[R] John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award

[Patrick Breheny]

John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award 2017

The Statistical Computing Section of the American Statistical 
Association announces the competition for the John M. Chambers 
Statistical Software Award. In 1998 the Association for Computing 
Machinery presented its Software System Award to John Chambers for the 
design and development of S. Dr. Chambers generously donated his award 
to the Statistical Computing Section to endow an annual prize for 
statistical software written by, or in collaboration with, an 
undergraduate or graduate student. The prize carries with it a cash 
award of $1,000.

Both individuals and teams are eligible to participate in the 
competition. To be eligible, at least one individual within the team 
must have begun the development while a student and must either 
currently be a student, or have completed all requirements for her/his 
last degree after January 1, 2016.  The award will be given to the 
student, or split between student team members if the team consists of 
multiple students, up to a maximum of three students. If the software 
was created by a team, the contribution of the student(s) must be 
substantial.

To apply for the award, teams must provide the following materials:

* Current CVs of all student team members.

* A letter from a faculty mentor at the academic institution of one of 
the students. The letter should confirm that the student had substantial 
participation in the development of the software, certify her/his 
student status when the software began to be developed, confirm that 
he/she is still a student (or provide a date of degree completion), and 
briefly discuss the importance of the software to statistical practice.

* A brief, one to two page description of the software, summarizing what 
it does, how it does it, and why it is an important contribution. If any 
student team member has continued developing the software after 
finishing her/his studies, the description should indicate what was 
developed when the individual was a student and what has been added since.

* An installable software package with its source code for use by the 
award committee. It should be accompanied by enough information to allow 
the judges to effectively use and evaluate the software (including its 
design considerations). This information can be provided in a variety of 
ways, including but not limited to: a user manual, a manuscript, a URL, 
and online help to the system.

All materials must be in English. We prefer that electronic text be 
submitted as PDF files. The entries will be judged on a variety of 
dimensions, including the importance and relevance for statistical 
practice of the tasks performed by the software, ease of use, clarity of 
description, elegance and availability for use by the statistical 
community. Preference will be given to those entries that are grounded 
in software design rather than calculation. The decision of the award 
committee is final.

All application materials must be received by Thursday, December 15, 
2016 and should be sent to the e-mail address below.  The winner will be 
announced by January 15.  The award will be presented at the 2017 Joint 
Statistical Meetings, and the winner(s) will be given an opportunity to 
present their work in a topic-contributed session at the meetings.

Note that the Statistical Computing Section also runs, with the 
Statistical Graphics Section, a student paper competition.  Students are 
eligible to submit an application to both competitions for the same 
work, but would only be allowed to accept one of the awards.

Inquiries and application materials should be sent to:

Patrick Breheny
Department of Biostatistics
University of Iowa
patrick-breheny at uiowa.edu