[R] John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award

[Patrick Breheny]

John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award 2016

The Statistical Computing Section of the American Statistical 
Association announces the competition for the John M. Chambers 
Statistical Software Award. In 1998 the Association for Computing 
Machinery presented its Software System Award to John Chambers for the 
design and development of S. Dr. Chambers generously donated his award 
to the Statistical Computing Section to endow an annual prize for 
statistical software written by, or in collaboration with, an 
undergraduate or graduate student. The prize carries with it a cash 
award of $1,000.

Teams of up to 3 people can participate in the competition. To be 
eligible, the team must have designed and implemented a piece of 
statistical software. At least one individual within the team must have 
begun the development while a student and must either currently be a 
student, or have completed all requirements for her/his last degree 
after January 1, 2015. The award will be given to the student, or split 
between student team members if the team consists of multiple students.

To apply for the award, teams must provide the following materials:

* Current CV's of all team members.

* A letter from a faculty mentor at the academic institution of the 
individual indicated to receive the travel award. The letter should 
confirm that the individual had substantial participation in the 
development of the software, certify her/his student status when the 
software began to be developed (and either the current student status or 
the date of degree completion), and briefly discuss the importance of 
the software to statistical practice.

* A brief, one to two page description of the software, summarizing what 
it does, how it does it, and why it is an important contribution. If any 
student team member has continued developing the software after 
finishing her/his studies, the description should indicate what was 
developed when the individual was a student and what has been added since.

* An installable software package with its source code for use by the 
award committee. It should be accompanied by enough information to allow 
the judges to effectively use and evaluate the software (including its 
design considerations). This information can be provided in a variety of 
ways, including but not limited to a user manual, a manuscript, a URL, 
and online help to the system.

All materials must be in English. We prefer that electronic text be 
submitted in Postscript or PDF. The entries will be judged on a variety 
of dimensions, including the importance and relevance for statistical 
practice of the tasks performed by the software, ease of use, clarity of 
description, elegance and availability for use by the statistical 
community. Preference will be given to those entries that are grounded 
in software design rather than calculation. The decision of the award 
committee is final.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, December 15, 2015 
and should be sent to the e-mail address below.  The winner will be 
announced by January 15.  The award will be presented at the 2016 Joint 
Statistical Meetings, and the winner(s) will be given an opportunity to 
present their work in a topic-contributed session at the meetings.

Patrick Breheny
Department of Biostatistics
University of Iowa
patrick-breheny at uiowa.edu

-- 
Patrick Breheny
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics
University of Iowa
N336 College of Public Health Building
319-384-1584