Program Achievements

AAPOR Awards

ASA Awards

ESRA Awards

MAPOR

Miscellaneous Awards

The AAPOR Award is the Association’s lifetime achievement award. It is given for an outstanding contribution to the field of public opinion research, including: advances in theory, empirical research and methods; improvements in ethical standards; and promotion of understanding among the public, media and/or policy makers.  The following is a list of PSM affiliated faculty who have won this award:

  • 2010  Michael Traugott
  • 2001  Robert Groves
  • 1996  Eleanor Singer

The AAPOR’s Monroe Sirken Award is given annually to a distinguished survey researcher for contributions to interdisciplinary survey research that improves the theory and methods of collecting, verifying, processing, presenting or analyzing survey data.

  • 2024  Michael R. Elliott

The Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award is designed to recognize accomplishments in the fields of public opinion and survey research that occurred in the past ten years (2000 to present), or that had their primary impact on the field during the past decade. These innovations could consist of new theories, ideas, applications, methodologies or technologies. To be considered for the award, they must be publicly documented. The award can be given to individuals, groups or institutions.  The following is a list of MPSDS affiliated faculty who have won this award:

  • 2013  Frederick Conrad
  • 2008  Mick Couper
  • 2005  Roger Tourangeau
  • 2004  James Lepkowski
  • 2000  Robert Groves

The Seymour Sudman Student Paper Competition award is in memory of Seymour Sudman; it recognizes his many important contributions to AAPOR as well as his teaching and mentoring students in the survey research profession.  The following is a list of PSM affiliated faculty and students who have won this award:

  • 2018  Mengyao Hu, MS 2013 and PhD 2017
  • 2018  Dave Vannette, MS 2011
  • 2016  Ashley Amaya, MS 2006
  • 2015  Christopher Antoun, MS 2011 and PhD 2015
  • 2011  Joseph Sakshaug, MS 2007 and PhD 2011 (honorable mention)
  • 2010  Courtney Kennedy, PhD 2010
  • 2009  Philip Brenner, Post-Doc
  • 2009  Brady West, PhD 2011
  • 2006  Andy Peytchev, PhD 2007 (honorable mention)
  • 2006  Ting Yan, Post-Doc (honorable mention)

2020 Student-Faculty Diversity Pipeline Award – The Student-Faculty Diversity Pipeline Award are intended to recruit faculty-student “pairs” interested in becoming AAPOR colleagues. The Award targets members of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups, interested in the study of public opinion and survey research methodology. AAPOR believes that the scholarly and practical understanding of our discipline is enhanced by the presence and involvement of different perspectives and creative thought. Such diversity and inclusion leads to consequential research, improved interdisciplinary collaboration, and a greater ability to address, understand, and solve problems related to public opinion and survey research methodology. This award is for students and faculty who identify as: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and Hispanic or Latino. The award is for waived conference registration and annual membership fee for the student and faculty, and one $800 cash awarded to the pair to support travel expenses.

  • 2020 Fernanda Alvarado-Leiton, Zeina Mneimneh

JSM (the Joint Statistical Meetings) is the largest gathering of statisticians held in North America. It is held jointly with the American Statistical Association, the International Biometric Society (ENAR and WNAR), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Statistical Society of Canada, and the International Chinese Statistical Association, and the International Indian Statistical Association.

ASA Fellows
Nominated by their peers, ASA Fellows are members of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work. Given annually, this is a great honor, as the number of recipients is limited to no more than one-third of 1% of the ASA membership

  • 2018  Kristen Olson, MPSDS Phd 2007
  • 2011  Michael Elliott
  • 2008  Steven Heeringa
  • 2008  Eleanor Singer
  • 2007  Mick Couper
  • 2003  Trivellore Raghunathan
  • 1999  Roger Tourangeau
  • 1992  James Lepkowski
  • 1992  Richard Valliant
  • 1982  Robert Groves

Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) Student Paper Competition

  • 2018  Felicitas Mittereder, PhD Candidate
  • 2014  Raphael Nishimura, PhD Candidate
  • 2011  Qi Dong, PhD Candidate, “Combining Information from Multiple Complex Surveys”
  • 2011  Joseph Sakshaug, PhD Candidate, “Synthetic Data Generation for Small-Area Estimation in the American Community Survey”
  • 2011  Brady West, PhD Candidate, “Bayesian Analysis of Between-Group Differences in Variance Components in Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models”
  • 2021 Micha Fischer, PhD Candidate, Allan L. McCutcheon Award for Best Methodology Paper, “Parametric and Tree-Based Models for Missing Data Imputation”
  • 2018 Ali Rafei, PhD Pre-Candidate, Allan L. McCutcheon Award for Best Methodology Paper, “Improving Rotation Group Bias in the Current Population Survey using a modified Hidden Markov Model”
  • 2017 Felicitas Mittereder, PhD Candidate, Allan L. McCutcheon Award for Best Methodology Paper,  “Can previous response behavior predict future breakoff in Web surveys?”
  • 2015 Colleen McClain, PhD Pre-Candidate, Best Methodology Paper, “Identifying psychosocial correlates of response in panel research: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study”
  • 2012 Chan Zhang, PhD Pre-Candidate, Best Methodology Paper, “Speeding in Web Surveys: The Tendency to Answer Very Fast and its Association with Straightlining”
  • 2011 Brian Wells, PhD Pre-Candidate, Best Methodology Paper, “Accounting for Nonresponse Bias in the Nebraska Behavioral Health Consumer Survey”

Harvey G. and Joyce H. Behner Graduate Fellowship

Dr. Harvey G. Behner set up an endowed fund at Rackham named for himself and his wife Joyce in 2000, a few years before he passed away.  Neither Dr. nor Mrs. Behner earned degrees at U-M, though Dr. Behner took several specialized classes in the School of Dentistry at one point (he was a pediatric orthodontist).  Dr. Behner had a lifelong interest in graduate education and was particularly impressed with the programs and activities sponsored by the Rackham Graduate School.  At Dr. Behner’s request, the first award went to a student in a graduate program in Orthodontics in the School of Dentistry, because of his experiences there.  After the initial award, it was decided that the Behner Award was to go to PhD students whose career goal is in “university-based research, education, and service”. 

  • 2012-2013  Behner Fellow – Raphael Nishimura
  • 2011-2012  Behner Fellow – Jessica Broome
  • 2010-2011  Behner Fellow – Brady West

WAPOR

  • 2021 Fernanda Alvarado Leiton, Naomi C. Turner Prize, “Negate and Polar Opposite Items for Balanced Scale Construction:  An Empirical Cross-Cultural Assesment”