COPSS Committees/Awards

The Presidents' Award
The George W. Snedecor Award
The Elizabeth L. Scott Award
The Florence Nightingale David Award
The R.A. Fisher Lectureship

Presidents' Award

COPSS sponsors and presents the Presidents' Award to a young member of the statistical community in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the profession of statistics. The Presidents' Award, established in 1976, is jointly sponsored by the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Biometric Society ENAR, the Biometric Society WNAR, and the Statistics Society of Canada operating through COPSS. The award consists of a suitable certificate and cash award in the sum of $1000 and is given during the joint meetings of the sponsoring societies. The first award was made in 1979, and is awarded yearly.

The recipient of the Presidents' Award shall be a member of at least one of the participating societies. The candidate may be chosen for a single contribution of extraordinary merit, or an outstanding aggregate of contributions, to the profession of statistics. The Presidents' Award is granted to an individual who has not yet reached his or her 41st birthday during the calendar year of the award.

George W. Snedecor Award

This award, established in 1976, honors an individual who was instrumental in the development of statistical theory in biometry. The award is for a noteworthy publication in biometry within three years of the data of the award. Starting in 1991 this award is given every other year, in odd years, and consists of a plaque and a cash award.

Elizabeth L. Scott Award

In recognition of Elizabeth L Scott's lifelong efforts in the furtherance of the careers of women, this award is granted to an individual who has helped foster opportunities in statistics for women by developing programs to encourage women to seek careers in statistics; by consistently and successfully mentoring women students or new researchers; by working to identify gender-based inequities in employment; or by serving in a variety of capacities as a role model. This award, first awarded in 1992, is given every other year in even years, and consists of a plaque and a cash award.

Florence Nightingale David Award

This award is named after Florence Nightingale David, an accomplished statistician and the first recipient of the Elizabeth L. Scott Award. The award, sponsored jointly by COPSS and the Caucus for Women in Statistics, is granted to a female statistician who serves as a role model to other women by her contributions to the profession through excellence in research, leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups, statistics education, or service to the professional societies. The F.N. David Award, established in 2001, will be awarded bi-annually and consists of a certificate and case award.

R.A. Fisher Lectureship

The R.A. Fisher Lectureship was established in 1963 by COPSS to honor both the contributions of Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher and the work of a present-day statistician for their advancement of statistical theory and applications. The Fisher Lectureship is a very high recognition of meritorious achievement and scholarship in statistical science and recognizes highly significant impact of statistical methods on scientific investigations. COPSS has required that the Lectureship be awarded each year and that when possible the lecture be presented each year at the Joint Annual Meeting of Societies. The lecturer shall be selected by the COPSS R. A. Fisher Lecture and Award Committee which is chosen to reflect the interests of the member Societies. The lectureship is governed by the following conditions:

(1) The R. A. Fisher Lectureship is to be awarded yearly to an eminent statistician for outstanding contributions to the theory and applications of statistics.

(2) R. A. Fisher Lecture shall be presented at a designated Annual Meeting of the COPSS Societies.

(3) The lecture shall be broadly based and emphasize those aspects of statistics and probability which bear close relationship to the scientific collection and interpretation of data, areas in which Fisher made outstanding contributions.

(4) The lecture shall be scheduled so as to have no conflict with any other session at the meeting.

(5) The Chair of the lecture shall be the Chair of the COPSS R. A. Fisher Lecture Committee of the Chairs' designee. The Chair shall be present for a short statement of the life and works of R. A. Fisher, not to exceed 5 minutes in duration.

(6) The lecturer is expected to prepare a manuscript based on the appropriate lecture and to submit it to one of the COPSS society journals.