Nancy Geller Elected 106th President of the American Statistical Association

Alexandria, VA (PRWEB) June 3, 2009

The American Statistical Association (ASA), the nation's preeminent professional statistical society, today announced the election of Nancy Geller as president-elect of the Association for 2010. She will serve as ASA's 106th president beginning January 1, 2011.

"In its 170 years of continuous operation, ASA has dedicated itself to promoting the profession of statistics and improving the professional lives of its members," Geller said. "It will be my goal to continue this tradition and to enhance ASA's educational outreach to encourage the next generation to enter our profession. With the demand for statisticians growing, we must be active in utilizing new technologies and social networking tools to publicize the need for our expertise and to show young people how exciting our work can be."

Geller was elected as an ASA Fellow in 1993, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the field of statistics. She is a former chair of the ASA Committee on Women in Statistics and of the Elizabeth Scott Award Committee as well as a former president of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics. Geller is currently Director, Office of Biostatistics Research, in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health. A member of the editorial board of Clinical Trials and an Associate Editor of Biometrics, Geller is widely published and has authored or co-authored approximately 200 statistical and medical articles. She spent a year as an American Cancer Society Scholar, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and also previously served as acting head of biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Roderick Little, the chair and a professor in the biostatistics department at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, was selected as vice president. Dr. Little is also a professor in the university's statistics department and a senior research scientist with the university's Institute for Social Research. In addition, he is an ASA Fellow and vice president of Datametrics Research, Inc. Little takes office January 1, 2010.

Jessica Utts, a professor of statistics at the University of California at Irvine, will serve as the Board representative for the Council of Sections. Utts chairs the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). She is an ASA Fellow and past chair of ASA's Section on Statistical Education. Thomas H. Short, a professor of statistics at John Carroll University and an ASA Fellow, will serve as the representative for the Council of Chapters. Utts and Short will begin serving January 1, 2010.

New officers also were selected for the Council of Sections and Council of Chapters Governing Boards and for each of ASA's 24 sections. A complete list of the new ASA Board members, governing board members, and section officers is available at http://amstat.org/news/2009electionresults.cfm

About the American Statistical Association
The American Statistical Association (ASA), a scientific and educational society founded in Boston in 1839, is the second oldest continuously operating professional society in the United States. For 170 years, ASA has been providing its 18,000 members serving in academia, government, and industry and the public with up-to-date, useful information about statistics. The ASA has a proud tradition of service to statisticians, quantitative scientists, and users of statistics across a wealth of academic areas and applications. For additional information about the American Statistical Association, please visit the association's web site at http://www.amstat.org or call 703.684.1221.

For more information:Rosanne Desmone
703.302.1861 (direct)
703.946.3820 (mobile)
Rosanne [at] amstat.org

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