San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association

Student Travel Awards for the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings San Diego, California

Are you (or do you know) a graduate student who is planning to give a presentation at the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in San Diego? www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2012/index.cfm

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association (ASA) is soliciting applications for student travel awards to JSM. www.sfasa.org

Up to four Student Travel Awards for current graduate students (receiving degrees May 2012 or later) will be issued to cover up to $1000 in travel expenses to the 2012 meetings. The JSM is held from July 28^th to August 2^nd, 2012.

Qualified Applicants

Applicants must be:

A. Current members of the ASA www.amstat.org/membership/index.cfm.

B. Current full-time graduate students in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, or a related discipline, graduating May 2012 or later from a university in the greater San Francisco Bay area.

C. Presenting a paper (oral or poster) at the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings (must be an author or co-author of the paper).

Application

Applicants should e-mail the following documents to the Chapter President-Elect - Dr. Kit Lau. kit.lau@theranosticbio.com by March 1st, 2012 (11:59 p.m.):

A. one-page essay describing:

1. Reasons for attending JSM and for requesting the Travel Award.

2. Amount requested (up to $1000) and allocation (e.g., airfare, hotel, registration).

3. Current contact information, including how you can be reached during the summer.

B. An abstract of the paper or poster you are presenting along with information about your co-authors, the date and time of your presentation. The deadline for JSM abstract submission is February 1, 2012. Abstract submission closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2012/index.cfm

C. A letter from your advisor or Department Chair confirming current graduate student status.

Successful applicants are expected to present their work at the May 2012 meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the ASA. Each speaker will give a 20 minute oral presentation.

Review Process

A committee of the Chapter Presidents (Past, Current, and Elect) and Chapter Treasurer will review the applications and select the winners. Winners will be announced on the Chapter website www.sfasa.org and notified by telephone or email or both by April 1^st 2012.

Note: The winners will acknowledge The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter travel support at the end of their presentations at the JSM.

Comments from 2011 Recipient:

Aida Yazdanparast and Tony Tran of CSUEB were among the 2011 recipients of student travel awards. Their poster won 3rd prize in the statistical graphics competition in JSM 2011.

“Thank you for your support. It was a very wonderful experience. Here are some pictures that we took. Thank you very much for providing us the travel award.” Aida Yazdanparast, CSUEB, MS student

Comments from 2009 Recipients:

Attending JSM can provide a variety of valuable experiences. One can network with professionals and academics in areas of interest and attend talks (and fee-based short courses) on cutting-edge statistics/biostatistics technology:

“My JSM experience was awesome! Attending JSM provides a wonderful opportunity to see what is happening at the cutting edge of our field. I networked with many people and retained contacts, attended many interesting talks, and learned about new application areas and statistical methods. Presenting my work at JSM provided me with ideas for expanding it in the future. I would recommend attending JSM to anyone interested in statistics.” Vadim Bichutskiy, CSU EB, MS 2011

Additionally, JSM provides networking in the marketplace and offers attendees the opportunity to check out industry positions:

“I met with 10 different companies and universities from all around the U.S. whom never would have flown me out for an interview had I not met them initially at the conference. The mere meeting of the people at these companies and hearing about all the job opportunities was beneficial to me.

I met with a Statistician at Baylor Health Care from whom I had the opportunity to find out about the health care industry. Being from the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry, I knew health care was different but did not know the magnitude of the difference. Baylor then flew me to Dallas for an interview after careful deliberation I accepted a job offer with them and have moved to Dallas, Texas. I truly do not believe this would have happened had I not gone to JSM.” Monica Anand, CSU EB MS 2009

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