Keynote Speaker:

Jacqueline M. Hughes-Oliver is Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University. Dr. Hughes-Oliver earned her PhD in Statistics from NC State in 1991, following a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cincinnati in 1986. She has held visiting appointments at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Stanford University and served as Faculty Fellow at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI). Dr. Hughes-Oliver has a variety of research interests, including analysis of high-dimensional data, design and analysis of pooling or mixture experiments, spatial modeling, and optimal design, with applications in drug discovery, ontology-driven analysis of microarray studies, point sources, and transportation modeling. Her research is motivated by current health-related and environmental issues, and to discover new drugs in an efficient way.

Some of her recent awards include the 2005-06 D.D. Mason Faculty Award from the Department of Statistics at NC State, the ASA’s 2006 Statistics in Chemistry Award, named a Fellow of the ASA in 2007, winner of the 2010 University Diversity Award given to a faculty member, and honored with a 2010 Outstanding Service Award for extension, engagement, and economic development.

Speakers:

Jeffrey Wilson is a professor of Statistics and Biostatistics and co-Director of the Biostatistics Core in the NIH Center for Alzheimer at Arizona State University. He is the former Director of the School of Health Management and Policy in the W. P. Carey School of Business. He received his BA in Mathematics from the University of the West Indies and a Master and PhD in Statistics from the Iowa State University of Science and Technology.

Lloyd J. Edwards, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Head of Statistical Support for the UNC Institute on Aging. His statistical research interests include mixed model theory and application, longitudinal data analysis, and the design and analysis of clinical trials and observational studies. Dr. Edwards received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Morehouse College in 1980 (Phi Beta Kappa) with minors in physics and economics, a masters in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Maryland – College Park in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Biostatistics in 1990 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kimberly S. Weems graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in mathematics and a minor in Spanish from Spelman College. As a National Physical Science Consortium Fellow, she entered the University of Maryland, College Park, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in applied mathematics with a concentration in statistics. Her research interests include generalized linear models, measurement error models and statistics education. Currently, she is a teaching associate professor in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University. She is the recipient of an NC State Outstanding Faculty Award and an Award for Teaching Excellence from the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Robert N. Rodriguez joined SAS in 1983 and is a senior director in SAS R&D with responsibility for the development of statistical software, including SAS/STAT and SAS/QC.  He received his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.   Bob is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and will serve as president of the ASA in 2012.

Nedret Billor is an associate professor in the department of Mathematics & Statistics at Auburn University, AL. She received her Ph.D. degree in Statistics from University of Sheffield in UK and M.Sc. degree from the Cukurova University in Turkey. Nedret Billor’s research is in developing multivariate statistical methods for low and high dimensional datasets in the presence of outliers. Dr. Billor is a fellow of RSS, an elected member of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, and a member of ASA.

Dr. Bowman is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Emory University. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics at Emory.  He earned his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Morehouse College. Dr. Bowman completed graduate training in biostatistics, receiving his Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan and his Ph. D. from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. As a faculty member at Emory, he has built a program of research in brain imaging and other biomedical imaging applications, has published extensively in peer-reviewed statistical and imaging journals, and has earned grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Georgia Cancer Coalition to support his research.

Cynthia Wallace is Senior Risk Manager for Belk & Modell’s, GE Capital – Retail Consumer Finance in Charlotte, NC.  Cynthia assumed her current role in February 2006 following the acquisition of the Belk Retail Portfolio. Cynthia is responsible for the overall asset quality and growth of the portfolios through setting and executing wing to wing risk strategies and assisting in loss forecasting. She received her BS degree in Mathematics from Spelman College and her MS in Statistics from the University of North Florida.

Dionne Price obtained a M.S. in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Emory University in 2000. Following her educational pursuits, she became a statistical reviewer in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Price is currently a Team Leader in the Division of Biometrics II at the FDA.  She provides statistical support and leadership to the Division of Anesthesia and Analgesia Products.    Her areas of interest include missing data and clinical trial design and analyses.  Additionally, Dr. Price has a passion for teaching statistics to non-statisticians and serves as an instructor for the Basic Statistics Course within the FDA Staff College.  She has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Trinity University in Washington DC. Dr. Price is an active member of the International Biometric Society (Eastern North American Region), the American Statistical Association, and the Food and Drug Administration Statistical Association.

