Discussion: View Thread

About three years ago the Dixon family founded the Dixon Award in honor of the late Will Dixon a famous UCLA professor and the founder of BMDP.  Dixon himself did statistical consulting and the award is intended to recognize the accomplishments of a top flight statistical consultant.  I may be off base on this and I welcome comments one way or the other.  It seems to me that the awards committee is dominated by academics and the winners thus far have been academics.  Now I know that there are many good consultants in academia and some may be deserving of the award.  But why aren't the professional industry consultants getting the award.  Shouldn't some of us be on the awards committee?  Aren't professional consultants the best able to judge who are the best consultants?  What about nominating consultants for the award?  Are any of you nominating your colleagues.  If you think that the award process is unfair, what would you do to improve it?  Maybe our eGroup should discuss potential candidates and do some nominating based on a concensus of opinions.  Let me know what you think.

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Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
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Michael,
Thank you for starting this discussion.  The timing couldn't be any better, for reasons I'll explain in a moment.

I think your points are well taken, though I will point out a couple of things.  First, the people who make the appointments to the Awards Committees, your ASA presidents-elect, do an extraordinary job with an especially large, time-consuming task.  In a typical year the president-elect has to make over 150 appointments!  In doing so, she or he take many factors into account, trying to make diverse appointments across many dimensions.  the appointees to this committee have been well qualified individuals.  Second, the recipients of the awards thus far have certainly been deserving of the award.

Nonetheless, points taken, and it would be good for this community of consultants to be sure to nominate outstanding colleagues, not just giving the committee names, but providing well  articulated reasons why the nominee should be selected as the recipient of this award.

It would also be good for someone from this community to be a member of the committee, and as it turns out, we have a vacancy on this committee, as a current member had to resign for personal reasons earlier this week. So. PLEASE, if you have ideas for someone who would make an excellent Dixon Award Committee member, send me an email at ron@amstat.org.  Please do so as soon as possible.  Thank you.

Again, thanks, Michael, for raising these points.
Ron

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Ron Wasserstein
Executive Director
The American Statistical Association
Promoting the Practice and Profession of Statistics
732 N. Washington St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-684-1221 x1860

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Thanks Ron.  I doubt there is anyone in the ASA that knows what is going with ASA committees than the Executive Director.  I wouldn't mind volunteering for the Dixon Award's Committee.  Please let me know how I get in touch with the president elect.  I am surre there are others in this eGroup that may be enven better qualified to serve than I would.  But I do think I can be a good judge of who are deserving consultants.  I am glad that you are encouraging us to take some of the initiative that I was suggesting.

In no way do I think the ASA has any intentional bias and I know that committee work is difficult and that members take their jobs very seriously.  I believe this years recipient was George Milliken and I agree that he is a worthy choice.  But many terrific consultant are unknown to the committee and of course theycan't be elected unless those in the know make a cogent nomination.

As an analogy for many years I felt that me and several of my industrial colleagues were worthy candidates for ASA fellows.  It was in a period when very few industrial statisticians were being elected (probably few were nominated too).  I think things changed when Gerry Hahn became chair of the committee.  That year and thereafter I think the number of elected fellows from industry was chosen in a fair and representative fashion.  I think I was a beneficiary of that change.

If this is a problem with the Dixon Award, rather than complain,let's help fix it.  Do others agree?

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Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2011 19:23
From: Ronald Wasserstein
Subject: Is the Dixon Award really ours?

Michael,
Thank you for starting this discussion.  The timing couldn't be any better, for reasons I'll explain in a moment.

I think your points are well taken, though I will point out a couple of things.  First, the people who make the appointments to the Awards Committees, your ASA presidents-elect, do an extraordinary job with an especially large, time-consuming task.  In a typical year the president-elect has to make over 150 appointments!  In doing so, she or he take many factors into account, trying to make diverse appointments across many dimensions.  the appointees to this committee have been well qualified individuals.  Second, the recipients of the awards thus far have certainly been deserving of the award.

Nonetheless, points taken, and it would be good for this community of consultants to be sure to nominate outstanding colleagues, not just giving the committee names, but providing well  articulated reasons why the nominee should be selected as the recipient of this award.

It would also be good for someone from this community to be a member of the committee, and as it turns out, we have a vacancy on this committee, as a current member had to resign for personal reasons earlier this week. So. PLEASE, if you have ideas for someone who would make an excellent Dixon Award Committee member, send me an email at ron@amstat.org.  Please do so as soon as possible.  Thank you.

Again, thanks, Michael, for raising these points.
Ron

-------------------------------------------
Ron Wasserstein
Executive Director
The American Statistical Association
Promoting the Practice and Profession of Statistics
732 N. Washington St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-684-1221 x1860

-------------------------------------------

It would be helpful to list the past winners.

http://www.amstat.org/careers/wjdixonaward.cfm
www.amstat.org/about/pressreleases/ASA2010Awards.pdf
http://media-newswire.com/printer_friendly_1094797.html


So far, I can find three  (2011, 2010, 2009) . Mike Kutner and Dallas Johnson, and Doug Zahn

 There should  be a list somewhere


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Chris Barker, Ph.D.
President - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association
www,barkerstats.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2011 19:49
From: Michael Chernick
Subject: Is the Dixon Award really ours?

Thanks Ron.  I doubt there is anyone in the ASA that knows what is going with ASA committees than the Executive Director.  I wouldn't mind volunteering for the Dixon Award's Committee.  Please let me know how I get in touch with the president elect.  I am surre there are others in this eGroup that may be enven better qualified to serve than I would.  But I do think I can be a good judge of who are deserving consultants.  I am glad that you are encouraging us to take some of the initiative that I was suggesting.

