DSC 2007, an international workshop on Directions in Statistical Computing, will be held February 15-16, 2007 at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. This is the fifth in a series of meetings; previous meeting were held in Vienna, Austria (1999, 2001, and 2003), and Seattle, WA (2005). The workshop will focus on, but is not limited to, open source statistical computing and aims to provide a platform for exchanging ideas about developments in statistical computing. This project is for funding exclusively to provide support to assist with travel expenses for junior investigators from US institutions to attend this meeting. Work of young researchers is often among the most novel, yet often these researchers lack the travel funds necessary to attend such a conference because they have not yet established themselves sufficiently to attract external travel and other funding for their work.
Statistics is playing an increasingly important role in interdisciplinary research, and statistical computing is essential as the means for making new methodology available to researchers and allowing the best statistical practices to be applied effectively. Scholarly conferences on statistical computing are an essential framework for the exchange of ideas and for encouraging the exploration of new directions in the design of statistical software. International conferences are particularly valuable as they allow the exchange of ideas among researchers from around the world who would not ordinarily come into direct contact. The benefit to young researchers of a first exposure to the international research community is particularly important. International meetings also provide an opportunity to meet with outstanding international graduate students and encourage them to consider opportunities for further study in the United States.
