News

Statistics and Data Science in Imaging (SDSI) is an open access, international journal publishing original research and reviews on Statistical Analysis of Imaging Data. SDSI is launching a special issue on "SMI Conference Series Highlights".

The SMI conference series represents the annual conference of the Section on Statistics in Imaging (SI) of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the largest professional association for American statisticians. The annual conference aims to promote education and research for the scientific analysis of all kinds of imaging data.  The event brings together investigators from students to established researchers who are working on statistical, mathematical, and machine learning methods and applications in a diverse array of imaging science, including, but not limited to, biomedical imaging, digital pathology, single cell and spatial transcriptomics, satellite imaging, forensic imaging, astronomy, remote sensing, and materials science.

The SDSI Special Issue on SMI Conference Series Highlights will feature research contributions from the SMI annual conferences. All conference contributions, including keynote and invited talks, student paper presentations and posters, are eligible for submission to this special issue of SDSI. Manuscripts will be peer-reviewed as with all regular submissions to the journal and need to meet the same requirements and standards as that of regular submissions. In addition to the types of articles published by the Journal, as described below, short-papers on high-quality research can also be submitted for consideration in this Special Issue.

Manuscript Submission Window: Open

Conference Deadlines: At the time of submission of contribution to the conference, please check the appropriate box if interested in submitting a manuscript for consideration in the Special Issue of SDSI. All keynote/invited/student-paper/poster contributions are eligible. 

Contact: Please reach out to Dr. Marina Vannucci if you have questions about this special issue.

The Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA cordially invites submissions for the student paper competition for research on statistical methods, theory, or software development for the analysis of imaging data. The selected winners will present their papers in a topic-contributed session at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee on Aug 2, 2025 – Aug 7, 2025. The first-place winner and runners-up will also receive a cash prize of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the student must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be a degree candidate at an accredited institution in any term during 2024.
• Be a current member of the Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA and be able to present the paper at JSM 2025.
• Be the first author of the paper. The paper must not be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission.

Application materials

The deadline for your application is November 15, 2024. Formal applications should be sent to the Statistics in Imaging Program Chair-Elect, Mark Fiecas, at mfiecas@umn.edu with the following four attachments in PDF format:

1. The applicant’s Curriculum Vitae;
2. An unblinded version of the manuscript with no more than 25 pages, inclusive of the abstract, figures, tables, references, and any supplementary materials;
3. A blinded version of the manuscript;
4. A letter from a faculty member familiar with the student’s work. The faculty letter must include a verification of the applicant’s student status, confirm that the student is the first author, and describe the contribution of the applicant to the paper.

Selection Process

The award committee will review the papers, and winners will be notified by December 15, 2024. Papers are scored for 1) statistical novelty, 2) innovation and significance of contribution to the field of application, and 3) professional quality. Students may submit papers to no more than two ASA sections and may accept only one section’s award. Students must inform both sections they applied to immediately when she or he wins and accepts an award, thereby removing the student from the award competition for the other section.

Please send questions regarding the Statistics in Imaging Section student paper competition to Mark Fiecas (mfiecas@umn.edu).

The Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA cordially invites submissions for a student paper competition for research on statistical methods, theory, or software development for the analysis of imaging data. The selected winners will present their papers in a topic-contributed session at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Portland, Oregon, Aug 3, 2024 - Aug 8, 2024. The first-place winner and runners-up will also receive a cash prize of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the student must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be a degree candidate at an accredited institution in any term during 2023.
• Be a current member of the Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA and be able to present the paper at JSM 2024.
• Be the first author of the paper. The paper must not be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission.

Application materials

The deadline for application is December 15, 2023. Formal applications should be sent to the Statistics in Imaging Section 2024 Program Chair-Elect, Dehan Kong, at dehan.kong@utoronto.ca with the following four attachments in PDF format:

• The applicant's Curriculum Vitae;
• An unblinded version of the manuscript with no more than 25 pages, including the abstract, figures, tables, references, and any supplementary materials;
• A blinded version of the manuscript;
• A letter from a faculty member familiar with the student's work. The faculty letter must include a verification of the applicant's student status, confirm that the student is the first author, and describe the contribution of the applicant to the paper.

Selection Process

The award committee will review the papers, and winners will be notified by January 15, 2024. Papers are scored for 1) statistical novelty, 2) innovation and significance of contribution to the field of application, and 3) professional quality. Students may submit papers to no more than two ASA sections and may accept only one section's award. Students must inform both sections they applied to immediately when she or he wins and accepts an award, thereby removing the student from the award competition for the other section.

