Wray Jackson Smith Scholarship

Wray Jackson Smith Scholarship
The Government Statistics Section and the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association (ASA) are pleased to announce the availability of a scholarship in memory of Wray Jackson Smith, a founding member of the Section and long-time contributor to Federal statistics. The Wray Jackson Smith Scholarship (WJSS), co-sponsored with the Washington Statistical Society, the Caucus for Women in Statistics, Harris-Smith Institutes, Mathematica Policy Research, and Synectics for Management Decisions, Inc., is intended to reward promising young statisticians for their diligence, thereby encouraging them to consider a future in government statistics. 

The WJSS Award provides funding of $1,000 for use in exploring any of a broad number of opportunities for furthering the development of a career related to government statistics. Applicants are encouraged to be creative in seeking support for a wide variety of uses, including:

  • Tuition, board, and books for courses or short courses
  • Conference attendance
  • Purchase of books, software, data sets, or other supporting materials for research projects related to government statistics.

Activities may relate to any level of government, including Federal, state, and local governmental units. They must be statistical in nature, focusing on data, methodology, analysis, or data presentation. Recent award winners have used the WJSS to fund attendance at the Joint Statistical Meetings, support continued public policy research, and to take short courses to better understand and analyze data for current research.

History of the Wray Jackson Smith Scholarship

Past Award Recipients:

  • 2002 - Amelia Haviland (Carnegie Mellon University)
  • 2003 - Yun Li (Bowling Green State University)
  • 2004 - Jennifer Park (NCES, Joint Program in Survey Methodology)
  • 2005 - Layla Parast (The University of Texas at Austin)
  • 2006 - Maria Ciarleglio (Yale University)
  • 2007 - Romesh Silva (University of California Berkeley)
  • 2008 - Kirsten Lum (American University)
  • 2009 - Jenna Fulton (Joint Program in Survey Methodology)
  • 2011 - Rebecca Medway (Joint Program in Survey Methodology)
  • 2012 - Julia Shin-Jung Lee (Program in Survey Methodology, University of Michigan)
  • 2012 - John Tipton (Colorado State University)
  • 2013 - Yuning (Jess) Chen (American University)
  • 2014 - Mauricio Sadinle (Carnegie Melon University)
  • 2015 - Jonathan Auerbach (Columbia University)
  • 2016 - Maria Cuellar
  • 2017 - Sarah Tan
  • 2018 - Victoria Kennerley
  • 2020 - Sepideh Mosaferi (Iowa State University)
  • 2021 - Leanna Moron (Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland)
  • 2023 - Kaitlyn Dowden (The Pennsylvania State University) and Robert A. Tumasian III (Columbia University)

Application:

2024 Announcement

Application deadline: May 1, 2024

2024 WJSS Application for a MS Word (docx) version


Award Committee:

  • Nathan Cruze (Chair, 2024)
  • Emily Molfino
  • Sharon Stern


Eligibility:

The WJSS is targeted at students and persons early in their career in government statistics. Applicants must have a Bachelor's degree or equivalent level of education. Membership in the Government Statistics Section, Social Statistics Section, or in the ASA is not required.