SRC Guidelines

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

A. The purpose of this document is to set forth guidelines for the conduct and operation of the Summer Research Conference (SRC) in statistics, established and developed by the Southern Regional Council on Statistics (SRCOS).

B. This document will continue to be a “draft” indefinitely. No two SRC’s have been conducted

in exactly the same manner, and it is not the purpose of this document to clone each SRC in some preset image. The SRC and the SRCOS are not static. Thus this set of guidelines will be revised periodically to reflect the current state of the SRC and its operations. The guidelines are made for the SRC, and not the SRC for the guidelines.

II. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

A. The purpose of the SRC is to encourage the interchange and mutual understanding of research ideas and to give motivation and direction to further research progress in a manner not ordinarily possible at other meetings. The SRC has been successful and is to be continued and enhanced. It has attracted interest and participation from within the Region and this should be continued so long as regional objectives are met.

B. The purpose of this document is to set forth general as well as specific guidelines for conducting the SRC.

III. SITE SELECTION AND DATES

A. Site selection and the dates of each SRC are the responsibility of the SRCOS.

B. At the annual SRCOS business meeting, the choice of site and dates should be made for a future SRC. The SRCOS President will select and announce next year’s SRC program co-chairs at this year’s SRC meeting. This will insure adequate lead time for local arrangements, room reservations, etc.

C. Prior to selection of a site and dates, discussions with potential local arrangements chairs are to be held.

D. The dates of the SRC are traditionally in early to mid-June.

E. The SRC shall be held in one of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) member states.

F. Currently, the SRC consists of eight sessions (including the R.L. Anderson Student Poster Session) held over two and one-half days. This does not preclude other schedules if the SRCOS approves them.

G. Sites should be conducive and supportive of the purpose and objectives of the SRC. In order for young assistant professors to be able to attend the SRC with their families and remain for the full duration of the conference, it is desirable to restrict the choice of sites for the SRC to economical locations.

H. Thus, when a site is recommended to the SRCOS at an annual business meeting, information on available dates, meeting rooms, room accommodations, and costs, as well as any other pertinent information, should be available for consideration.

I. Recommended site selections shall be made with a view of the availability of social gathering and exchange to provide unity and cohesion to the group. Furthermore, the site must have accommodations for participants and/or members of their families who have special needs.

IV. THE PROGRAM

A. The program of a SRC shall be in accord with the general purpose and objectives of the SRC.

B. In particular, program participants should usually be drawn from within the Region in so far as possible except for one or two featured outside speakers. More than two speakers from outside the Region should have SRCOS approval or in its stead the Executive Committee of the SRCOS. Speakers within the Region are not to be reimbursed for travel, registration, or other related SRC expenses.

C. The program will normally include an “R.L. Anderson Student Poster Session” at which graduate students present posters of their research. (Students presenting posters at this session are usually awarded some support by the SRCOS to facilitate their participation in the SRC.) Students from within the Region are given priority for such support. See Section V. E. of these Guidelines.

D. The program will normally include a “Mike Kutner Faculty Poster Session” at which junior faculty members present posters of their research. (Junior faculty members presenting posters may be awarded some financial support to facilitate their participation in the SRC.) Junior faculty members within the Region are given priority for such support.

E. Speakers, session chairs, and discussants shall be properly briefed and instructed concerning the purposes, goals, and objectives of the SRC. To this end, the present program co-chairs should draft a "Memorandum of Instruction and Information" conveying these and other details that may be specific to the present SRC. See Appendix I for draft Memorandum. This should be sent to all the program participants about four months prior to the meeting. This is to help sustain high quality sessions, free and uninhibited discussion, and confidentiality of comments.

F. Programs should be particularly aimed at attracting students, young statisticians, and users of statistics. 

G. The number of speakers per session is flexible, as long as the specific objectives, goals and purposes of the SRC are met.

H. It is customary for the program co-chairs and local arrangements chair to write a letter of thanks to each program participant immediately after the SRC.

I. Members of the SRCOS should upon request assist in the program.

J. On special occasions, program participants from other disciplines may be included in order to encourage dialogue across disciplinary boundaries.