In no way do I think the ASA has any intentional bias and I know that committee work is difficult and that members take their jobs very seriously.  I believe this years recipient was George Milliken and I agree that he is a worthy choice.  But many terrific consultant are unknown to the committee and of course theycan't be elected unless those in the know make a cogent nomination.

As an analogy for many years I felt that me and several of my industrial colleagues were worthy candidates for ASA fellows.  It was in a period when very few industrial statisticians were being elected (probably few were nominated too).  I think things changed when Gerry Hahn became chair of the committee.  That year and thereafter I think the number of elected fellows from industry was chosen in a fair and representative fashion.  I think I was a beneficiary of that change.

If this is a problem with the Dixon Award, rather than complain,let's help fix it.  Do others agree?

-------------------------------------------
Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
-------------------------------------------

The award is only three years old.  So you have given the complete list.  Sorry, I confuse Milliken and Johnson probably because they teamed to write the three volume books on messy data.  It was Dalla Johnson who won this year.

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Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
-------------------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2011 20:01
From: Christopher Barker
Subject: Is the Dixon Award really ours?


It would be helpful to list the past winners.

http://www.amstat.org/careers/wjdixonaward.cfm
www.amstat.org/about/pressreleases/ASA2010Awards.pdf
http://media-newswire.com/printer_friendly_1094797.html


So far, I can find three  (2011, 2010, 2009) . Mike Kutner and Dallas Johnson, and Doug Zahn

 There should  be a list somewhere


-------------------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
President - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Statistical Association
www,barkerstats.com
-------------------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2011 19:49
From: Michael Chernick
Subject: Is the Dixon Award really ours?

Thanks Ron.  I doubt there is anyone in the ASA that knows what is going with ASA committees than the Executive Director.  I wouldn't mind volunteering for the Dixon Award's Committee.  Please let me know how I get in touch with the president elect.  I am surre there are others in this eGroup that may be enven better qualified to serve than I would.  But I do think I can be a good judge of who are deserving consultants.  I am glad that you are encouraging us to take some of the initiative that I was suggesting.

In no way do I think the ASA has any intentional bias and I know that committee work is difficult and that members take their jobs very seriously.  I believe this years recipient was George Milliken and I agree that he is a worthy choice.  But many terrific consultant are unknown to the committee and of course theycan't be elected unless those in the know make a cogent nomination.

As an analogy for many years I felt that me and several of my industrial colleagues were worthy candidates for ASA fellows.  It was in a period when very few industrial statisticians were being elected (probably few were nominated too).  I think things changed when Gerry Hahn became chair of the committee.  That year and thereafter I think the number of elected fellows from industry was chosen in a fair and representative fashion.  I think I was a beneficiary of that change.

If this is a problem with the Dixon Award, rather than complain,let's help fix it.  Do others agree?

-------------------------------------------
Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
-------------------------------------------

I think the award doesn't go to consultants because consultants primarily interact with their clients and not with other statisticians.  Therefore, other statisicians are normally not in a position to evaluate the accomplishments and technical skills of the consultants.   A popular consultant may be appreciated by his/her clients because of the consultant's people skills rather  than his/her technical skills which the clients are not in a position to evaluate.  Also, consultants often don't find it feasible to actively participate in ASA meetings and conferences, which is another reason why they are nt recognized bythe ASA.  Perhaps consultants who feel they deserve an ASA award should be requested to document their accomplisments and provide a list of publications and client references that can be used by the ASA committee that selects the winners of professional awards.-------------------------------------------
Edith Zang
Independent Consultant
NYCASA
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I think you make good points.  I imagine that the nominators may solicit information from the nominee to present his or her case. I think some consultants may actually attend ASA meetings.  The JSM can be an opportunity to get consulting referrals.  Also it is not a requirement to attend the meeting in order to be nominated or elected.  But if elected I imagine you would like to attend for the award presentation.

Now it is true that that many consultants work in isolation and so are not known or appreciated by other statisticians.  But that is not always the case.  For example I am on the consultant list at statistics.com and so is Jim Rutledge.  Jim contacted me to help him with his workload when he was overloaded and through that relationship I learned how he operated his company.  Some other consultants in this eGroup have also mentioned that they employ other statisticians from time to time for similar reasons.

Still your point is well-taken.  There are many isolated consultants who are only appreciated by their clients and the work is unknown to the statistical community.  But the formation of this section along with the very high activity of this eGroup is changing that.  I think as we get to know each other we will be able to make good nominations and client recommendations and examples of the nominee's contributions will be an important part of the decision process.

My intention was to initiate this thread and then sit back and listen to others thoughts.  I do not want to dominate the discussion. So I will try to sit back now and listen.

-------------------------------------------
Michael Chernick
Director of Biostatistical Services
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
-------------------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2011 20:25
From: Edith Zang
Subject: Is the Dixon Award really ours?


I think the award doesn't go to consultants because consultants primarily interact with their clients and not with other statisticians.  Therefore, other statisicians are normally not in a position to evaluate the accomplishments and technical skills of the consultants.   A popular consultant may be appreciated by his/her clients because of the consultant's people skills rather  than his/her technical skills which the clients are not in a position to evaluate.  Also, consultants often don't find it feasible to actively participate in ASA meetings and conferences, which is another reason why they are nt recognized bythe ASA.  Perhaps consultants who feel they deserve an ASA award should be requested to document their accomplisments and provide a list of publications and client references that can be used by the ASA committee that selects the winners of professional awards.-------------------------------------------
Edith Zang
Independent Consultant
NYCASA
-------------------------------------------