Statisticians play an indispensable role in the analysis of biomedical, environmental and public health data, from the study design stage all the way through to final analysis and report-writing. Scholarly conferences where new ideas can be exchanged are important for statistical science to move forward. International meetings, while of course rarer due to their size and expense, are particularly beneficial since they permit exposure to ideas and colleagues the attendee might not ordinary see or even read about in the familiar journals of one's own country. The benefit of and need for attendance at such meetings by junior statistical researchers is particularly great, since they contribute mightily to their professional development and help level the playing field with more established senior investigators. This grant will provide support for the Third International Joint Meeting of the IMS (Institute of Mathematical Statistics) and ISBA (the International Society for Bayesian Analysis), to be held in Bormio, Italy on Wednesday, January 9 to Friday, January 11, 2008. A central theme of the conference will be Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and related methods and applications ranging from finance to technology, with specific focus on challenging problems in biostatistics. All grant funds will be used to support the travel expenses of junior biostatistical investigators, i.e., persons pursuing a PhD or DrPH in statistics, biostatistics, or a closely related field, or who have received such a degree within the five years preceding the conference.
