CHAPTER NEWS
Boston
explored guidelines on often used statistical
procedures such as adaptive designs, the use
The Boston Chapter—serving members in
of Bayesian methods, noninferiority studies,
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire,
and the assessment of benefit and risk.
and Maine—continues to offer an active pro-
In December, Ted Colton from Boston
gram of lectures, social events, short courses,
University spoke about fraud in medical
and conferences for its 450 members.
research. Ethics and data integrity are key
Recently, program offerings were made
issues for academicians, government agen-
more convenient through an internet-
cies, researchers, journals, and businesses.
based symposium conferencing tool. We
Colton described and dissected several recent
are experimenting with remote access for
cases of misconduct in medical research and
our planning committee meetings, as well.
multicenter clinical trials. While detection
On September 29, the chapter cospon-
Kristofer Jennings from the Department of
of breaches is important, we don’t want to
sored the New England Symposium on
Statistics at Purdue University talks about
falsely accuse. The presentation focused on
his rewarding experiences in the fields of
Statistics in Sports (NESSIS), which took
addressing how the fraud was detected, why
biomedical and general statistical research.
place at the Harvard University Science
the fraud was committed, how it was report-
Center. There were more than 100 attend-
ed, and what the consequences are.
ees of various backgrounds, including the
press (USA Today, The New York Times,
Indiana
and ESPN Magazine). Research presented
at the conference included topics as diverse
To promote awareness of careers in statis-
as data collection, training, player and
tics to high-school students, the Central
referee evaluation, monetary and other
Indiana Chapter of the ASA, the Department
resource allocation, and injury forensics.
of Mathematical Sciences at Indiana
The conference also provided statisticians
University-Purdue University Indianapolis,
an opportunity to improve the quality of
and the Division of Biostatistics at Indiana
the statistical methods used in sports.
University have jointly organized an annual
In October, the chapter organized a short
event, Statistics Career Day, for the past sev-
course on practical computations using
eral years. The goal is to give an overview of
Bayesian statistics. The course was taught by
statistics; present statistics applications in aca-
Indianapolis-area high-school students listen as
Jean-Michel Marin of the University Paris
demia, government, and industry; and share
statistical professionals from industry and aca-
Sud and Christian Robert of the University
success stories from speakers working in dif- demia share their visions of a statistics career.
Paris Dauphine. It provided participants a
ferent areas of statistics.
practical understanding of Bayesian meth-
Over the years, we have witnessed
University and Kristofer Jennings from
odology, assuming no previous exposure to
increasing interest in the event among stu-
the Department of Statistics at Purdue
Bayesian ideas or methods, and was based on
dents in Indiana. The recent career day in
University talked about their rewarding
the book Bayesian Core by Marin and Robert.
November turned out to be an overwhelm-
experiences in the fields of biomedical and
While keeping the theoretical background to
ing success, as 150 students and teachers
general statistical research. Jennings also
a minimum, the participants were guided in
from 11 area high schools participated. Six
shared his perspective on being a researcher
the practice of prior modeling and Bayesian
statistical professionals from industry and
and a teacher.
computing for some of the most classical
academia shared the path that led them to
Finally, Mark Inlow from Rose-Hulman
models (e.g., linear and generalized linear
their careers in statistics and gave insight
Institute pointed out that being a statisti-
regression, mixtures) based on representa-
into what they do on a daily basis and how
cal consultant gives one the opportunity to
tive case studies provided as data sets. The
satisfying it is.
use a range of statistical methodologies in
emphasis was on model selection and trans-
The day started with opening remarks
many fields.
dimensional Monte Carlo methods.
and an overview of statistics by Edward
In addition to the inspiring talks, there
In November, the chapter sponsored a
Brizendine, a former ASA chapter sec-
were exhibit booths from the Central
panel discussion on FDA committees fea-
retary. The morning session was then
Indiana Chapter of the ASA, Eli Lilly, the
turing Janet Andersen, Victor DeGruttola,
devoted to talks about career in indus-
Purdue University Statistics for Community
Rich Gelber, David Schoenfeld, and Sharon
try, where Don Gonzales from Eli Lilly
Program, and MedFocus Inc., providing
Lise-Normand. FDA advisory committees
and Company and Lourdes Padilla from
information and materials about statistics
are frequently called upon to advise the FDA
Cummins Inc. shared their experiences as
and career opportunities. The event turned
regarding difficult approval and policy deci-
statisticians in the fields of drug develop-
out to be interactive, as the students asked
sions. Statisticians can play an integral role on
ment and reliability and validity analysis
many excellent questions. The organizers
these committees. These statisticians, all of
in power emission testing, respectively.
also received a lot of appreciative words
whom have served on FDA advisory commit-
The afternoon session was dedicated
from the attendees. It was truly a success,
tees, shared their experiences and discussed
to academia, where Xiaochun Li from
an excellent effort in promoting statistics to
the complex role of the statistician. They also
the Division of Biostatistics at Indiana
youngsters. Kudos to the organizers! n
MARCH 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 49
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