2021 NISS Writing Workshop for Junior Researchers (before & after JSM)

August 6 & 13, 2021

Once again this very popular short course will be hosted by NISS.  If you are a recent graduate of a doctoral program and want to improve your communication skills - then this event is for you!  

How to Register

You can register by clicking on the link just ahead, but, please note that you will need to submit a copy of your writing sample during this online registration.  To register, click on the (Pre-Registration Information Webform) Please answer all questions!  All submitted material will be handled confidentially!   If you have trouble with the submission of your paper on the registration form, please send a PDF or Word version to officeadmin@niss.org after you have completed the entire registration form. Thank you!

Pre-Registration Deadline: June 30, 2021

Thanks for organizing the writing workshop! We are very glad that we attended the workshop. We learned a lot related to writing and got detailed comments on how to revise our papers. We are looking forward to other education programs provided by NISS.”  

Send in your application materials early!

Course Objective

The goal of the workshop is to provide instruction for junior researchers writing journal articles and grant proposals. Participants will be required to provide a recent sample of their writing, which will be reviewed by a senior mentor. The sample could be a current draft of an article to be submitted for publication or an early version of a grant proposal. Senior mentors will be former journal editors and program officers, who will critique the submitted material and provide individual feedback. Participants will be expected to initiate a revision in response with additional feedback from their mentors. Deadline for the Writing Workshop application submission is June 20, with notification of acceptance soon thereafter.

The writing workshop was tremendously helpful! Thank you so much for organizing this workshop and helping us a lot. Thank you so much for sharing all the slides too. I am very grateful to take all advantages from NISS writing workshop.

Course Content

The workshop consists of two sessions plus a final meeting with the mentor. The first day is an all-day session that covers scientific writing, as well as how to organize a paper. It also discusses ethical issues, writing grant proposals and issues of journal choice and understanding and responding to reviewers’ comments. During this session, each participant meets with the mentor who analyzed a paper the participant submitted prior to JSM. The second session focuses on the specific issues covering the writing process and details of grammar, sentence structure and word choice, especially helpful for participants whose native language is not English. A panel of senior researchers will discuss their experiences with technical writing in English.

Thanks for your thorough guidance in the NISS Writing Workshop! I found that the one-to-one mentoring is very helpful for us to get insights into our shortcomings in academic writing. I really appreciate your work in organizing such a wonderful event.

Target Audience 

The workshop is designed for researchers with a Ph.D. awarded or anticipated during 2015-2021 in statistics, biostatistics or related field. Attendance at the Writing Workshop will be limited and applicants within 6 years’ post-PhD and members of the participating societies will receive preference.  See testimonials from the evaluation at last year's event.

How to Register

You can register by clicking on the link just ahead, but, please note that you will need to submit a copy of your writing sample during this online registration.  To register, click on the (Pre-Registration Information Webform) Please answer all questions!  All submitted material will be handled confidentially!   If you have trouble with the submission of your paper on the registration form, please send a PDF or Word version to officeadmin@niss.org after you have completed the entire registration form. Thank you!

Pre-Registration Deadline: June 30, 2021

Course Fees

Workshop applicants are asked to first register online by submitting their writing sample using the form above.  If your submission is accepted, to confirm your interest in participation you will then be asked to pay the $150 registration fee after you have been accepted.  You will be notified a few days after the deadline.  Funds have been secured for eligible participants without their own funding and registration (and travel and housing costs if in-person) can be reimbursed for those who complete the program.

Accepted Applicants: Pay the $150 Registration Fee


Agenda


Course Schedule (Workshop is Virtual via Zoom)

Part I:  Friday, August 6, 2021  

10:00 am Eastern Time    (Zoom Room will be sent to attendees)

10:15 – 10:30 am        Opening Remarks and Introductions

10:30 – 11:20 am        Tutorial 1: Writing Skills, Evaluation, and Visualization 

Leland Wilkinson (H2O.ai & U. of Illinois at Chicago)

11:20 – 11:25 am        Coffee Break

11:25 am – 12:15 pm        Tutorial 2: Choosing Where to Publish

Nick Jewell (University of California, Berkeley & London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

12:15 – 1:15 pm        Virtual Lunch (Mentor & Mentee Meetings in Breakout rooms)

Mentors meet mentee(s) and agree to use the 3:30 time if needed.

