ASA SLDM call for papers (JSM 2016)

Call for papers

Student Paper Competition-JSM 2016
(July 30th-Aug 4th, 2016, Chicago, IL)
ASA Section on Statistical Learning and Data Mining
Jointly sponsored by SLDM and PANDORA

Key dates:
• Abstracts due December 15th, 2015
• Full papers due January 4th, 2016

The Section on Statistical Learning and Data Mining (SLDM) of the American Statistical Association (ASA) is sponsoring a student paper competition for the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings in Chicago, IL, on July 30th-August 4th, 2016.

The paper might be an original methodological research or a real-world application (from various fields including but not limited to marketing, pharmaceutical, genomics, bioinformatics, imaging, defense, business, public health) that uses principles and methods in statistical learning and data mining.

Papers that have been accepted for publication are NOT eligible for the competition. Selected winners will present their papers in a designated session at the 2016 JSM in Chicago, IL organized by the award committee. In this session, they will be presented a monetary prize and an award certificate. Winning papers will be recommended for submission to Statistical Analysis and Data Mining: The ASA Data Science Journal, which is the flagship journal of the SLDM Section.

Graduate or undergraduate students who are enrolled in Fall 2015 or Winter/Spring 2016 are eligible to participate. The applicant MUST be the first author of the paper.

Abstracts (up to 1000 characters) are due 12:00 PM (noon) EST on December 15th, 2015 and shall be submitted via this Abstract submission form (http://goo.gl/forms/HHMZ1051Lt). ONLY students who submit their abstracts on time are eligible for submitting full papers after 12/15/2015.

Full papers and other application materials must be submitted electronically (in PDF, see instruction below) to Professor Tian Zheng (tian.zheng@columbia.edu) by 12:00 PM (noon) EST on Monday, January 4th, 2016. ONLY students who submit their abstracts by 12/15/2015 are eligible for submitting full papers.

All full paper email entries must include the following:

1. An email message contains:
• List of authors and contact information;
• Abstract with no more than 1000 characters.
2. Unblinded manuscript - double-spaced with no more than 25 pages including figures, tables, references and appendix. Please use 11pt fonts (preferably Arial or Helvetical) and 1 inch margins all around.
3. Blinded versions of the abstract and manuscript (with no authors nor references that could easily lead to author identification).
4. A reference letter from a faculty member familiar with the student's work which MUST include a verification of the applicant's student status and, in the case of joint authorship, should indicate the fraction of the applicant's contribution to the manuscript.

All materials must be in English.

Entries will be reviewed by the Student Paper Competition Award committee. The selection criteria used by the committee will include statistical novelty, innovation and significance of the contribution to the field of application as well as the professional quality of the manuscript.

This year’s student competition is sponsored jointly by SLDM and PANDORA and is chaired by Professor Tian Zheng (Columbia University). Award announcements will be made in mid-January 2016. For inquiries, please contact Professor Tian Zheng (tian.zheng@columbia.edu).