Delaware Chapter, ASA Dinner Meeting: October 2011 Note: Meeting location: Townsend Hall on the University of Delaware campus. Townsend Hall     Speaker:   Dennis Sweitzer PhD Consulting Research Statiscian Title:   Quick and Clean Simulation in MS Excel: A Brief Tutorial View meeting photos, presentation slides and supporting materials. Abstract: For all its advantages & disadvantages, Microsoft Excel is an ubiquitous part of statistics today. Since it is limited for complex calculations, statisticians rarely do statistical analyses using Excel. However, it is a standard for data collection and presentation, and provides a common way of communication between statisticians and non-statisticians. Simulation in Excel is usually done with commercial add-ins, programmed in visual basic, or not at all. Excel lacks statistical functions that are commonly required for simulation, and is not suited for discrete event simulation. Commercial packages add functions and features to Excel to make it a good general purpose simulation system, with enhanced data display capabilities, but at a price. However, substantial simulations can be done using the Data Table feature to iterate the simulation and store the results of each iteration, and only a few visual basic functions are needed to make Excel usable for most simulations. The advantages include cost savings, convenience, ease-of-learning, transportability, and transparency. The main disadvantages are speed (especially when using VBA code), size, and structure (many kinds of simulation are impossible or difficult to implement). All VBA code and spreadsheet examples will be posted on the Delaware ASA website. Biography: Dennis Sweitzer, is a Consulting Research Statistician with nearly 20 years of experience in statistics, clinical trials, data mining, and simulation. His experience includes 14 years at AstraZeneca in the statistical design, analysis and interpretation of clinical studies as well as providing modeling and simulation development to support study management and decision making. Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011   Time: Social time -- 6:00 pm Buffet -- 6:30 pm Speaker -- 7:20 pm   Place: Townsend Hall South College Ave. University of Delaware Newark, DE   Directions/Map   Menu: (Catered by Aramark, University of Delaware Food Services)   Simply Italian Caesar Salad Broccoli with lemon zest Garlic bread Chicken Parmesan Rotini Marinara and Tiramisu   Cost: $20 for members/others, students $5   Reservations to:  Irina Baldycheva by Monday, October 17, 2011. Phone: 302-885-9136 Email: Irina Baldycheva.   Note: Please be sure to RSVP by this date. Aramark requires an accurate count of the number of plates three days prior to an event, and we pay by the plate. Return to Delaware Chapter ASA home page.