Bhramar Mukherjee, COPSS Treasurer/Secretary, reports on the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) annual awards, presented at JSM. The call for nominations for next year’s awards is below. We’ll have Bhramar’s interview with the Presidents’ Award winner, Sam Kou, in the next issue.

 

We are pleased to announce the 2012 COPSS Award winners, presented at JSM in San Diego on August 1 by COPSS president Xihong Lin. The winner of the Presidents’ Award is Samuel S. Kou from Harvard University. The citation for the award read, “for groundbreaking contributions to stochastic modeling and statistical inference in single molecule biophysics; for pioneering the equi-energy sampler; for fundamental contributions to Bayesian, empirical Bayes and nonparametric methods; and for outstanding service to the statistical profession and contribution to statistical education.”


Sam Kou (right) receives his Presidents’ Award from Xihong Lin
Photo: Eric Sampson/ASA

 

The Elizabeth L. Scott award winner for 2012 is Mary Gray from American University, “for her lifelong efforts to foster opportunities in statistics for women and to further the careers of academic women; and for creating a forum for discussing the role of women in mathematics; for exposing discrimination, and for exchanging strategies, encouraging political action, and promoting affirmative action.”

As previously announced, the 2012 Fisher Lecturer was Roderick J. Little of the University of Michigan, “for outstanding statistical research in the modeling and evaluation of missing data, sample survey and causal inference; for the clear and comprehensive application of these and other methodologies in science and public policy arenas; and for diverse and effective professional and academic leadership contributions.” Rod’s lecture was titled, “In Praise of Simplicity, not Mathematistry! Ten Simple, Powerful Ideas for the Statistical Scientist.”

 

Nominations for 2013 COPSS Awards

Please visit http://www.niss.org/copss for details of eligibility and nomination requirements for all these awards. Send nominations, preferably by e-mail in PDF format, to the committee chairs.

Presidents’ Award

The Presidents’ Award is presented annually to a young member of one of the participating societies of COPSS. The award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the statistics profession. It is typically granted (with some exceptions) to an individual who has not yet reached his or her 41st birthday during the calendar year of the award (see COPSS website for more details on eligibility criteria). Nominations must be sent by January 15, 2013, preferably by email in PDF format, to:
Raymond J. Carroll
Chair, COPSS Presidents’ Award Committee
Department of Statistics
Blocker Building, Room 447
Texas A&M University
3143 TAMU, College Station TX 77843-3143
t 979-845-3141 f 979-845-3144
e copsspresidents2013@gmail.com

Florence Nightingale David Award

The Florence Nightingale David Award is presented biennially (odd years) to recognize a female statistician who exemplifies the contributions of Florence Nightingale David, an accomplished statistician in combinatorial probability theory, author or editor of numerous books, first Chair of Department of Statistics at University of California at Riverside and the first recipient of the Elizabeth L. Scott Award. The criteria for the award are excellence as a role model to women and in: statistical research; leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups; statistics education; and service to the profession. Nominations should be sent by January 15, 2013 preferably by email in PDF format to:
Nancy Reid
Chair, COPSS FN David Award Committee
Department of Statistics
100 St. George St. Room 6018
University of Toronto
Toronto ON Canada M5S 3G3
t 416-978-5046 f 416-978-5133
e reid@utstat.utoronto.ca

George W Snedecor Award

The George W. Snedecor Award is presented biennially (odd years) in honor of its namesake, a pioneer who had worldwide impact in improving the quality of scientific methods concerning the use of statistical methodology. The award recognizes an individual who has been instrumental in the development of statistical theory in biometry and a noteworthy publication in biometry by that individual within three years of the date of the award. Nominations should be sent by January 15, 2013 preferably by email in PDF format to:
Nilanjan Chatterjee
Chair, COPSS Snedecor Award Committee National Cancer Institute
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
6120 Executive Blvd, EPS 8020
Rockville MD 20852
t 301-402-7933
f 301-402-0081
e chattern@mail.nih.gov

R A Fisher Lectureship and Award

The Fisher Lectureship and Award, awarded annually, was established in 1963 by COPSS to honor the outstanding contributions of the late Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, and those of a current statistician, on aspects of statistics and probability that closely relate to the scientific collection and interpretation of data. The award exists to recognize the importance of statistical methods for scientific investigations. Nominations should be sent by December 15, 2012 preferably by email in PDF format, to:
Kathryn Roeder
Chair, COPSS Fisher Lecturer Award Committee
Carnegie Mellon University
Department of Statistics
232 Baker Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
t 412-268-2513
f 412-268-7828
e kathryn.roeder@gmail.com