Biostatistics Faculty Meeting
August 26, 2008
12:15-1:15 PM

MINUTES

Present: Faculty: Karen Bandeen-Roche; Ron Brookmeyer; Ciprian Crainiceanu; Francesca Dominici; Constantine Frangakis; Michael Griswold; Harris Jaffee; Hongkai Ji; Tom Louis; Roger Peng; Fernando Pineda; Chuck Rohde; Ingo Ruczinski; Daniel Scharfstein; Carol Thompson; Mei-Cheng Wang; Scott Zeger; Visitors: Henry Mwambi; Postdocs: Chris Barr; Sonja Greven; Students: Bruce Swihart; Staff: Mary Joy Argo; Cindy Hockett; Marvin Newhouse.

Guest: Joyclyn Gilmore.

Regrets: Brian Caffo; Marie Diener-West; Kung-Yee Liang

1) Announcements

Thanks to all who made the August 25 welcome luncheon such a success!

Congratulations to Liz Stuart, on the recent birth of her daughter Clara Doyle.  Congratulations as well to Gary Chan and Benilton Carvalho, who defended their PhD theses on August 19 and 21, respectively.  Gary will be going to the University of Washington and Benilton will be taking a position at Cambridge.

The Admissions Office is putting together a list of departments sending faculty to APHA (which has traditionally not been fertile recruiting ground for us).  Although an informal poll showed minimal faculty interest, anyone who decides to go is asked to let Karen know.

As most of us know by now, our graduate Blake Charvat died suddenly on August 21.  An online guestbook in his memory is available at http://www.legacy.com/Atlanta/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=116236636. All are welcome to leave a note for Blake's family. Ron Gray, Blake's supervisor at the Rakai program, is also organizing a small get-together at his home for those who worked closest with Blake at Hopkins.

Louise Ryan is looking for a collaborator on a project involving Hopkins co-investigators.  Anyone interested should contact Karen.  A number of additional requests for master's-level statisticians have come in, including projects with Maureen Black, Ron Gray (Rakai Project), and Taha Taha.  Anyone with leads or suggestions should contact Karen as well. 

Karen will be forwarding to all faculty a last-minute visiting scholar request from Rafael Irizarry for Matt Ritchie, who plans to visit for approximately seven weeks.

Faculty needing short-term assistance with grant preparations or submissions should contact Risha Zuckerman.

Karen announced her formal candidacy for the chair's position.  She will be formally visiting as a candidate on Wednesday, September 17. 

2) Standing reports from:

• Faculty Senate
  
  Rafael Irizarry will be replacing Ciprian Crainiceanu as one of our department's senators (Kung-Yee Liang is the other one).  Terry Brown, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was elected President-Elect of the Faculty Senate for the 2008-2009 academic year. On September 1, 2008, Stephen Gange will become President and Laura Caulfield will replace Tom Louis as Past President.
   

• Graduate Program
  
  Dan Scharfstein reported that our new students have now arrived, been assigned advisors, and should have already met with their advisors in advance of this morning's registration.
  
  As discussed at the July 29 faculty meeting, we are considering having a Friday or Saturday open house in the fall for local college juniors and seniors.  A planning meeting is in the works; Dan will give an update at the September 9 faculty meeting.
  
  All PhD students in their second year and beyond are strongly encouraged to take the year-long series of special studies courses we've put together.  Advisors are also encouraged to recommend the special studies series to their students.  The topics and instructors include: decision theory with Giovanni Parmigiani (1st term); image reconstruction with Brian Caffo, time series with Roger Peng, and likelihood with Kung-Yee Liang (2nd term); foundations with Chuck Rohde (3rd term); and longitudinal data with Sonja Greven and latent variable analysis with Karen Bandeen-Roche (4th term).
  
  Chuck Rohde's math refresher course August 5-8 was a success, averaging between 15 and 20 attendees each day.  Based on the positive feedback received, we as a department should probably think about how to formalize this program and make it a regular summer offering.
  
