The proposed Program Project, Statistical Informatics for Cancer Research, will tackle a wide range ofchallenging statistical problems based on the computationally-intensive analysis of large and complicateddata sets. Among the types of datasets to be handled are large administrative databases for diseasemapping and public health surveillance subject to spatial and temporal correlation and high dimensionaldatasets arising from genomics or proteomics studies in cancer epidemiology.The Statistical Computing Core will be responsible for supporting the computational needs of all Programinvestigators. Specifically, the Core will1. advise Program investigators on computational aspects of their work;2. provide educational tutorials and training as appropriate;3. provide specialized advice and support in terms of Geographic Information Systems (CIS) andbioinformatics;4. serve as a Liaison with the Information Technology Department at the Harvard School of PublicHealth to ensure that all Program investigators have adequate support through the School's highperformance Linux cluster;5. create and maintain a Program website;6. work with Program investigators to take their prototype programs and turn them into flexible, efficient,robust, well-documented, and user-friendly R libraries that can be distributed through the online Rarchive, as well as via the Program website.Christopher Paciorek, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, will serveas Core Director. Dr. Paciorek is an experienced programmer and received strong training in statisticalcomputing during his doctoral studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Paciorek's own research interestsare in computational methods, especially for spatio-temporal and Bayesian modeling. The Core willsubcontract professional programming support from Battelle Memorial Institute. The Battelle group providingthe support (Project Manager, Mr. Warren Strauss) has an outstanding track record with respect to providingsuch support, and we are confident that we have identified a high quality, cost-effective solution. The overallProgram PI, Dr. Ryan, has a successful ongoing collaboration with this same group.
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