Ché Smith is a doctoral student in Biostatistics at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research interests lie in the areas of longitudinal data analysis, aging, chronic diseases, and health disparities. She currently works as a biostatistician in the Department of Biostatistical Sciences at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Upon obtaining her PhD, Ché hopes to begin a tenure-track academic position in statistics or biostatistics to fulfill her passion for research, teaching and mentoring students.

Christina McIntosh is a 2^nd year doctoral student in Biostatistics at Harvard University School of Public Health.  In 2009, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Luvenia Hellams is a third year doctoral student in the department of statistics at Iowa State University.  A native of Philadelphia, PA, she graduated in 2008 from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.

Sydeaka Watson is a fourth year doctoral student in the Department of Statistical Sciences at Baylor University (Waco, TX). She is currently working as a biostatistics intern at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Division of Theoretical Biology and Biophysics. Her research interests include modeling unmeasured confounders and small sample count data derived from HIV-1 vaccine trials.

Brian A. Millen, Ph.D., is Principal Research Scientist and Group Leader in Global Statistics at Eli Lilly and Company, where he provides statistical consultation and strategic leadership for late stage psychiatry clinical trials. In his career in pharma, Dr. Millen has contributed to early phase clinical trials and methods studies in several therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, infectious diseases, and musculoskeletal.  Dr. Millen teaches statistics to nonstatistician audiences within the pharmaceutical industry and is an active member of the American Statistical Association.  He was chair of the 2007 StatFest and the 2009 Pre-JSM Diversity Workshop and is chair of the ASA’s Committee on Minorities in Statistics.

Dr. Millen holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Georgia and an MS and PhD in Statistics from The Ohio State University.

Hazel D. Dean, Sc.D., M.P.H., is currently the Deputy Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  As NCHHSTP Deputy Director, Dr. Dean works along with the director to oversee all of CDC’s work related to the prevention, control and elimination of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STDs, and TB in the United States, as well as NCHHSTP’s international work. Throughout her more than two decades of work in the public health field, Dr. Dean has contributed significantly to the development of national and international strategies for using HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD, and tuberculosis (TB) program, surveillance, and scientific data to guide prevention and care program planning and to address infectious and chronic diseases health disparities.

Dr. Dean received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Spelman College, her master’s degree in public health in international health/biostatistics, and a doctorate of science degree in biostatistics from Tulane University.

Simone Gray is a postdoctoral fellow with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Simone received her Ph.D. in Statistics from Duke University in May 2010. In her current role at USEPA, Dr. Gray will be working on ways to apply and  interpret nationally available databases and other tools to estimate human exposures and cumulative risks in communities.

Millicent Grant is a senior Mathematics major at Spelman College. Up on graduation from Spelman, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in statistics.

Guy-vanie Miakonkana is a third year PhD student in the department of mathematics and statistics at Auburn University. He Received a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Marien Ngouabi University in Congo Brazzaville and a Post-graduate degree in mathematics at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy. His field of interest is nonparametric statistics and is currently working on Rank based inferences for generalized linear models.

Dr. Derrick Keith Rollins, Sr. serves as Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the College of Engineering, Professor of Statistics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Advisor of the President’s Cabinet on Diversity at Iowa State University. He grew up in inner city Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Rollins received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kansas in 1979. From then until 1986 he worked for the E. I. Du Pont Chemical Company in Kansas, Missouri and Ohio. In the fall of 1985 he returned to college and earned the following degrees from The Ohio State University: an M.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1987, an M.S. degree in statistics in 1989, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1990.

Lily D. McNair, Ph.D., is Associate Provost of Research, Division Coordinator for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Professor of Psychology at Spelman College.  Prior to her arrival at Spelman in July 2004, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Georgia, where she also served as Associate Director of the graduate program in Clinical Psychology.  Her research focuses on the role of alcohol use and alcohol expectancies in risky sexual behavior.  Most recently, she has been involved in developing community-based interventions targeting risk behaviors related to substance use and sexual behavior in African American adolescents.  Dr. McNair received her A.B. in Psychology at Princeton University, and a doctorate in Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Nagambal Shah, Ph.D., Professor of mathematics, is a senior faculty member of the Spelman College Mathematics Department where she has served for thirty eight years. In 2001 she coordinated and hosted the first StatFest at Spelman College and in 2005 spearheaded the efforts to host and obtain funding for the first Infinite Possibilities Conference. She is a member of the Leadership Support Council of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and has also served as the past chair of ASA’s Committee on Minorities in Statistics. In 2010, she was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

She received a B.Sc in Mathematics and M.Sc in Statistics from Kerala University in India and M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Windsor in Ontario Canada.