It has been a true pleasure and privilege for me to serve the SSC in the role of president for 2021–2022. As the curtain was closed for the annual signature event of the SSC—the 49th SSC Annual Meeting (SSC 2022)—it is time for me to pass the torch to the coming president. This year was eventful, full of activities, and challenges. It is difficult to report all the accomplishments from the SSC committees and sections here, so I will attempt to offer some highlights.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the statistical community in Canada and the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Statistics (CJS). A CJS 50th-anniversary special volume was edited and is scheduled to appear in the December issue of 2022. Redesigning of the CJS logo and the front page has been completed by Bouchra Nasri (CJS managing editor) and Dave Campbell (chair of publication committee). A year-long series of celebratory events was organized to engage SSC members to connect and showcase the excellence of statistical sciences in Canada. For more details, see the president’s report circulated for the annual general meeting. I express my gratitude to the anniversary ad hoc committee and the organizers of the celebration activities for their excellent contributions towards bringing celebratory events for the 50th anniversary of the statistical community in Canada.
The SSC 2022 was successfully held online from May 30–June 3 and attracted over 740 registrations. The conference featured 99 scientific sessions with 369 talks, accompanied by panel discussions, case studies, social networking opportunities, information sessions, job fairs, and the award ceremony night. Four invited sessions were organized to celebrate the 50th anniversary: “50 Years of Statistical Community in Canada”, “Reflection and Outlook of Statistical Sciences—Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Statistical Community”, “Fifty Years of Statistics Teaching”, and the memorial session for Donald A. S. Fraser.
The tremendous success of this conference would not have been possible without the collective work of many colleagues. I would like to acknowledge and express my sincere thanks to them for their tremendous work. Thank you to the scientific program committee and the program chair (Pengfei Li) for bringing us a series of stimulating scientific sessions. Thank you to the virtual conference committee (VOC) and the electronic services manager (Angelo Canty) for effectively managing the virtual conference platform. Thank you, Shirley Mills and Richard Lockhart, for your extraordinary efforts co-chairing the VOC. Thank you to the SSC office staff, Michelle Benoit and Marie-Pierre Nantel, and volunteer Larysa Valachko, who provided excellent support for the conference. Thank you to the bilingualism committee (chaired by Thierry Chekouo) for completing the French translations. I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the meetings coordinator (Nadia Ghazzali), the SSC committees and the sections, as well as the strong support from the executive committee and the board. SSC owes a huge amount of gratitude to CANSSI, the Fields Institute, PIMS, and CRM for their long-standing sponsorship of the annual meeting. We are thankful for the job fair sponsors and data providers for case studies. Sincere gratitude goes to everyone who helped bring together this conference.
The 10th Canadian Statistics Student Conference (CSSC) was held online on May 28, 2022. The one-day event attracted over 400 registrations. Congratulations to the organizing committee and co-chairs, Victoire Michal (McGill University) and Robyn Ritchie (Simon Fraser University), for hosting this successful event!
The 2022 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) will be held in Washington DC from August 6–11. The SSC sponsored and co-sponsored several invited sessions. One session is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of CJS and the statistical community in Canada, and one is in memory of Donald A. S. Fraser. Thank you, Debbie Dupuis, for representing the SSC on the 2022 JSM program committee.
While we are only halfway through 2022, some exciting events for 2023 have been underway. The 2023 annual meeting will be held at Carleton University from May 28–31, 2023, and the local arrangements chair is Shirley Mills. The 2023 ISI World Congress will be held in Ottawa from July 16–20, 2023. Several Canadian statisticians, including Robert Platt and Wendy Lou, are involved with the local organizing committee and the program committee.
Regarding SSC matters, I would like to highlight two motions about SSC awards approved by the board. In March 2022, the board approved the motion of supporting, in principle, the establishment of two new SSC education awards: the SSC Early Career Educator Award and Distinguished Educator Award. This motion resulted from the efforts of multiple parties, including the three presidents of the Statistical Education Section, Sunny Wang, Wesley Burr, and Bruce Dunham, and the statistics education committee (chaired by Melody Ghahramani). The statistics education committee has been tasked to work on the details of the awards, including the eligibility, the composition of the award committee, etc.
The second motion concerns revising the Gold Medal eligibility criteria. In response to an action item from the board meeting in June 2021, three past presidents Robert Platt, Bruce Smith, and Wendy Lou were tasked to revisit the Gold Medal eligibility criteria in the past year. At the June board meeting, the board approved the revised Gold Medal eligibility criteria which were worked out by the subcommittee consisting of Wendy Lou (chair), past presidents Bruce Smith and Robert Platt, board members Johanna Nešlehová and Michael McIsaac, and the EDI committee chair Jemila Hamid. Gratitude is extended to Robert, Bruce, Wendy, and all the subcommittee members for your valuable contributions.
While many exciting activities have been accomplished, the SSC has faced unforeseen challenges this year. Thanks to the dedication of the executive committee, office committee (chaired by Shirley Mills) and board, our Society successfully sailed through storms and kept running smoothly.
We would like to thank Susie Fortier for serving the SSC as the executive secretary from July 2021–February 2022. In response to her resignation, the board appointed Henrik Stryhn (University of Prince Edward Island) as the executive secretary (term to end June 30, 2024). Henrik served as a regional representative from 2016–2020. We are thankful to Henrik for taking on this role. In response to the resignation of Marie-Pierre Nantel from the administrative assistant position in May 2022, a hiring committee was appointed. Shirley Mills will finish her term as the executive director (ED) at the end of this year, and a search committee has now been formed to search for the next ED.
Before saying goodbye, I would like to extend my deep thanks to everyone who helped the SSC in various manners. Wendy Lou will leave us after finishing her term as the past president, and Dave Campbell will be departing from the executive committee after six years of service as the public relations officer and chair of the publication committee. Thank you, Wendy and Dave, for your dedication and outstanding contributions to the SSC! Seven regional representatives are departing: Michael McIsaac (Atlantic), Paramita Saha Chaudhuri (Quebec), Cody Hyndman (Quebec), Edward Chen (Ontario), Zeny Feng (Ontario), Yang Zhao (Manitoba–Saskatchewan–N.W.T.–Nunavut), Linglong Kong (Alberta–British Columbia–Yukon). Thank you all for your excellent work in serving on the board!
It was my honour to serve the SSC as the president in the past year, and I would like to take this moment to thank the SSC for your trust in me. I was blessed to be with you in celebrating our community’s 50th anniversary, and I was fortunate to have worked with such a devoted team. It is difficult to imagine where we would be without tireless efforts, the expertise of capable colleagues, and the strong support from the SSC committees, sections, and SSC members. The solid work accomplished by the community in the past five decades will allow the SSC to continue to stay active in promoting statistical sciences.
Finally, I wish everyone all the best in the coming year and hope you enjoy a relaxing summer!
Grace Y. Yi
SSC President
June 19, 2022