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October in Chicago ... leaves, sports, and statistics!
October is always one of my favorite months in Chicago. Although we didn't have much of a summer this year, the crisp, autumn sun and fall colors are always a welcome change. If you're a sports fan, it can be a month full of promise with the Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls all playing at once. And sometimes we even get to enjoy October baseball! Although my beloved White Sox missed the mark this year, it's exciting to see the Cubs making a run at the playoffs!
This October is extra-special because we'll also be celebrating the second World Statistics Day on October 20th. The first World Statistics Day was proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2010 to recognize the importance of statistics in shaping our societies and was celebrated in more than 130 countries and areas around the world. This year's theme is "Better Data. Better Lives" to highlight how improved data sources, sound statistical methods, and new technologies help create better lives for all of us.
We'll be celebrating the day here at home with our annual Statistician of the Year Award dinner (details below). This year's recipient, Harvard University's own Dr. Xiao-Li Meng, will be giving a very entertaining and thought-provoking talk called "Statistical Paradises and Paradoxes in Big Data". It's going to be a great way to celebrate statistics surrounded by your friends and colleagues.
Check out worldstatisticsday.org or follow #StatsDay15 on Twitter to see the exciting ways you can participate in the celebration, and then plan on joining us for dinner as we recognize Dr. Xiao-Li Meng for his great work!
Joe DeCosmo
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Well, statisticians and analysts have certainly had an interesting month! |
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While politicians have shown that there are many people who just don't understand math and graphs... at least we know that there are political pundits, writers, and comedians who do!
For a political analysis, deeming the presentation "pants on fire" see this website. Also see George Cobb's slightly more statistical take on Stats.org.
On the ASA Connect website, one statistician suggested it may be a good exercise for your introductory statistics classes to point out all that is wrong with the graph!
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Join us on World Statistics Day - October 20,
as the Chapter presents
Dr. Xiao-Li Meng
the Statistician of the Year 2015
The event starts with registration and reception at 6:00PM, Dinner at 7:00PM, with award presentation and talk to follow. Xiao-Li will be presenting "Statistical Paradises and Paradoxes in Big Data"
Abstract: Statisticians are increasingly posed with thought-provoking and often paradoxical questions, challenging our qualifications for entering the statistical paradises created by Big Data. Questions addressed in this article include (1) Which one should I trust: a 1% survey with 60% response rate or a self-reported administrative dataset covering 80% of the population? (2) With all these big data, is sampling or randomization still relevant? (3) Personalized treatments -- that sounds heavenly, but where on earth did they find the right guinea pig for me? The proper responses are respectively (1) ``It depends!", because we need data-quality indexes, not merely quantitative sizes, to determine; (2) ``Absolutely!", and indeed Big Data has inspired methods such as counterbalancing sampling to combat inherent selection bias in big data; and (3) ``They didn't!", but the question has led to a multi-resolution framework for studying statistical evidence for predicting individual outcomes. All proposals highlight the need, as we get deeper into this era of Big Data, to reaffirm some time-honored statistical themes (e.g., bias-variance trade-off), and to remodel some others (e.g., approximating individuals from proxy populations verses inferring populations from samples).
Space is limited. Register NOW!!
November Luncheon
Join us for our November Luncheon, Exploring Anomalous behavior in Wireless Networks with Self Organized Maps. Veena Mendiratta will present this talk Tuesday, November 17th at Noon at the EBC.
Abstract: Communications traffic on wireless networks generates large amounts of metadata on a continuous basis across the various servers involved in the communication session. The networks are engineered for high reliability and hence, the data from these networks is predominantly normal with a small proportion being anomalous. However, it is important to detect these anomalies when they occur to correct vulnerabilities in the network. In this presentation I will explore the use of neural network based Kohonen Self Organizing Maps (SOM) applied to Per Call Measurement Data (PCMD) records from a 4G network for data analysis and anomaly detection. Click here to register.
Upcoming events you may be interested in:
October 25-26
ICSA Midwest Chapter Meeting: Catalyzing Collaboration to Solve Real Problems.
Click here for more information.
November 10
Chicago AMA Momentum 2015: Get Smart: A Data Driven Approach to Modern Marketing.
Click here for more information.
November 20
ASA-Northeastern Illinois Chapter host their first Statistics Career Day. Registration starts at 12:30, presentations until 5:30.
Baldwin Auditorium, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. 300 E. Superior Street, Chicago.
Cost is free! RSVP required.
For more information contact jungwha-lee@northwestern.edu
Are you interested in sharing tips on mentoring statisticians?
The American Statistician is developing a special issue on mentoring. Consider submitting a manuscript!
Deadline is December 4, 2015.
Click here for more information.
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We are so excited to start this new year! If you are interested in volunteering, or are interested in serving on the board in future years, please contact us!
Also, if you have news or events that you would like to share, feel free to e-mail us!
Our contact email: Chicagochapterasa@gmail.com
If you are interested in speaking at a luncheon, contact us here.
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