Conference Proposal -- StatFest 2013

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StaFest conference will be held on October 12, 2013 at Rice University. The StaFest is an annual event partially supported by the American Statistical Association through the Committee on Minorities in Statistics. This year, the International Year of Statistics, this event will be especially significant. The goal of the StatFest is to showcase the work by statisticians in all realms of human endeavors, and by doing so, to encourage undergraduate students -- mostly non-traditional and underrepresented -- to pursue graduate careers in the statistical sciences. In addition, opportunities for graduate fellowships are discussed in the context of opportunities for graduate work in specific institutions. These goals are achieved by gathering a cadre of dynamic speakers who are top researchers in their respective domains (government, industry, academia, etc.) who are able to transmit their enthusiasm for the statistical sciences. In addition, a panel of graduate students discusses more specifically opportunities, challenges, and anecdotes that can be helpful for the soon-to-be graduate students. The conference also offers plenty of one-on-one discussion opportunities between undergraduate students and professional statisticians through communitarian meals (breakfast, lunch, and two coffee breaks) and, for the first time in the history of StatFests, an undergraduate research poster session at the end of the day. Students that will be recruited from across Texas. Traditionally the StatFest has recruited students from institutions in the host city. But this year, due to the International Year of Statistics, it is envisioned that the event will have more of a regional impact rather than a local one. The conference will assemble a group of top professional statisticians from academia, industry and government to showcase their activities with the purpose of enticing undergraduate students to pursue graduate careers in the statistical sciences. Students, mostly from underrepresented groups in the statistical sciences, engage in conversations about, and learn about cutting edge problems and solutions in, various realms of scientific inquiry, and most importantly, students come to appreciate the fundamental role that the statistical sciences play in supporting and guiding the fundamental scientific research and in the process get interested in pursuing graduate careers. The StatFest continues to have a major positive impact on the decisions of undergraduate students regarding graduate work. As a substantial percentage of those students attending the StatFest are from underrepresented groups in the statistical sciences, the StatFest -- clearly and compellingly-- provides a launching platform for many underrepresented students. These efforts will have an impact in helping to alleviate the well-documented national critical need to train more students from underrepresented groups in postgraduate careers in the mathematical sciences.