SMI 2021

The Statistical Methods in Imaging (SMI) conference is the annual meeting of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Statistics in Imaging Section. The conference aims to bring together statisticians and imaging researchers working on methodology, theory, and applications in imaging science. The SMI 2021 conference will be held virtually from May 17-19, 2021.

The Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and the Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics (CBIS) at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health are proud to co-host the SMI 2021 conference along with the ASA Statistics in Imaging Section.  Please see the following summary of some highlights of SMI 2021.

Founders Talk

The Founders Talk of SMI 2021 will be delivered by Dr. Timothy Johnson from University of Michigan.  Dr. Johnson is a distinguished researcher in imaging statistical science who has made significant contributions to the establishment and development of the ASA Statistics in Imaging Section. As an expert in imaging statistics and a great educator, he has motivated and supported many students and junior faculty to pursue this field.

Keynote Lectures

We are excited to announce the SMI 2021 keynote lectures will be given by two world-renowned imaging researchers: Dr. Tom Nichols, Professor of Neuroimaging Statistics, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, and Dr. Vince Calhoun, Founding Director, Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Georgia State University, and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Brain Health and Image Analysis.

Educational Program

SMI 2021 will provide a Short Course “Introduction to Deep Learning” taught by Dr. Hui Lin, Quantitative UX Researcher at Google and former head of Data Science at Netlify. Dr. Lin has taught the short course at various national and international conferences including the Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM).

Scientific Program

SMI 2021 features an exciting scientific program including 16 invited and collaborative case-study sessions. The invited sessions cover a range of topics in imaging statistics, including statistical imaging methods for studying neurological disorders, recent advances in brain network analysis, Bayesian approaches for imaging analysis, regularization methods in medical imaging, time series analysis, statistical shape analysis using imaging data, multimodal imaging, cancer imaging, and functional and spatial analysis with imaging data. The collaborative case-study sessions feature imaging scientists presenting advanced imaging techniques and statistical challenges in imaging analysis. 

In addition to the invited and collaborative case-study sessions, SMI 2021 will feature a new session on statistical software for imaging analysis. This new session will allow imaging statisticians to showcase their software for implementing cutting-edge statistical methods and conducting advanced statistical analysis in imaging studies.  The goal of introducing the software session is to encourage and promote software development among statistical imaging researchers, which is highly important to disseminate new statistical methods and increase their impact in the broader imaging community. 

SMI 2021 will host poster presentations which are open to students, postdocs, and faculty. To create a virtual environment that mimics the in-person experience, the poster session will be held in a virtual auditorium using the web-conferencing space Gather.town. The presenters will be able to present their posters in individual poster spaces, and participants will be able to move around the virtual room to view the posters and interact freely with each other. Along with the poster session, SMI 2021 will also hold an opening mixer in Gather.town to create a virtual social event that will allow participants to connect with each other and stimulate community building.

We acknowledge all the sponsors and organizing committees of the SMI 2021 conference. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation for all of the hard work and dedication provided by the leadership, students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and CBIS at Emory Rollins School of Public Health.

We hope you will join us at SMI 2021!

Ying Guo,
Principal Organizer 
SMI 2021 Local Organizing Committee