[R] Stat. Computing 2006 Chambers Award competition

[jose.pinheiro@novartis.com]

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,
a current or recent student. Starting this year, teams of up to 3 people,
including at least one current or recent student, will be allowed to 
participate in the competition The prize carries with it a cash award 
of $1000, plus a substantial allowance for travel to the annual Joint 
Statistical
Meetings where the award will be presented. Enclosed below is the full
text of the award announcement. More details can be found at the Stat.
Computing Section website at http://www.statcomputing.org. 



Best Regards,

--José Pinheiro

Awards Chair
ASA Statistical Computing Section

	     John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award
		    Statistical Computing Section
		   American Statistical Association

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 $1000, plus a substantial allowance for travel to the annual
Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) where the award will be presented.

Starting this year, teams of up to 3 people will be allowed to
participate in the competition, with the cash award being split among
the team members. The travel allowance will be given to just one
individual in the team, who will be presented the award at JSM. 

To be eligible, the team must have designed and implemented a piece of
statistical software.  The individual within the team indicated to
receive the travel allowance 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, 2002.  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
the team member competing for the travel allowance 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.

Access to the software by the award committee for their use on inputs
of their choosing.  Access to the software can consist of an
executable file, Web-based access, macro code, or other appropriate
form.  Access should be accompanied by enough information to allow the
judges to effectively use and evaluate the software.  This information
can be provided in a variety of ways, including but not limited to a
user manual (paper or electronic), a paper, a URL, online help to the
system, and source code.  In particular, the team must be prepared
to provide complete source code for inspection by the committee if
requested.

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 5:00pm EST, Monday,
February 27, 2006 at the address below.  The winner will be announced
in May and the award will be given at the 2006 Joint Statistical
Meetings.

Information on the competition can also be accessed on the website of
the Statistical Computing Section (www.statcomputing.org or see the
ASA website, www.amstat.org for a pointer), including the names and
contributions of previous winners.  Inquiries and application
materials should be emailed or mailed to:

	Chambers Software Award
	c/o Dr. José Pinheiro 
        Biostatistics, Novartis Pharmaceuticals     
        One Health Plaza, Room 419/2115 
        East Hanover, NJ 07936
	jose.pinheiro@novartis.com

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