Statistics in 2014: Reflections on the Occasion of the 175th anniversary of the American Statistical Association

Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director, ASA

In this brief time together, I hope to

• Convince you that it is a GREAT time to be a statistician• That you should be very proud of what you do• Illustrate that there are many challenges for our profession,

and that we are addressing them in a rich variety of ways• Inspire you with at least one thing you can do to join in

addressing the challenges

Two themes drive ASA activities

• Fully developing the ASA’s role as “The Big Tent for Statistics”

• Increasing the visibility of the profession

http://www.amstat.org/about/strategicplan.cfm

From these, three overlapping areas of focus emerged for 175th anniversary activities

–Education–Impact–Growth

Education-related activities• National PR Campaign• Statistical Education of Teachers (SET)• Qualifications for teaching the intro course in statistics• Curriculum for undergraduate statistics majors• Big data• Professional development

A National Public Relations Campaign for Statistics

Statisticians talking about their jobs• Here are two samples

–Genevera Allen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IyNQmL0kRo)

–Roger Peng– (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpyoPqzrwfY)

You can help!• Be aware of the campaign and follow its progress• