Greetings, SSC members!
As the new year is around the corner, many of us may be ready to make new year's resolutions. It is also a perfect time to reflect on what has happened in the past few months.
Though the ongoing pandemic disrupts our normality, our Society's activities remain active. The SSC has continued to run smoothly thanks to the collective efforts of multiple parties, including the office—Shirley Mills (executive director), Michelle Benoit (executive assistant), and Marie-Pierre Nantel (administrative assistant), and all the SSC committees and sections. It is difficult to highlight all of the SSC's accomplishments, so I will attempt to provide a few.
In the past few months, the program committee (chaired by Nadia Ghazzali) and the local arrangements chair Richard Lockhart have been working tirelessly to prepare for the in-person annual meeting at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Scientific sessions and section workshops have been in place under the watch of program chair Pengfei Li. However, the unpredictable nature of the pandemic made the preparations for the SSC 2022 Annual Meeting tremendously tricky, which was reflected, in part, by the excessive demand of the local arrangements chair's effort. With the unexpected planning changes of SFU's activities, previously deemed available facilities became inaccessible. Richard had to respond instantly to explore other possibilities. He had to ensure adequate accommodations of the conference venues, including the banquet place and meeting rooms with audio-video equipment while exploring the option of a hybrid format.
The SSC 2022 Annual Meeting preparations require much more effort than those in a regular year. Double or triple work is needed. Having meetings at night or on weekends has become a routine for the executive committee, board members, and the office staff. While the in-person SSC 2022 Annual Meeting has been carefully prepared, the executive committee stays vigilant of the pandemic development, considering potential backup plans.
We truly wish to connect with colleagues via an in-person meeting next year. Nevertheless, with the increasing concerns of COVID-19, the situation has to be cautiously assessed. On December 8, the SSC board meeting was convened. The board prudently evaluated the pros and cons of the planned in-person annual meeting at SFU and justified the feasibility of taking the hybrid or virtual format. Factoring in all the concerns and issues, the board decided to virtually conduct the SSC 2022 Annual Meeting. This decision was not easy for the board to make, and we are sad for not being able to meet in person at SFU next year. We are thankful for Richard Lockhart and the local organizations committee for their devoted work during this difficult time.
Reaching this decision does not end our journey, but it opens up a new one. The 2022 virtual organizations committee (VOC) must be formed immediately to get things in place. I am grateful that people were responsive and able to take on new roles. Richard Lockhart and Shirley Mills will co-chair the 2022 VOC, consisting of Pengfei Li, Angelo Canty, Wendy Lou, Asokan Mulayath Variyath, Michelle Benoit, and Marie-Pierre Nantel. The first VOC meeting was rapidly called on Saturday, December 11. I feel very fortunate to have diligent people to look after this important event for the Society. I look forward to seeing you all at the coming virtual annual meeting, scheduled for May 30–June 3, 2022.
As usual, the SSC 2022 Annual Meeting will present several keynote speeches, including the presidential invited address, to be delivered by Anthony Davison (the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), and the Gold Medalist address, to be given by Art Owen (Stanford University).
With our SSC 2022 Annual Meeting in good hands, I am delighted to share the news of the SSC. Johanna Nešlehová (McGill University) has been appointed to be the editor of the Canadian Journal of Statistics (CJS) for 2022–2024. Congratulations, Johanna, and thank you for agreeing to take on this role. A sincere thank you to Fang Yao who served as the CJS editor for 2019–2021. Meanwhile, a big thank you to Jack Gambino who represented the SSC in PAGSE (Partnership Group for Science and Engineering) in the past few years. Bruno Rémillard kindly agreed to be Jack's successor. Thank you, Bruno!
The SSC is a strategic partner of the ISI World Statistics Congress, planned in Ottawa for July 16–20 of 2023. The call for submission of invited paper sessions will be coming in January 2022. You are encouraged to consider this opportunity to organize sessions to showcase active research in the Canadian statistical community.
The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the statistical community in Canada and the 50th anniversary of CJS. To celebrate this special anniversary, the ad hoc anniversary committee (https://ssc.ca/en/committees/50th-anniversary-committee) devoted efforts to initiating activities and reaching out to the community for ideas. We are excited about capitalizing on this unique year to promote statistical sciences while celebrating the anniversary. A series of events have been under preparations.
SSC journals are engaged with the celebration. A special issue of CJS with invited articles has been underway (guest co-editors: Bruno Rémillard, Grace Y. Yi, Wendy Lou, and Bruce Smith). Re-designing the CJS logo and the front page has been looked after by Bouchra Nasri (CJS managing editor) and Dave Campbell (chair of publication committee). Liaison (editor: Adam Kashlak) calls for SSC members to share your stories with the SSC. David Bellhouse and Christian Genest are currently doing background research on SSC history. They will share it with us in a suitable form—perhaps even a book—in months to come.
Four invited sessions have been organized for the SSC 2022 Annual Meeting. Melody Ghahramani organized the session “50 Years of Statistical Community in Canada”; Becky Lin organized the session “Fifty Years of Statistics Teaching” (sponsored by the Education Section); Mary Thompson organized the memorial session for Professor Donald A. S. Fraser; and I put together a panel discussion session “Reflection and Outlook of Statistical Sciences—Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Statistical Community.” For the 2022 JSM, Bruno Rémillard organized the session “50th Anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Statistics and the Statistical Society of Canada.”
The research committee (chair: Joanna Mills Flemming) planned to organize SSC/CANSSI co-sponsored virtual seminars. With a tentative title “A Cross-Country Tour,” the inaugural series is to be held monthly in 2022. The Data Science and Analytics Section (president: Nathaniel Stevens) planned to run webinar series through 2022, with talks thematically related to multiple modelling facets.
Two workshops will be held at the University of Toronto. The Seventh Bayesian, Fiducial, and Frequentist (BFF7) conference is dedicated to Professor Donald A. S. Fraser (May 2–4, 2022), followed by the workshop in celebration of Professor Nancy Reid's 70th Birthday (May 5, 2022). The University of Calgary Biostatistics Centre will host two online workshops on February 22–23, 2022: “Statistical Analysis of Network Data” (speaker: Erick Kolaczky; co-organizers: Yunqi Ji, Karen Kopciuk, and Grace Kwong), and “Introduction to R Programming” (co-Instructors: Bowei Ding and Na Li). In addition, the University of Manitoba is planning an event in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Society.
Networking events have been prepared for SSC members. Wendy Lou (past president) organized the monthly happy hour with former SSC presidents for 2022. Rhonda Rosychuk, Anita Brobbey, and Jean-François Plante organized the online Trivia Event to kick off the year-long celebration activities. The SSC will devote three prizes ($50 gift card each) for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. While this event symbolizes the beginning of the celebratory activities, the primary aim is to provide a creative venue to connect SSC members. Please mark your calendars for the event time,
2:00–3:00pm EST, January 7, 2022.
Finally, I hope you enjoy the relaxing time with the family during the holiday break. I wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. While the pandemic does not allow us to meet in person, the devoted commitments for the SSC committees and officers continue to glue us together through this challenging pandemic period.
Happy Holidays!
Grace Y. Yi
SSC President
December 13, 2021