Newsletter of the South African Statistical Association (SASA) Postal Address: SASA, PO Box 3341, Matieland, 7602 South Africa Website: www.sastat.org.za

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SASA 2015 Conference

Past President's message - James Allison

Ladies and gentlemen, I spent a lot

of time thinking what would be the

best way to begin my presidential

address at a statistics

conference….

An obvious way would be to use

some kind of graph. Or I could try

to grab your attention with the

following quote, one of the many

funny quotes out there about big

data:

“Big Data is like teenage sex:

Editorial

Dear SASA members

Welcome back to a new

year! Also welcome to all new members. This newsletter contains

news on the successful

annual conference hosted

by the University of

Pretoria and Statistics SA,

with many international guests. Since the

conference was held in

December, it was decided

to issue this newsletter as

a December

2015/January 2016 issue.

It contains the presidential

everyone talks about it, nobody

really knows how to do it, everyone

thinks everyone else is doing it, so

everyone claims they are doing it” –

Dan Ariely

Download document

Francesca Little - new SASA President

"I take over the reigns from James

Allison as president of SASA during

a tumultuous period in academia.

We have been talking about a crisis

in Academic Statistics but I think

we all face a different kind of crisis

at our respective universities, and

one that makes it even more of a

challenge to stay focused and to

continue to do what is best for our

discipline and our students....

address of the past president, Prof James

Alison and the initiatives

in an introduction of the

incoming president, Prof

Francesca Little. Minister

Jeff Radebe’s address is

also included. Reports on

the conference and the

online teaching activities

can be read. See many

photos taken at the

conference.

Congratulations to all the prize winners!

There will be two more

issues during 2016,

namely May 2016 and

September 2016 with due

dates for submitting

articles 1 April 2016 and 1

August 2016.

See the announcement

and call for overseas

visitors for the 2016 SASA

conference to be held at

the University of Cape Town from 28 November

to 1 December this

year. There is a vacancy

for someone to coordinate

the young statisticians

network. Please nominate

a suitable candidate by 28

February 2016 on the

form included.

The seminar program of

Read more

Hon Jeff Radebe - opening address

The legacy of our President, the

late Nelson Mandela lives with us

today through his everlasting

commitment to freedom from

oppression, poverty, and

ignorance. His resolve for a better

life for all remains a clarion call that

implores us to act in unison and

defeat the scourge of poverty,

unemployment and

inequality. Nelson Mandela

provides us the most profound

advice on planning and as he

retired from high intensity political

life he said “it is in your hands.” In

a letter from prison, a place that

became his home for almost a

generation, he wrote thus

“Significant progress is always

possible if we ourselves plan every

detail and allow intervention of fate

only on our own terms. Preparing a

master plan and applying it are

totally different things.” These

inspiring words of Madiba, the

freedom fighter, the revolutionary,

the peace builder, the humanist,

the planner and philosopher

the University of Stellenbosch is included.

Take note of the dates. If

you plan any activity in

your chapter, please let

us know.

This newsletter will be

available in pdf format on

the SASA webpage.

Hope you have a

successful 2016!

Mardi

For contact details,

submissions and advertising click here

The host of the SASA

2016 Conference will be

the University of Cape

Town. It will take place in

Cape Town from 28 November to 1 December

2016.

recognised the importance of

mathematics and he urged that this

subject should be done for at least

up to an hour every day in order for

us to achieve a society that can

reason through the use of

evidence.

Download document

Welcome - new members!

• Prof M Arashi, Associate Professor, University of Shahrood, m_arashi_stat@yahoo.com

• Prof N Balakrishnan, Distinguished Professor, McMaster University, bala@mcmaster.ca

• Dr ALB Baughman, Biostatistician, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Namibia, alb1@cdc.gov

• Dr S Chisi, Veterinarian, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, songechisi@gmail.com

• Mr PW Claassen, Statistical Analyst, Discovery Health, paulw.claassen@gmail.com

• Ms T Cronje, Statistician, Lighstone, tanitacronje@gmail.com

• Dr E Grapsa, Senior Researcher, University of KwaZulu-Natal, erwfili@gmail.com

Call for

nominations for visitors for the 2016

conference

Any SASA member

wishing to nominate an

overseas visitor for the 2016 SASA Conference,

please contact the

secretary of the Executive

Committee with

supporting information by

28 February 2016. The

contact details for the

secretary are:

The Secretary: SASA

P O Box 3341

Matieland

7602

email: Inger.Fabris-

Rotelli@up.ac.za

Stellenbosch seminar

program: download

semester one

schedule

• Mr EN Gyamfi, , University of Venda, winterblaze1707@gmail.com

• Mr P Khabo, Biostatistician, Phidisa Project/SAMHS, pkhabo@hixnet.co.za

• Prof YG Kifle, Associate Professor, University of Limpopo, yehenew.kifle@ul.ac.za

• Mr M Letsoalo, Deputy Director, National Department of Social Development, letsoalopm@gmail.com

• Dr S Manual, Lecturer, Vaal University of Technology, sobym@vut.ac.za

• Mr M Masemula, Methodologist, Statistics South Africa, MandlaM@statssa.gov.za

• Ms MH Mojapelo, Foundation for Professional Development, mphur@yahoo.co

Announcement A pdf version of this newsletter will

be available on the SASA webpage.

