What’s New?

Statistical Society of Ottawa
3rd Annual Student Research Day
 
Date: Friday September 23, 2011 (8:30--16:00)
Place: University of Ottawa
Award: $500 in prizes for winners (based on presentation)
 
Each year the SSO sponsors an opportunity for students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University to show off their statistical research to the SSO community. The event alternates between the two universities each year.
 
This year the event will be held at the University of Ottawa and is sponsored by the Statistical Society of Ottawa, the University of Ottawa Departments of Mathematics and Statistics, the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine and Carleton University School of Mathematics and Statistics. The event starts at 8:30 in Lamoureux building (145 Jean-Jacques Lussier) room 390 and moves to 585 King Edward room B05 at 13:00 for the afternoon workshop.
 
We invite students undertaking statistical research projects this summer to compete for prizes. Eligible projects extend beyond theoretical/methodological work in statistics to include projects from disciplines outside statistics that focus on the application of statistical methods. The format will be a 15-20 minute presentation. There will be $500 in prizes for winners. Depending on participation, awards will be arranged at the degree level. Following the judging there will be short presentations by Ottawa-area employers currently recruiting students in statistics.
 

Following lunch, a workshop on R statistical software will be offered. Students wishing to have their abstracts considered must submit an abstract to Pierre-Jérôme Bergeron (pbergero@uOttawa.ca) by August 30, 2011. Attendance at the prize competition in the morning is free. Attendance for lunch and the R workshop in the afternoon is free to students and members of the SSO. Individuals will be able to join the SSO on-site at the Student Research Day. Annual dues are $12.


 

 

Statistical Society of Ottawa

2011 Spring Workshop on

Causal Inference

On Friday May 27th, the Statistical Society of Ottawa will hold a workshop on Causal Inference. The one-day workshop will be presented by Professor Jay Kaufman, Canada Research Chair in Health Disparities Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University. The workshop will take place in Fauteux, the Law building, at the University of Ottawa in FTX 227 between 08:30 and 17:30 on Friday May 27th.

 

Note that we have cancelled the symposium on Thursday May 26th.  Any registrations will be refunded.

 

Those wishing to attend are encouraged to pre-register before Tuesday May 23 by contacting the SSO by email sso.ottawa.canada@gmail.com. This will help us plan the lunch.

 

Cost to Attend

 

SSO members:

Workshop & lunch: $100

 

Non-members and membership renewal: add $12

 

Student rate:

Workshop & lunch: $30 (free SSO membership)

 

Causal Inference attempts to uncover the structure of the data and eliminate all non-causative  explanations for an observed association. The goal of most, if not all, statistical inference is to uncover causal relationships, but it is not in general possible to conclude causality from standard statistical inference procedures, merely that the observed  association between two variables is not due to  chance. The need for causal inference procedures is  apparent in many fields, for example in the field of health research, where  quantifying the efficacy of new therapies, or uncovering the etiology of diseases, is often  rendered complicated due to difficulties inherent in  observational studies. Even in experimental studies, partial compliance to treatment regimens can  compromise a well-designed experiment. The complexity of models, and corresponding inference procedures, is heightened in the context of longitudinal studies, where time-dependent  confounding may be present.