This Workshop is not to be missed!!

The Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association presents:
The 2009 Conference: Proliferation of Digital Information
and Recent Uses in Statistical Applications

And

the 2009 Statistical Advocate of the Year Award Ceremony
Presented to Avinash Kaushik
Google Analytics Evangelist and Author of Occam's Razor analytics blog.

Topic: Proliferation of Digital Information and Recent Uses in Statistical Applications
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Leo Burnett Building, 35 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL (Corner of Wacker and Dearborn - sign in at reception desk)

Registration and Fee for the 2009 ASA Conference and SAY Award Fee:
$95 for Chicago ASA Student members
$175 for Chicago ASA Chapter members for Web Analytics Association members
$225 for non-members

Click here to register online.

For more details, click here!

As summer is upon us, the Parameter will be taking a short recess. We will return again in the fall, but feel free to stay tuned into the CCASA website at:
www.chicagoasa.org.

For information on National ASA happenings, visit www.amstat.org.

Join the largest international gathering of statisticians in the world. Each year, the Joint Statistical Meetings offer cutting-edge presenters for four days of Technical Sessions, Roundtable Sessions, Continuing Education Courses, Computer Technology Workshops, and Poster Sessions, as well as the Career Placement Service, Exhibitors, and Marketplace. Attendees can network at several receptions, stay in touch at the Cyber Center, and enjoy business, committee, and social meetings.

Participants are encouraged to register by May 28, 2009 for priority program listing.
Those registering prior to June 29, 2009 will receive their name badges and function tickets by mail in advance of the Meetings.
Be sure to provide an accurate address when you register.

Registration is now open through July 16, 2009.

For more information, click here.

The Economist interviewed Nate on May 2nd, 2009, and we wanted to share it with you, as we've been tracking him quite closely this past year!

Seven questions for Nate Silver

Posted by:

Economist.com | NEW YORK

NATE SILVER has been called a "prodigy", a "wunderkind", and a "genius". Using his unique methodology, he was able to correctly predict every state but Indiana in the 2008 presidential election. He also got every Senate race right. That is why we here at The Economist find ourselves visiting his website, FiveThirtyEight, several times a day. This week Democracy in America talked with Mr Silver about polling, predictions and politics.

DIA: Since you were able to predict so many 2008 races months ahead of time based on immutable factors, how much do political campaigns really matter?
Mr Silver: There are two separate questions here: how much campaigns matter and how much candidates matter. Candidates clearly do matter, in the sense that it's not uncommon to get results in individual races that significantly diverge from the national trends. For instance, right now we have two Republican senators in Maine, which voted for Barack Obama by 18 points, and two Democratic senators in North Dakota, which hasn't voted a Democrat for President since 1964. Likewise, we have a Republican governor in Vermont and a Democratic governor in Kansas. When you see gravity-defying results like those, it usually boils down to a very talented candidate.
But how much do campaigns matter? They clearly matter some. Hillary Clinton, who proved to be a much stronger candidate than I expected but ran a very poor campaign, is probably Exhibit A in this regard. On the other hand, John McCain's campaign basically went bankrupt during the Republican primaries and he managed to win the nomination.

DIA: Was there one campaign from 2008 that stood out as best at beating the mathematical odds? If so, how did they do it?
Mr Silver: The Republican Joseph Cao defeating Democratic incumbent William Jefferson in Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, in which probably something like 70% or 75% of the voters are Democratic. It's clear enough how Mr Co managed to do this-Mr Jefferson was exceptionally corrupt and ran a complacent campaign-but it was nevertheless an impressive win.

Read on to learn more...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/05/seven_questions_for_nate_silve.cfm

The NIC-ASA Summer Workshop will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2009 in Northbrook, IL.
The NIC ASA has invited two speakers: Dr. Sumithra Mandrekar from the Mayo Clinic will talk about predictive biomarkers in clinical trials, and Dr. Li Zhang from the genomics group of CDER/FDA will talk about FDA experiences and perspectives on pharmacogenomics (PGx) with some insights on the future of PGx for the pharmaceutical industry.

For more details, please click here.

Those of you that have been following my occasional blogging may remember that I proudly have a "math geek" 13 year old son. I enthusiastically reported to him that this year's list of top jobs ranked math number one. Of course, being an executive recruiter specializing in the quantitative business sciences, I was equally excited to report this to my readers.

Just when I thought things were headed in the right direction for my son and all of you, more bad news came out of Washington. In a shortsighted attempt to protect US workers from competing for jobs with recent immigrants, financial institutions and other firms that have received taxpayer bailout money are barred from hiring employees on H1-B visas. These visas are required for highly educated, specialized workers in order for them to be legally employed here in the United States.

How would this have a negative impact on my son's career future, you might ask? Wouldn't this improve his chances for a choice job after college and maybe even bid up his salary? Absolutely not. In order for our country to continue on its path as a world leader in innovation and education (although I question this), we need to keep the best and the brightest minds in science and mathematics here, including foreign workers.

To continue reading my blog, click here.

Editor: Linda Burtch (312) 629-2400

PARAMETER, newsletter of the Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association, is published 10 times a year as a service to its members. To submit material for publication, contact the Editor, Linda Burtch, email: lburtch@smithhanley.com

PARAMETER provides a job listing service by publishing Positions Available and Positions Wanted, the latter being free to Chapter members. Companies may list positions for $75. Contact the Editor for more information.

For additional information about Chicago Chapter ASA, please visit us on the web at: www.ChicagoASA.org.

Also, visit the National ASA web site www.amstat.org.

Email change of address to: Gfunk@luc.edu

email: newsletter@chicagoasa.org

web: http://www.chicagoasa.org