Last date of submission for news items are as follows:

May newsletter: 1 April

September newsletter: 1 August

December/January newsletter: 1 December

2015 Conference

The 2015 SASA conference was big – us here on the LOC are still recovering.

It was worth it though and the LOC hopes that all delegates found benefit from

the plethora of international experts in the various fields. A thanks from mini-

plenary speaker Prof Heeringa:

“After a very productive two weeks spent participating in the annual SASA

conference at the University of Pretoria and a second week spent visiting at

Stellenbosch, UCT and Rhodes, I am back in Ann Arbor and digging out from

the work that piled up while I was enjoying the South African sunshine. I want to

thank you all as a group for the invitation to attend the conference and for

arranging the post conference visits to Stats SA and your University

departments. All around, it was a very educational and enjoyable experience for

me both professionally and personally. I hope at some point in the future to

return the favour if you have the opportunity to be in the States and can pass

through Ann Arbor.”

A thanks from mini-plenary speaker Prof Montaz Ali:

“I thank you both for allowing me to present my talk at SASA2015. It was very

kind of you. This was my first presentation in a conference in statistics. We

shall keep in touch.”

A thanks from a delegate Dr Salimeh Yasaei:

“I would like to thank you once again for an amazing conference and great

moments that you created in Pretoria for me. Now I am in Brazil and everything

on my way back went fine. Thank you very much for your nice hosting and I

hope I can meet you again soon. ”

The LOC also thanks all the generous sponsors as well as co-hosts Stats SA,

and all the individuals who organised special sessions as well as chairs of all

the session.

The conference celebrated the birthday of the Department of Statistics at the

University of Pretoria as well. The first statistics lecture at the University of

Pretoria was given 90 years ago, and the Department of Statistics at the

University of Pretoria celebrates its 76th birthday. Prof Stoker was present to

cut the cake and Prof Crowther said a few words to commemorate the

occasion, both past heads of department.

(Left) Opening Function – 29 November 2015, AULA, University of Pretoria

(Top centre) Balloon celebration in front of the AULA, University of Pretoria,

after the cutting of the cake

(Bottom centre) Prof Nico Crowther, past Head of Department, next to current

Head of Department, Prof Andriette Bekker

(Right) Prof DJ Stoker, past Head of Department cutting the cake with Dr

Liebie Louw, current staff member of the department

Sichel Award

Prof Max Finkelstein,

receives the Sichel Award

from Prof Paul Fatti

Thought leader award Prof Neil le Roux receives it

from Prof Paul Mostert

Education news 2014 SASA POST GRADUATE PAPER COMPETITION sponsored by StatsSA

The 2015 SASA Postgraduate Paper Competition, sponsored by StatsSA has

been a success!

SASA received 5 entries from 3 universities, namely University of Cape Town,

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the University of Pretoria.

It is the SASA Education Committee’s pleasure to congratulate the winners for

2015:

1st Prize: Charl Janse van Rensburg from the University of Pretoria with the

title: Big Data: A Compressed Sensing Approach

2nd Prize: Hassan Sadiq from the University of Cape Town with the title:

Inferring Hiv-1 Drug Resistance As Episodic Directional Selection using Topic

Models

3rd Prize: Christiaan Ras from the University of Pretoria with the title: Risk

Performance of A Heteroscedastic Preliminary Test Estimator under the

Reflected Normal Loss Function

First and foremost, the SASA Education Committee wants to thank StatsSA for

their generous sponsorship of the competition. This sponsorship entailed R14

000 for the winner, as well as all expenses paid for the winner to attend and

present his paper at the SASA Conference at the University of Pretoria. The 2nd

prize winner received R10 000 and the 3rd prize winner R7 750.

The SASA Education Committee also wants to use this opportunity to thank the

judges: Prof Tertius de Wet (US), Prof Paul Mostert (US) and Prof Jacky Galpin

(Wits) for their time and effort judging the postgraduate papers, as well as all the

universities that have participated in this competition.

The 2015 first prize winner for the Post Graduate Paper

Competition, sponsored by StatsSA, Charl Janse van Rensburg

(centre), receiving his award from Pali Lehohla (Statistician

General-StatsSA on the left) and Minister Jeff Radebe (right) at

the 2015 SASA conference.

