Luncheon Announcement
Noon to 1:30PM
TUESDAY, February 23, 2009
The East Bank Club,
500 N. Kingsbury, Chicago 60610

Please join us for another exciting talk in the CCASA's 2009-2010 Luncheon program!

Our February speaker is Dr. Kwang-Youn A. Kim, Ph.D., who will be speaking about Variations in the Genome and the interesting statistical questions in their detection.

Dr. Kim's research interests involve statistical problems that arise in genetics and genomics research. He is particularly interested in developing statistical methods and computational tools to identify genes involved in Mendelian and complex genetic disorders. His work emphasizes the importance of characterizing gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in successfully identifying disease genes. Dr. Kim's research can be applied to various types of experiments, including genomic studies with high- throughput microarray data. His recent work has contributed in understanding the regulation of gene expression in the mammalian eye.

Dr. Kim earned his BS in Cell Biology and Genetics from the University of British Columbia in 2000, MS in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 2002, and PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Iowa in 2006. Following his post-doctoral fellowship from 2006 to 2007 at the University of Iowa, he joined the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University as an assistant professor. He is also a biostatistician in the Biostatistics Collaboration Center and collaborates with various faculty members in biomedical research.

**biography source: Northwestern University

Plans for our future luncheons will be included in our upcoming announcements and in the Parameter.

Lunch is $30 for CCASA members, $35 for non-members. Non-members, join the chapter for a year for only $15 and get the discount plus all of the other benefits of membership! As usual, the LucileDerrick Fund will purchase a limited number of tickets for students who wish to attend. If you are a student and would like to take advantage of this offer, please register online below, and contact Gerald Funk, expressing your interest. Please register for the luncheon by Friday, February 19th, 2010.

Register online now!

Mark Your Calendars! The March luncheon will be held on March 23rd, and the speaker will be Juned Siddique. Junedwill present a talk on Statisticians' "Popular but Unprincipled" Methods. Plan to join your CCASA friends in March!

Questions: Contact Borko Jovanovic, CCASA VP Luncheons, Phone: 312-503-2008 or E-mail: borko@northwestern.edu

CCASA is proud to sponsor this exciting spring workshop on support vector machines (SVMs)!

When: Friday, March 26, 2010
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Where: Gleacher Center
450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Chicago, IL 60611-4316
312-464-8787

Featuring speaker Vladimir Cherkassky
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

There is a growing interest in estimating predictive models from empirical data. The subject of data-driven modeling has been addressed in various disciplines such as statistics, pattern recognition, signal processing, genomics, artificial neural networks, machine learning, and data mining. Since late 1990s, many researchers and practitioners alike are actively applying the so-called Support Vector Machine (SVM) methods developed under the framework of Vapnik-Chervonenkis (VC) learning theory. This workshop pursues several methodological, practical and research goals, aimed to provide in-depth understanding of SVM methodology and the underlying VC-theoretical concepts..

For more information and to register, go to http://www.chicagoasa.org/Workshops/e032610. htm

CCASA board member and Parameter editor Linda Burtch sheds some light on the job market forecast.

John Kenneth Galbraith once said: "The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable." It seems the media agrees, as they are having a hard time these days deciding whether the economy is recovering, stagnant or still on a downward slide. New numbers released almost daily can seem contradictory and confusing, so let me try to shed some light on the trends I'm seeing in the quantitative job markets.

While our industry was not hit with the same force and immediacy that struck many other fields during this recession, like the economy as a whole, we have experienced long months of layoffs and hiring freezes. The tail end of this recession seems to be following the same pattern of the 1991 downturn - a V-shaped model with a prolonged period of layoffs and hiring freezes, followed by a robust hiring recovery. This is in contrast to the 2001 recession, where hiring was slow to recover and increased only gradually over several months.

We first began to see an increase in the hiring of analytical professionals this past September, just a trickle at the time, but definitely trending upward throughout November and December - typically slow hiring periods. I'm happy to report that since the first of the year, we have been seeing widespread hiring increases throughout the country.

For the rest of the forecast, visit Linda's blog at http://lindaburtc h.blogspot.com.

We want to celebrate the life of Carl Hansen, a former CCASA board member and longtime Cook County commissioner, as he passed away this month.

written by Kimberly Pohl, Daily Herald reporter

Anyone taking the time to examine thousands of Cook County Board roll call votes spanning more than three decades may notice a political lone wolf.

Carl R. Hansen, who served as the 15th District commissioner from 1974 to 2006, never hesitated to cast the only "no" vote in a sea of 16 other "yeses." Nor did the strong suburban voice always blindly side with Republican ideology.

But Hansen wasn't an obstructionist who stood in the way of progress, longtime friend and colleague Cheryl Axley said.

"By being a squeaky wheel on occasion, Carl shed important light on some problems," said Axley, a former state senator. "From reading everything to following all the committee reports, he was the kind of watchdog that's sorely needed today."

Hansen, of Mount Prospect, died late Tuesday at a Skokie hospice facility. He was 83 years old.

For the rest of the Daily Herald article, click here.

The Northeastern Illinois Chapter of the American Statistical Association (NIC-ASA) will hold its Spring Meeting on Thursday, March 11 in Northbrook, Illinois. The chapter is excited to offer presentations from the following speakers:

• Senior Associate Dean, Professor Ajit C. Tamhane, Northwestern University
• Professor Mirjam Moerbeek and Ph.D. Candidate Katarzyna (Kasia) Jozwiak, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
• Dr. Chihche Lin, Astella Pharma

You can RSVP for the Spring Meeting here. Advance reservations are required. Please sign up on or before March 4th.

The officers of the NIC-ASA sincerely hope you can join them!

**PLEASE NOTE EDITOR'S NEW CONTACT INFORMATION**

Editor: Linda Burtch (847) 440-8560

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@burtchworks.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: smileyr@georgetown.edu

©CCASA 2009

email: newsletter@chicagoasa.org

web: http://www.chicagoasa.org