Please send questions regarding the Statistics in Imaging Section student paper competition to Dehan Kong (dehan.kong@utoronto.ca).

First Place Award

Jingxuan Bao, University of Pennsylvania

"Heritability-aware brain atlas improves the power of brain imaging-genetic studies"

Advisor: Qi Long and Li Shen

Runner-up Awards (in alphabetical order)

Mengyu Li, Renmin University of China

"Importance Sparsification for Sinkhorn Algorithm with Application in Efficient Echocardiogram Analysis"

Advisor: Cheng Meng

Guoxuan Ma, University of Michigan

"Bayesian Image-on-Image Regression via Deep Kernel Learning based Gaussian Processes"

Advisor: Jian Kang

Paolo Victor Redondo, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

"Measuring Information Transfer Between Nodes in a Brain Network through Spectral Transfer Entropy"

Advisor: Raphael Huser and Hernando Ombao

Xin Tan, Rice University

"Bayesian structural determination by cryo-electron microscopy"

Advisor: Meng Li

The Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA cordially invites submissions for the student paper competition for research on statistical methods, theory, or software development for the analysis of imaging data. The selected winners will present their papers in a topic-contributed session at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Boston, Massachusetts on Aug 1, 2025 – Aug 6, 2026. The first-place winner and runners-up will also receive a cash prize of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the student must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be a degree candidate at an accredited institution in any term during 2025.
• Be a current member of the Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA and be able to present the paper at JSM 2026.
• Be the first author of the paper. The paper must not be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission.

Application materials

The deadline for your application is November 15, 2025. Formal applications should be sent to the Statistics in Imaging Program Chair-Elect, Suprateek Kundu, at skundu2@mdanderson.org with the following four attachments in PDF format:

1. The applicant’s Curriculum Vitae;
2. An unblinded version of the manuscript with no more than 25 pages (in Biometrics style), inclusive of the abstract, figures, tables, references, and any supplementary materials;
3. A blinded version of the manuscript;
4. A letter from a faculty member familiar with the student’s work. The faculty letter must include a verification of the applicant’s student status, confirm that the student is the first author, and describe the contribution of the applicant to the paper.

Selection Process

The award committee will review the papers, and winners will be notified by middle of January, 2026. Papers are scored for 1) statistical novelty, 2) innovation and significance of contribution to the field of application, and 3) professional quality. Students may submit papers to no more than two ASA sections and may accept only one section’s award. Students must inform both sections they applied to immediately when she or he wins and accepts an award, thereby removing the student from the award competition for the other section.

Please send questions regarding the Statistics in Imaging Section student paper competition to Suprateek Kundu (skundu2@mdanderson.org).

The Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA cordially invites submissions for a student paper competition for research on statistical methods, theory, or software development for the analysis of imaging data. The selected winners will present their papers in a topic-contributed session at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Aug 5, 2023 – Aug 10, 2023. The first-place winner and runners-up will also receive a cash prize of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Eligibility

To be eligible, the student must satisfy the following criteria:

• Be a degree candidate at an accredited institution in any term during 2022.
• Be a current member of the Statistics in Imaging Section of the ASA and be able to present the paper at JSM 2023.
• Be the first author of the paper. The paper must not be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission.

Application materials:

The deadline for application is December 15, 2022. Formal applications should be sent to the Statistics in Imaging Section 2023 Program Chair-Elect, Kristin Linn, at klinn@upenn.edu with the following four attachments in PDF format:

• The applicant's Curriculum Vitae;
• An unblinded version of the manuscript with no more than 25 pages, including the abstract, figures, tables, references, and any supplementary materials;
• A blinded version of the manuscript;
• A letter from a faculty member familiar with the student's work. The faculty letter must include a verification of the applicant's student status, confirm that the student is first author, and describe the contribution of the applicant to the paper.

Selection Process

The award committee will review the papers, and winners will be notified by January 15, 2023. Papers are scored for 1) statistical novelty, 2) innovation and significance of contribution to the field of application, and 3) professional quality. Students may submit papers to no more than two ASA sections and may accept only one section's award. Students must inform both sections they applied to immediately when she or he wins and accepts an award, thereby removing the student from the award competition for the other section.

Please send questions regarding the Statistics in Imaging Section student paper competition to Kristin Linn (klinn@upenn.edu).