K. If external funds are secured to aid in running a successful SRC, then it might be necessary to reserve one of the sessions at the SRC for a topic of interest to the particular funding source.

However, this should be the exception rather than the rule.

L. In the future, it may be necessary to regard the SRC not only as a medium of exchange for esearch, but also as a possible training ground for young statisticians who are keen to anticipate future developments.

M. The present program co-chairs can divide the responsibilities for planning the individual sessions in any manner they so desire.

N. The present program co-chairs should arrange for a few “back-up talks,” so that speakers will be available to fill vacancies that may arise due to unforeseen circumstances and/or emergencies.

V. PARTICIPATION IN THE SRC

A. Participation in the SRC may be arranged by application or through invitation.

B. The members of the SRCOS are responsible for assisting the compiling of a list of invitees.

C. The local arrangements chair shall have the authority to limit the number of participants at the SRC. While no set upper limit exists, it is felt that 100 to 120 participants would be a desirable maximum.

D. The local arrangements chair will have the sole and final decision on the approval of participants should the list of suggested invitees and applicants exceed the facilities available.

E. The program co-chairs will be responsible for solicitation of applications and selection of the

recipients of the R.L. Anderson and Clint Miller Student Poster Awards and the Boyd Harshbarger Student Travel Awards. These awards are designed to aid students in attending and/or participating in the SRC. The number and amounts of the awards are set by the SRCOS at the annual business meeting for the “present” SRC (the SRC following the business meeting). The recipients of Boyd Harshbarger Travel Awards will present their posters at the R.L. Anderson Student Poster Session at the SRC. The SRC provides Boyd Harshbarger Travel Award funds to off-set travel expenses to a limited number of graduate students who present a poster in the R.L. Anderson Poster Session. Preference is given to SRCOS member institution applicants. To apply, the applicant should email; (1) a letter of recommendation from the student’s research advisor, (2) a copy of the paper or extended abstract and (3) a copy of the applicant’s CV all together to the SRC program co-chairs. The deadline for applications is April 15th. The Clint Miller Award will be given to the “best poster” as selected by SRCOS judges and runner-ups will be selected for R.L. Anderson Awards.

F. If the attendance at the SRC must be restricted, then the present program co-chairs should 

keep in mind that one of the fundamental precepts of the SRC is to involve students, young statisticians, and new assistant professors.  

G. The SRCOS adopted the formal motion that “announcements of the SRC program will be sent 

to members of the SRCOS prior to a general announcement and will indicate that the SRCOS applicants should submit their applications immediately, if assurance of space is desired.” No specific time was established, however, two weeks seems adequate.

H. If external funds are raised to support the SRC, then a portion of these funds should be 

awarded to the “Mike Kutner Faculty Poster Session” participants to help them spend more time at the conference and to increase their participation.

VI. LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS AND REGISTRATION FEES

A. The SRCOS shall at its annual business meeting establish registration fees for the present SRC in response to the budget submitted by the local arrangements chair.

B. It is intended that every SRC shall be self supporting. However, a contingency fund has been established for emergencies.

C. Budget overruns and/or excess expenditures over the registration fees arising after the annual meeting of the SRCOS and prior to the close of the present SRC will be the responsibility of the Executive Committee of the SRCOS.

D. Registration fees should include such overhead as conference room (if not free), hospitality room (if not free), refreshments for both conference room and hospitality room, local transportation, mailing and materials.

E. Special events such as the Awards Banquet which are part of the SRC may be included in the registration fee. If the event is considered to be “extra special”, then it may be staged as a fee event.

F. Any host institution is encouraged to contribute local transportation and mailing.

G. The local arrangements chair shall keep detailed records of all expenditures and forward such records to the treasurer of the SRCOS. Inquiries as to the use of registration fees should be forwarded to the treasurer for response.

H. Since the treasurer has records of past meetings and conferences, the local arrangements chair should stay in close contact with the treasurer.

I. When the local arrangements chair begins to execute his/her duties, an advance of funds may be made by the treasurer to provide operating funds until registration fees have been received.

J. Registration fees are not to be used for the reimbursement of expenses of any of the members of SRCOS. Registration fees may be used to defray the expenses of speakers outside of the Region, if it is absolutely necessary. In general, each participant in the SRC, including program participants, is expected to pay his/her own expenses.