2015/2016 SASA Student Project Competition (sponsored by SAS®)

The SASA education committee invites all South African Universities to prepare

their top three honours projects in Statistics from 2015 for the 2015/2016 SASA

Honours Project Competition sponsored by SAS®. The head of the

Department/School at each University may submit up to three projects and

group work is allowed. There is an additional prize for the best use of SAS in

an honours project (to be awarded to the project that utilises the software best

and places in the top three). The national prize winner will be sponsored to

present their project at the annual SASA conference. The closing date for

entries is 15 March 2016. Please contact Karl Huang should you require

further details.

SASA Education Committee

Contact person: Karl Huang

E-mail: chun-kai.huang@uct.ac.za

The 2014/15 first prize winners for the SASA Honours Project

Competition sponsored by SAS®, Margaret de Villers (and

Dalene Saaiman - not present) (centre), receiving the award from

Pali Lehohla (Statistician General-StatsSA on the left) and Minister

Jeff Radebe (right) at the 2015 SASA conference.

Top student presentations at SASA 2015 Top Left: Janet van Niekerk and Murray de Villiers (1st doctoral presentation) Top Middle: Johan Ferreira and Sollie Millard(2nd doctoral presentation)

Top Tight: Sharkay Izally and Sollie Millard (1st Masters poster)

Bottom Left: Albert Mijburgh and Sollie Millard (2nd masters poster)

Bottom Middle: Prenil Sewmohan and Sollie Millard (1st honours poster)

Bottom Right: Ane Neethling and Sollie Millard (2nd honours poster)

SASA Education Committee Project on Online Teaching Materials

Recognition of the fact that Statistics Departments around the country are

grappling with different ways of addressing the problem of shortage of teaching

capacity, whilst being faced with ever increasing numbers of first year students,

lead the SASA Education Committee to define Special Project which aims to

develop a bank of e-materials, for an introductory statistics course, for use by

universities around the country. The focus is on building on international best

practices, whilst ensuring that materials developed “speak to the reality” of our

local set-up, i.e. materials developed must be relevant to the world of a typical

student in our complex class room, where there are varying levels of

preparation, many different home languages, etc.

The Project was launched during SASA2015, where two sessions and a

workshop was held on the topic of new developments for teaching of

introductory statistics. Invited speakers, with proven expertise in Statistics

Education locally, gave talks on their experiences and challenges from a South

African perspective, whilst the special guest speaker, a world leader in statistics

education, Chris Wild (Auckland University), lead the Invited Session, with a

mini-plenary, entitled Data to Insight: Prototyping next-generation introductory

statistics.

All sessions culminated in a panel discussion, on the way forward, which will

inform the vision of setting up a bank of on-line materials as a national

resource. Note that the idea is not to create an opportunity for “self-learning”,

but rather the put together a set of modern resources, so that less experienced

teachers may have more chance of being successful in engaging the new age

students.

The Workshop and Sessions were well-attended, with vibrant discussions

giving the perfect starting point for further developments in 2016.

Message from Chris Wild: It was a great pleasure to be

invited to South Africa for all

the wonderful sights, sounds,

wildlife and people I

encountered in your beautiful

country, but an even a

greater pleasure to contribute

to the SASA’s new

introductory statistics project.

One of the foremost strategic

goals of very important

statistical society

internationally is increasing

the statistical literacy and

capability of society at large.

Introductory statistics is a key

lever for making progress

towards this goal because it

reaches such a large

proportion of university-

educated people and

because it is largely

controlled by statisticians.

Additionally, the most important future decision-leaders that we teach are

students sprinkled amongst the masses in introductory statistics who will not

continue with statistics. We need to teach them in a way that that conveys the

power of statistics and its practitioners. I come from the Department that gave

the world R, the greatest demonstration of the power of joint development and

sharing for delivering real progress in statistics. SASA is to be congratulated for

deciding to harness this same power to advance introductory statistics right

across South Africa, and especially for those universities facing the biggest

challenges in delivering high quality teaching of modern statistics.

Call for Chairperson of the Young Statisticians Network

We would like to create a portfolio on the SASA executive committee for

someone to coordinate the activities of the association for young statisticians.

Duties will include coordinating all the activities and competitions for young

statisticians during the annual conference, putting together information on

careers in the form of a brochure and on our website, using social media to

interact with the statistics community, taking initiative to make SASA an

association that looks after the well-being of our future generation of

Statisticians.

We invite nominations for this portfolio from SASA members. Each candidate

needs to be nominated by two SASA members and need to indicate their

willingness to take on this portfolio should they be elected.

Nominations should be emailed to Inger.Fabris-Rotelli@up.ac.za by 28

February 2016.

Click here for the nomination form

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