stat.bowl

ASA Stat Bowl to Make Return at JSM 2006 in Seattle

Above: Organizer/Moderator Mark Payton awards the championship plaque to Jesse Frey of Ohio State University, who also won in 2004

Jesse Frey Claims Second Consecutive Individual Title in 2005; Virginia Tech Wins Their First Team Championship

By Mark Payton, Oklahoma State U

The ASA Stat Bowl will be back at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in 2006. The event at JSM in Minneapolis was successful, and we’re hoping the same will be true in Seattle.

Just like last year, each student who plays in the Stat Bowl will receive up to $500 in travel reimbursement from ASA. This will hopefully enable some students of statistics to make the trip to Seattle and experience JSM firsthand. The $500 is given to all participants regardless of their performance in the Bowl. Stat Bowl is an individual competition and teams from individual institutions are not needed to play. Team points are kept and a team championship is awarded, but having a team is not a requirement.

The contest in Minneapolis was a lot of fun for everyone participating. Jesse Frey from Ohio State University was the individual champion for the second year in a row. He was very impressive once again, displaying knowledge of many different statistical topics, history, and ASA organization. Future Stat Bowl players need not worry about facing the juggernaut Jesse in Seattle, however. He has graduated and accepted a job at Temple University, thus ending his mini dynasty in Stat Bowl. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay from the University of Georgia did very well in his first Stat Bowl outing and made it into the finals to win the runner-up trophy. The team from Virginia Tech University, comprised of Landon Sego and Willis Jensen, had both players win first round games, which was enough for them to win the coveted team title. It was the first ever team championship for Virginia Tech, a long time participant in Stat Bowl events.

Many companies and organizations made the 2005 edition of ASA Stat Bowl possible. Sponsors include the American Statistical Association, ENAR, WNAR, Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Statistical Society of Canada. A very important resource of help for the Bowl is also Mu Sigma Rho, the National Statistical Honor Society. Lynn Eberly, University of Minnesota Biostatistics and ASA Twin Cities Chapter Representative, secured local sponsors for additional cash prizes for the top individual contestants and to the members of the winning team. Medtronic provided a $250 for first place, Guidant gave the runner up an award of $175, and Integra clinical Trial Solutions gave each member of the winning team $100. Many thanks to all that support our efforts in the Bowl!

Students will be accepted into the 2006 tournament on a first come, first in basis. Notification of a willingness to participate will serve as entry. Inquires about the Bowl or requests to be registered as a contestant can be made to Mark Payton, Oklahoma State University, mpayton@okstate.edu. A maximum of sixteen players will be allowed in the contest. In the event that the field of contestants fills to capacity, each university will be restricted to two players to assure diversity. A waiting list will be established to fill unexpected vacancies should they occur at game time.

The contest will be held on the Tuesday of JSM in two sessions. Session 1, starting at 10:30 am, will consist of four games, each with four contestants. The winners of these four games plus two at large contestants will advance to Session 2. Players who score the most points in Session 1 without winning their game will be the at large winners. Session 2, starting at 2:00pm, will consist of the six players who have advanced playing two games each with three players, and the two winners meeting head-to-head in a championship game. Many different rounds make up a Stat Bowl game. There’s the Toss Up/Bonus round (which consists of bonus questions awarded to players that buzz in and correctly answer a toss up question), Lightning Round (quick questions that have no bonus questions attached), and a Category Round (players pick a category and receive questions and bonus questions). Most questions focus on the ASA organization and on statistical history and methodology.

Any student interested in playing should contact us ASAP before the player positions are filled. We encourage all players to register before July 1, 2006, though all positions were filled by April last year. Hope to see you in Seattle!

Above: Landon Sego and Willis Jensen of Virginia Tech (Center) are presented with the 2005 team championship plaque by Mark Payton. At far left is Golde Holtzman, team coach

A Brief History of the Stat Bowl (formerly the College Bowl)

1992: ASA Winter Conference, Louisville KY: Bowling Green def. Virginia Tech; Four teams participating; Organized and moderated by Bob Stephenson (Iowa State)
1994: ASA Winter Conference, Atlanta, GA: Iowa State def. Florida; Eight teams participating; Organized by Ralph St. John (Bowling Green) and Linda Young (Nebraska); Moderated by J. Stuart Hunter (Princeton)
1995: ASA Winter Conference, Raleigh, NC: Nebraska (team 2) def. Bowling Green; Eight teams participating; Organized by Ralph St. John (Bowling Green) and Linda Young (Nebraska); Moderated by Mitchell Gail (NCI)
1996: Joint Statistical Meetings, Chicago, IL: Iowa State def. Chicago; Eight teams participating; Organized by Don Edwards (S. Carolina) and Mark Payton (Oklahoma State); Moderated by Bob Hogg (Iowa)
1997: Joint Statistical Meetings, Anaheim, CA: Iowa def. UC Santa Barbara; Seven teams participating; Organized by Don Edwards (S. Carolina) and Mark Payton (Oklahoma State); Moderated by Linda Young (Nebraska)
1998: Joint Statistical Meetings, Dallas, TX: Iowa def. Texas A&M; Six teams participating; Organized by Mark Payton (Oklahoma State) and Jim Albert (Bowling Green); Moderated by John Boyer (Kansas State)
1999: Joint Statistical Meetings, Baltimore, MD: Florida def. Maryland; Four teams participating; Organized by Mark Payton (Oklahoma State); Moderated by Chuck McCulloch (Cornell) and Walt Piegorsch (South Carolina)
2003: Joint Statistical Meetings, San Francisco, CA: Sixteen players participating representing 10 Universities; Individual Champion: Wes Eddings, Johns Hopkins U.; Runner-Up: David Hitchcock, University of Florida; Team Champions: University of Florida; Organized and Moderated by Mark Payton (Oklahoma State)
2004: Joint Statistical Meetings, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Sixteen players participating representing 10 Universities; Individual Champion: Jesse Frey, Ohio State U.; Runner-Up: Andrew Smith, Georgia Tech; Team Champions: Georgia Tech; Organized and Moderated by Mark Payton (Oklahoma State)
2005: Joint Statistical Meetings, Minneapolis, MN: Sixteen players participating; Individual Champion: Jesse Frey, Ohio State U.; Runner-Up: Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, U. Georgia; Team Champions: Virginia Tech; Organized and Moderated by Mark Payton (Oklahoma State)

Stat Bowl Questions

Stat Bowl Questions cover all aspects of probability and statistics. There are questions on the history of statistics, famous statisticians, unlikely statisticians, probability, statistical methods, distributions, and current events such as officers of statistical societies and editors of major journals. Sources for the history of statistics include well known texts such as Stigler (1986), and the journal Statistical Science, which frequently offers historical articles and photos of famous statisticians.