Stephanie Shipp is a senior research staff member at the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Before joining STPI, she was a member of the U.S. Federal Senior Executive Service and director of the Economic Assessment Office in the Advanced Technology Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The Joint Statistical Meetings are held every August, and, for ASA members, it is a time to connect with colleagues, meet new people, present a paper or poster, and have some fun. The common theme of those who have attended JSM once or dozens of times is that the ASA is a large community that works hard and plays even harder. As a community, JSM brings its members together in ways that allows opportunities for learning from and enjoying each other’s company.
My introduction to JSM was in 1986 in Chicago, where Eva Jacobs introduced me to the Caucus for Women in Statistics. As a government economist who worked on federal surveys, JSM was a wonderful opportunity to meet others in government, academia, and industry and to hear their stories and research interests.
JSM is set up for you to meet and talk to interesting people, to present your research in a supportive environment, and, importantly, to have fun. The sessions are designed so you only have to attend the parts of a session you are interested in hearing. There are many events that allow you to participate actively. The ASA’s 26 sections hold business meetings in late afternoon or early evening, and part of their meetings is social. JSM also hosts social events, including plenary talks, the Sunday night Opening Mixer, and the Tuesday evening Dance Party and Lounge after the president’s speech.
Other groups provide opportunities for meeting statisticians, as well. For example, the Caucus for Women in Statistics holds an informal reception on Sunday evening, followed by groups going out to dinner, a formal reception on Monday evening, a business meeting and social on Tuesday evening, and breakfast roundtables throughout the week.
Below are memories of a handful of JSM attendees, some who have attended once and some for more than 30 years. First, their overall memories are presented, followed by advice for attending your first JSM, giving your first talk, meeting famous statisticians, and why going back to JSM each year is rewarding.
Memories of Attending Your First JSM
Laura Freeman of the Institute for Defense Analyses, attended her first JSM in Denver, Colorado, in 2008. “It was an eye-opening experience. The first thing you will notice attending JSM is just how big the conference is, thousands of statisticians spanning a diverse range of research topics and applications. The diversity of backgrounds is one of the most worthwhile reasons for attending JSM. If you are a student looking for a research area, JSM can give you ideas of what current topics of research are. If you are starting to look for a job, there are a plethora of companies to interview with and presentations on all types of applied statistics. Attending these events allowed me to meet people with similar research interests, and I am still in close contact with many of statisticians I met during that first JSM in 2008. Additionally, these colleagues are now some of my strongest allies now in my career.”
Gina Walejko of the U.S. Census Bureau attended her first JSM in Miami Beach in 2011. “I enjoyed the diversity of speakers and realized I had found a new community of government and survey statisticians.”
Jana Asher, a statistical consultant, attended her first JSM in 1999 in Baltimore. “I remember being awed by how large the space was and how much there was to do. Although I enjoyed the sessions, what made it most memorable was participating in the evening activities.”
Alyson Wilson of IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute attended her first JSM in 1991 in Atlanta. “I remember how exhausting the meeting was—I was convinced that I had to attend talks during every single session! I also have a memory (perhaps apocryphal) of my husband attending the “Wives Tea,” which was intended for the nonstatistician spouses attending the meetings.
Rob Santos of the Urban Institute attended his first JSM in 1979 in Washington, DC, when he was a graduate student at the University of Michigan. “I was basically the classic ‘hippie grad student’ (e.g., long-haired young male wearing an earring before they became popular), attending my first professional meetings ever, and it was quite the experience.”
Meeting Famous Statisticians
Shane Reese of Brigham Young University attended his first JSM in 1995 in Orlando, Florida. He went with two of his colleagues. “We decided that one of our goals for our first JSM was to meet as many ‘famous’ statisticians as possible (which, as master’s students, mostly consisted of people who had written the textbooks in our courses). As we went to the Opening Mixer at an amazing outdoor venue, I was pleased to meet George Box, who, to this day, is one of the most gracious guys I’ve ever met. On Tuesday evening, a few of us gathered at the Disney Jungle Club (as close to a bar/club as you get at the Disney resorts) and I had the privilege of meeting another textbook hero, Trevor Hastie. That evening, we headed to the JSM student mixer, where I won a raffle for a free book and chose a copy of Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Data, which I still refer to on a regular basis. After the mixer, we couldn’t help but experience the spectacle that is the JSM Dance Party! While we anticipated only laughs, we found people dancing and having a great time and another textbook maestro in Dick De Veaux, as he showed his moves on the dance floor. As I waited for a shuttle in front of the hotel, I had the good fortune of meeting Erich Lehmann, another legend in my small world of statistics.
