Western North American

International Regions & Networks

Western North American

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Our History

The Western North American Region (WNAR) was founded in Berkeley, California, in June 1948 with 73 members. By 2011, the Region had 200 members. We still meet every year in our region, which includes the western-most 13 U.S. states and 3 Canadian provinces. Our meeting is typically attended by about 150 people and is held in the early summer on a college campus to take advantage of inexpensive dormitory housing. The relatively small size of the meeting provides a great opportunity to meet and network with other researchers in the West. It is especially accessible to students and the region offers reduced registration fees to students. One of WNAR’s most popular activities for students is the student paper competition. This competition gives students valuable experience in presenting their research in a friendly environment, and allows them to meet other new researchers. The meeting is often jointly sponsored by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), and the two societies share the profits/losses according to member attendance. WNAR and IMS organizers of this meeting are volunteers, despite the time and effort required. This keeps the registration fee low rather than hire professional organizers. Our recent regional meetings have been held in Flagstaff (Northern Arizona University, 2006), Irvine (University of California, Irvine 2007), Davis (University of California, Davis 2008), Portland (Portland State University, 2009), Seattle (University of Washington, 2010) and San Louis Obispo (Cal Poly, 2011).

WNAR meets jointly with the American Statistical Association (ASA) and IMS in early August each year at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM), and with other Regions and Groups of the IBS in even numbered years.

Officers

Elizabeth Jaurez-Colunga President
Megan Othus President Elect
Jessica Minnier Secretary/Correspondent
Brandie Wagner Treasurer
Lingling An  Program Coordinator