All Writing Workshop Dates:

Overview

Once again this very popular short course will be hosted by NISS. This year it will be hybrid with virtual lectures and meetings with your mentor prior to the JSM on Fridays 7/19 and 7/26, and an in-person session at JSM to be held on Sunday, August 4, 2024.  Support is also provided by the ASA, CANSSI, CWStat, IMS, WNAR and other sponsoring statistical organizations.  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. This submission must be much more than simply an abstract.

To register, click on the (Pre-Registration Information Webform) and 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! You will not be asked to pay for the course ($250 USD) until after you have been accepted. To be considered for any reimbursement, you must complete the two on-line course days (July 19 & 26). The August 4 date is optional and not required for course completion status; as we understand not everyone will be attending JSM.

Pre-Registration Deadline: June 30, 2024

“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.”

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 30, 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. We are offering a tutorial on ChatGPT and how it may be adopted by statisticians to help with writing at JSM 2024. For career development, speakers will not only share their experiences with writing but also address the impact of AI on writing and our profession as they see it.

“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 2017-2024 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.

Full Agenda

Speakers & Mentors

Ali Shojaie, University of Washington

Bill Rosenberger, George Mason University, Biometrics Co-Editor

Bin Yu, University of California, Berkeley

Cheryl Eavey, NSF SBE Program Director

Dan Kowal, Cornell University

Dan Nettleton, Iowa State University

David Banks, Duke University 

David Dunson, Duke University and NIH Analytics and Statistics for Population Research Panel B (ASPB) Study Section Chairperson

David S. Matteson, Director of NISS/Cornell University

Didong Li, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Donald Richards, Penn State University

Edsel Peña, University of South Carolina 

Eric Lock, University of Minnesota

Galin Jones, University of Minnesota, JCGS Co-Editor

Jun Zhu, University of Wisconsin, Madison and Program officer for NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences

Karen Kafadar, University of Virginia, AoAS Past Editor-in-Chief

Michael Stein, Rutgers, JASA ACS editor

Naomi Altman, Penn State University

Natalie Dean, Emory University

Paromita Dubey, University of Southern California

Peter Imrey, Cleveland Clinic LCM

Rebecca Hubbard, University of Penn, Biostatistics Co-Editor and NEJM Statistical Editor

Susan Ellenberg, University of Pennsylvania

Tim Hesterberg, Instacart

Xuming He, University of Michigan, JASA Past Co-Editor

Yao Zheng, University of Connecticut

Organizers

Thank you to our Sponsors for this year's Writing Workshop 2024!