  Karen requested that Brian Caffo make an announcement about the concurrent MHS program to current 651 students.  Dan Scharfstein will also email Mary Joy Argo a blurb about the program that she will forward to her counterparts in other departments.  It was suggested that another possible recruiting ground for concurrent MHS students might be high-performing 654 students. 
  
  Scott Zeger reported that his new course with Jim Tonascia has a strong enrollment; he and Jim are working with Elizabeth Sugar, one of the instructors of a complementary course, on reducing duplication.
   

• BIT
  
  Fernando and Marvin reported that we have a maintenance proposal in the works for the air conditioning in the server room.
  
  As mentioned at the July 29 faculty meeting, representatives from IBM visited on August 13 as part of their efforts to set up a super-computer at Hopkins.  They have passed along our feedback to the Provost's Office.  It's unclear what, if anything, needs to be done in follow-up.
   

• Students
  
  Bruce Swihart reported that students would like a master list of TA assignments for the 2008-09 academic year; Mary Joy Argo will get back to the students with this information.
  
  Due to scheduling conflicts for this year's student moderators (Jonathan Benenson and George Wu), the Computing Club is thinking of switching from Fridays to Thursdays at noon.  Such a move would also help alleviate the "pile-up" of departmental events held on Friday afternoons.  Roger Peng agreed to be a faculty advisor for the Computing Club.
  
  On behalf of the faculty, Karen passed along to the students, and Nick Reich in particular, thanks for their help in updating the computing information letter for incoming students.
   

• Biostatistics Center
  
  Mike Griswold reported back on our proposed ScM internship program (discussed at the May 6 faculty meeting).  We've now vetted the proposal with key administrative players and have received permission to proceed.  We'll be launching the program on a trial basis this year.  Mike will work with Dan and Kung-Yee to develop core competencies for the internship program.  There was enthusiasm for having some kind special studies/formal component to the internship program.
  
  Advisors of ScM candidates are also asked to encourage their students to work in the Center.  Toward that end, the Center is hosting an informational lunch for our incoming ScM students on Wednesday, August 27. 
   

• Events
  
  Ciprian Crainiceanu reported that some Grand Rounds dates are still available, although we may need to keep some open for possible seminars from chair candidates. 
  
  In follow-up to our discussion of the proposed format for this year's retreat at the July 29 meeting, it was decided that October 15 should be the deadline for faculty to get back to Constantine Frangakis with either research topics that will be presented for discussion, or advance notice of any preliminary information gathering or preparation that might need to be done.  In a related matter, Risha Zuckerman will soon be sending out an email with administrative details about the retreat.
  
  Saturday, September 6 at 6 PM is the date for the chili party at Scott Zeger's house.  Volunteers were sought to bring beer.

3) Annual Process for Choosing Retreat Time of Year/Location

Cindy Hockett polled faculty on their preferences for time of year and location for future annual retreats.  There was enthusiasm for having our retreats in the spring (so as to maximize opportunities to make any curriculum changes to the coming academic year) and at locations within a two-hour travel distance.  There was also enthusiasm for having off-site retreats every other year, with alternating years perhaps being used for more low-key, onsite retreats. 

4) Process for Faculty to Notify Staff of Grant Support (Cindy Hockett)

Cindy Hockett and Joyclyn Gilmore reported that Christie Johnson now maintains faculty biosketches and other support pages.   As soon as faculty members know they're going on a particular grant or project, they are requested to notify Joyclyn, so that she is in the loop and can make sure that our various internal administrative hurdles are all cleared (among them, notifying Christie, who then sends out BCSS information to the grant administrator).  There was enthusiasm for having Christie provide faculty with their biosketches on a regular basis (ie, January, May and August), so that faculty can make sure that information is up-to-date.  Faculty are also requested to copy Joyclyn on any email requests that that they receive for biosketch and other support information.

5) First-Year Exam Retakes (for primarily-appointed tenure-track faculty only)