with any member of the Executive Committee.

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.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• 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 ).