VII. NORMATIVE SRC DATES

A. Site and date selection is to be made at the penultimate annual business meeting prior to the SRC (approximately 21 months in advance). Preparations for this selection should begin approximately one year in advance of that business meeting.

B. Central themes, major topics of sessions, potential speakers, etc., shall be available for reporting to the SRCOS at its annual business meeting prior to the present SRC.

C. Major speakers should be committed by November 1, prior to the present SRC.

D. All speakers should be confirmed by December 1, except for the presenters for the R.L. Anderson Student Poster Session. Selection of student posters will usually be completed by April 15. The students receiving Boyd Harshbarger Travel Awards should be notified as soon as possible after selection, but no later than May 1.

E. All regular speakers, session chairs, and discussants should be confirmed by January 15.

F. Preliminary announcement of the SRC and the program to the members of the SRCOS should be available around January 15. This announcement should include instructions and deadlines for students to apply for Boyd Harshbarger Travel Awards.

G. General announcement of the upcoming SRC and its program is to begin around February 1, and to continue through May. The program should be printed during this period.

H. The Memorandum of Instruction and Information (see Section IV. E) should be sent to all program participants around March 1.

I. A final contact with all sessions chairs, discussants, and speakers concerning any last minute changes should be made around May 1.

VIII. ADVERTISING OF SRC

A. The present program co-chairs and local arrangements chair will be responsible for the appropriate dissemination of information on the conference.

B. The location, dates and an address to write for more information of the present SRC should be placed in the listing of “Forthcoming Conferences and Seminars – North America,” which appears periodically in the AMSTAT NEWS, as soon as possible (after the close of the immediate past SRC). This should appear several times throughout the year.

C. Special announcements containing the program and list of speakers should be placed in appropriate outlets, such as the AMSTAT NEWS, several times from February 1 through May 15.

D. The local arrangements chair usually will make two mailings of the program to the “general public.” The first contains general information and a preliminary program. The second contains the finalized program and all reservation information, pre-registration forms (if used), etc.

E. The mailing list for this advertising is available from the past local arrangements chair. It is the responsibility of the present local arrangements chair to obtain this list, use it as needed, update it as necessary, and pass it on to the next local arrangements chair.

F. Use the SRCOS listserv srcos@listserv.cc.emory.edu to inform all institutional member representatives about the present SRC several times from January 15 through May 15.

G. Use the SRCOS website http://www.sph.emory.edu/srcos/ to link the SRC information.

H. Other methods of disseminating information about the SRC and it current program are encouraged.

            

APPENDIX I

Memorandum of Instruction and Information for Program Participants of the Summer Research Conference (SRC)

A. The purpose of the SRC is to encourage the interchange and mutual understanding of research ideas and to give motivation and direction to further research progress in a manner not ordinarily possible at other meetings. Speakers present formal talks with ample time allowed for clarification, amplification, and possible further informal discussions in small groups. As such, speakers, session chairs, and discussants should make themselves accessible for informal discussions of their research, as well as formal presentations. This is one of the basic objectives of the SRC, and hence, each speaker should plan to stay at the conference for its duration if at all possible.  

B. All SRC participants understand that all presentations are privileged, that presentation of research at the SRC does not preclude future presentations at society meetings, nor does it in any way limit speakers in any future plans for publication of research results.

C. All SRC speakers are encouraged to devote some time at the beginning of their presentation to some elementary, tutorial remarks and a historical review of their topic.

D. Proper exchange of vitae, papers, etc., should be facilitated among the various speakers, discussants and session chairs well in advance of the meeting.

E. The actual conduct and timing within each session is left to the participants (i.e., the speakers, discussants and sessions chairs). They should be encouraged to meet before the session to establish such organizational matters.

F. It is traditional that the session chair is not simply a moderator. The session chair should feel free to participate in the session as actively as they feel appropriate.

G. Handouts and other such materials are to be encouraged, if it is deemed appropriate. However, if the research is considered confidential by the speaker, then handouts will not be given out.

H. Proceedings of the SRC are not published.