Rob Santos: “I shared a room with a young faculty member from UCLA (Leo Estrada), who went out of his way to mentor me into the JSM. I had met him through a research project we worked on together at the UM Institute for Social Research. He showed me how to navigate the program, introduced me to famous ‘established’ statisticians in government, academia, and industry. He also discussed and showed me the importance of just walking up to folks and starting a conversation; we were fellow statisticians and ‘all in this together.’ And he made sure I attended the evening section meetings and some (open) committee meetings and mixers.”
Advice About Attending the Meeting
Jana Asher: “My advice to someone attending for the first time is to pace yourself during the day (you don’t have to go to every session) and participate in the activities at night—that is when you really get to meet people and have fun!”
Shane Reese: “While the sessions were all well above my head, I felt like I learned something from every talk. As Sunday moved into Monday and Tuesday, I actually started understanding more of the talks (or at least I convinced myself that I did)!”
Giving Your First Talk (Not Necessarily at Your First JSM)
Alyson Wilson: “I gave my first JSM talk in Boston (1992). This was one of my very first professional talks, and I remember that the room seemed huge. I was hoping that my transparencies would be visible and that the microphone would work.
Gina Walejko: “My talk went well and was attended by the then director of the Census Bureau and my PhD advisor, which felt good.”
Having Fun
Jana Asher: “I met Arlene Ash at a Caucus for Women in Statistics event and ended up going out to dinner with her and several other young female statisticians. Arlene sprang for the wine (we were all of age). By the end of that JSM, I was the new membership chair for the Caucus for Women in Statistics and had become involved with the Government Statistics Section!”
Gina Walejko: “I crashed the University of Wisconsin-Madison (my undergraduate alma mater) happy hour with a co-worker who also attended the conference, and we had a great time drinking beer, eating cheese, and talking to people about their research.”
Attending JSM Gets Better Each Year
Shane Reese: “As the conference came to a close, I realized I’d had a great time. It wasn’t nearly as dull and boring as I’d figured it would be in my mind. … As I boarded the flight, I couldn’t help but think of what an awesome time I’d had. I’d learned a ton and had met some of the real pioneers in the field. Most of my JSM experiences since then have been similarly awesome.”
Laura Freeman: “Since attending my first JSM in 2008, I have been back every year. Each year, I find a new and worthwhile activity, presentation, or event to attend. At your first JSM, be sure to take advantage of all the conference has to offer and you will also be a repeat attendee.”
Rob Santos: “Interestingly, my cultural choices (i.e., flower child attire and attitude) didn’t always mesh with the relatively conservative elder statistician-statesmen. But that was okay. All were cordial, and many, if not all, ended up being valued colleagues as years went by. I learned that the common language and passion for statistics overcame cultural boundaries. Over the years, I have followed in my mentor’s footsteps by orienting first-time JSM attendees and younger statisticians, even to the point of demonstrating how easy it is to just walk up to a fellow statistician at JSM and ‘just start talking.’ JSM provides a great community for learning and for camaraderie!”
Zangin Zeebari, senior statistician from Dept. of Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institute-Sweden and Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES), Stockholm County’s Health Care District (SLSO), attended JSM 2009 in D.C. for the first time. The night he arrived at the hotel completely exhausted after a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean, was his first visit to the U.S. The beauty of the city at night and then being bursting with impatience to be at JSM made him completely forget all the weariness of long traveling. At the time as a Ph.D. student, for him it was a fully-satisfied experience beyond his expectations, where he found himself among many (thousands) other statisticians from a large diversity of backgrounds, kind of a drop in the ocean. All was nice; the weather, atmosphere, the people, public transportation and the city as a whole. The opening event was a nice feeling, too. Your seat is wherever empty, no matter around which table. There, all are equal; statisticians. Running many parallel interesting sessions simultaneously made it difficult for him to decide which ones to attend. It was his first presentation in front of about 30-35 statisticians. It was fun to walk by the posters and listen to presenters talking about their ideas displayed in their posters. Statistical exhibitions and advertisements were wonderful, too. About 2-3 free dinners offered for students, social mingling events and the “statistical dancing” were all fun, where he met many other statisticians and students. Those social events at the evenings are very helpful for a new JSM attendee to discover JSM more and better. An interesting mingling evening was when he and Hamdan Azhar, a master student from University of Michigan, met a group of 5 other students from the Dept. of Statistics at Virginia Tech, including Laura Freeman a Ph.D. student at the time. Back to home long after JSM, with both he maintained communications. The night walk at the town and having dinner together was all unforgettable. Hamdan helped him to discover the JSM in a better way, and Laura as a local told him about the amazing sights in the city, especially the museums that he enjoyed the most.
For him JSM 2009 was a great experience. He felt the time was not enough to discover it more.