1:15 – 2:45 pm         Panel 1: Statistics and Data Science Journals

  • Xuming He (University of Michigan) 
  • Nicole Lazar (Penn State University)
  • Tyler McCormick (University of Washington)
  • David Rocke (University of California, Davis) 
  • Karen Kafadar (University of Virginia)

Moderator: Lingzhou Xue

2:45 – 3:30 pm         Tutorial 3: Reviewing and Revising 

Naomi Altman (Penn State University)

3:30 – 4:15 pm     Optional Mentor and Mentee follow-up meetings in Breakout rooms 


Part II: Friday, August 13, 2021    10:00 am - 4:00 pm ET

10:00 am Eastern Time    (Zoom Room links will be sent to attendees)

10:05 – 10:30 am        How to get started and avoid writer’s block

Regina Nuzzo (ASA) 

10:30 – 11:00 am        Tutorial 4: How to Write a Collaborative Paper

Susan Ellenberg (University of Pennsylvania)

11:00 am – 12:10 pm        Panel 2: Speaking from Experiences and Career Development

  • Emma Benn (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
  • Eric Laber (Duke University)
  • Ali Shojaie (University of Washington) 
  • Judy Wang (NSF DMS Statistics Program Director & George Washington University)

Moderator: Jim Rosenberger

12:15 – 1:15 pm        Virtual Lunch (Mentor & Mentee Meetings in Breakout rooms)

1:15 – 2:00 pm         Tutorial 5: Ethical Issues and Reproducibility 

Peter Imrey (Cleveland Clinic)

2:00 – 2:05 pm        Coffee Break 

2:05 – 3:20 pm         Panel 3: Grant Writing

  • Cheryl Eavey (NSF SBE Program Director)
  • Karen Messer (NIH BMRD Study Section Chair & University of California, San Diego) 
  • Edsel Peña (NSF DMS Statistics Program Director & University of South Carolina)

Moderator: Keith Crank

3:20 – 3:30 pm        Discussion, Evaluation and Certificates

3:30 – 4:00 pm    Happy Hour

(BYOB) and hang out in the Classroom to swap email and contact information, and join breakout rooms to network!  


List of Session Speakers / Mentors confirmed for 2021!

  • Jim Albert (Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Statistics, Bowling Green State University)
  • Naomi Altman (Professor Emeritus of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University)
  • David Banks (Director, Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute; Professor of the Practice of Statistics, Duke University)
  • Emma Benn (Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
  • Keith Crank (Program Officer at the National Science Foundation, retired)
  • Susan Ellenberg (Professor of Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine)
  • Cheryl Eavey (NSF SBE Program Director)
  • Xuming He (Chair and H.C. Carver Professor of Statistics, University of Michigan)
  • Tim Hesterberg (Senior Statistician, Google Inc)
  • Dave Hunter (Professor of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University)
  • Peter Imrey (Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic)
  • Nicholas Jewell (Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
  • Jiming Jiang (Professor of Statistics, University of California, Davis)
  • Karen Kafadar (Commonwealth Professor and Chair of Statistics, University of Virginia; Editor-in-Chief of The Annals of Applied Statistics)
  • Eric Laber (Professor of Statistical Science, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Duke University)
  • Nicole Lazar (Professor of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University)
  • Regina Nuzzo (Professor of Statistics, Gallaudet University)
  • Tyler McCormick (Associate Professor of Statistics and Sociology, University of Washington)
  • Karen Messer (NIH BMRD Study Section Chair, Professor and Chief of the Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, UC San Diego School of Medicine)
  • Edsel Pena (Program Director for Statistics at MPS/DMS, National Science Foundation; Professor of Statistics, University of South Carolina)
  • Don Richards (Distinguished Professor of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University)
  • David Rocke (Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics, University of California, Davis)
  • James Rosenberger (Director, National Institute of Statistical Sciences)
  • Ali Shojaie (Professor of Biostatistics, University of Washington)
  • Judy Wang (Program Director for Statistics at MPS/DMS, National Science Foundation; Professor of Statistics, George Washington University)
  • Leland Wilkinson (Chief Scientist, H2O.ai and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago)
  • Lingzhou Xue (Associate Director, NISS, Associate Professor of Statistics, Penn State)

Event Type

Host

National Institute of Statistical Sciences

Sponsor

AbbVie
American Statistical Association
International Chinese Statistical Association
Korean International Statistical Society
also with suport from the National Science Foundation

Cost

$150 registration fee - after you have been accepted

Location

Online Webinars and Workshops