The 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings, which convene in Portland, Oregon, from August 3 through August 8, are expected to bring together more than five thousand attendees from fifty-two countries, with the theme of "Statistics and data science: Informing policy and countering misinformation." We are proud of the department members, trainees, and alumni who will be sharing their work and ideas with colleagues from around the world, as well as participating in assorted research and professional service activities. This year's program includes the following:
Sunday, August 4
DEPICT: A framework for ethical reasoning for statistics and data science - half-day course taught by associate professor Mario Davidson. 8:30 am – noon.
Modern statistical methods for image analysis - contributed papers session chaired by associate professor Simon Vandekar. 2:00–3:50 pm.
The talks in this session include Semiparametric confidence sets for arbitrary effect sizes in longitudinal neuroimaging, with PhD student Xinyu Zhang as first and presenting author. Co-authors include recent graduate Kenneth Liao (MS 2024), with Vandekar plus colleagues at VUMC and the University of Colorado.
Life before and after COVID-19: Changes in relationships, technology use, and well-being - presentation during the contributed speed session SPEED 1: Data challenge 1, statistical applications & statistics in policy, part 1. 2:00–3:50 pm.
- Presenting author: biostatistician and alumna Caroline Birdrow (MS 2021)
- First author: PhD candidate Jiangmei Xiong
- Co-author: PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde
This speed session also features a paper co-authored by PhD student Yunbi Nam as a MS student at University of Washington.
Advances in functional and spatial data analysis and their applications in biomedical sciences, a contributed papers session, includes a paper co-authored by Vandekar.
Statistical innovations in electronic health records data analysis, a topic-contributed paper session, includes a talk by associate professor Dandan Liu. 4:00–5:00 pm.
Invited E-Poster Session I (8:30–9:25 pm) includes these presentations by alumni:
- Choosing an indifference zone for second-generation p-values to maximize the statistical properties - Megan Murray (PhD 2022)
- Combining straight-line and map-based distances to quantify neighborhood-level food access and its impact on health - Sarah Lotspeich (PhD 2021)
Monday, August 5
Recent advances in design and analysis of two-phase studies - invited paper session. 8:30–10:20 am.
- A two-phase study of longitudinal ordinal outcome data in critically ill patients with sepsis - a talk by professor Jonathan Schildcrout. 8:35–9:00 am.
- Efficient designs and analysis of two-phase studies with longitudinal binary data - a talk by associate professor Ran Tao. 9:25–9:50 am.
Recent advances in the analysis of fMRI data - contributed papers session chaired by assistant professor Panpan Zhang. 8:30–10:20 am.
The Contributed poster presentations: ENAR session includes Artificial intelligence for improved patient outcomes. 10:30–11:15 am.
- First and presenting author: lead biostatistician Henry Domenico
- Co-authors: senior biostatistician and alumnus Ryan Moore (MS 2020) and former senior associate Daniel Byrne
The Contributed poster presentations: Biometrics Section session includes Increasing statistical efficiency using ordinal transition models: A simulation study. 2:00–3:50 pm.
- First and presenting author: PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde
- Co-authors: professors Benjamin French and Frank Harrell
New considerations for the four pillars of survival analysis: Estimands, design, estimation, and inference, a contributed papers session, includes a talk co-authored by professor Qingxia Chen.
The invited panel for Synthetic data in preserving privacy: Connections across federal statistics and health data includes Accenture Professor Bradley Malin. 2:00–3:50 pm.
The Student Paper Award and John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award topic-contributed paper session is chaired by Sarah Lotspeich. 2:00–3:50 pm.
Simon Vandekar is coordinating a get-together for department members, trainees, and alumni at JSM. It will take place at 6 pm. Contact him for details.
Tuesday, August 6
The Contributed poster presentations: Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics session includes Facilitating valid statistical inference in biomedical image synthesis. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm.
- First and presenting author: PhD candidate Jiangmei Xiong
- Co-authors: associate professor Simon Vandekar, assistant professor Siyuan Ma, and colleagues at VUMC, Regeneron, and GSK
Opportunities and challenges in data sciences with diverse imaging technology, an invited paper session, includes Effect sizes and replicability in longitudinal studies of brain-phenotype associations. 11:35–11:55 am.
- Speaker: Simon Vandekar
- Co-authors include PhD candidates Kaidi Kang and Jiangmei Xiong, PhD student Megan Jones, professor Jonathan Schildcrout, and associate professor Ran Tao, with colleagues at Vanderbilt, Cambridge, Penn, and Minnesota.
The analytical staff plans to gather for happy hour at Deschutes Brewery Portland (210 NW 11th Avenue) at 5:30 pm. According to organizer Andrew Guide, "It's about a 15-minute train ride from the convention center and pretty close to some of the downtown hotels. Feel free to bring significant others or anyone else you may be traveling with."
During the ASA President's Address and Awards, professor Fei Ye will be inducted as an ASA Fellow. 8:00–9:00 pm.
Wednesday, August 7
SPEED 8: Survival outcomes, network analyses, and 'omics applications, part 1 includes these presentations by our students:
- Accounting for unobserved confounding to reduce false discoveries in microbiome research. 8:45–8:50 am.
- First and presenting author: PhD student Chih-Ting Yang
Co-authors: principal application developer Zhouwen Liu, senior associate Tebeb Gebretsadik, professor Yu Shyr, and assistant professor Siyuan Ma, plus colleagues at VUMC and the University of Chicago
- PheMIME & Phe-OmicsMIME: Interactive visualizations for phenome, multi-omics multimorbidity analysis. 10:05–10:10 am.
- First and presenting author: PhD candidate Siwei Zhang
Co-authors: alumnus Nick Strayer (PhD 2020) and assistant professor Yaomin Xu, plus colleagues in VUMC's Division of Genetic Medicine and Department of Pharmacology
Role play for training effective statistical leadership, communication, and collaboration - Mario Davidson, invited panelist. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
Future of statistics and data science in the era of ChatGPT and LLMs - Siyuan Ma, chair/moderator of invited panel. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
Thursday, August 8
Crafting relevant research: Informative and translational statistics for public policy - invited panel organized by PhD candidate Tianyi Sun. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
The Techniques and case studies to address missing data complications in scientific studies contributed papers session includes Predicting risk for a new patient with missing risk factor: A submodel approach for binary outcome. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
- First and presenting author: Tianyi Sun
- Co-authors include associate professor Dandan Liu, plus colleagues at VUMC
The Advances in modern logitudinal data analysis and applications contributed papers session includes a talk co-authored by Sarah Lotspeich.
Also...
- Fei Ye represents the Section of Statistics in Epidemiology on the JSM Program Committee.
Congratulations and best wishes to everyone participating in the conference - we look forward to hearing about your experience, and to welcoming JSM attendees to Nashville in 2025!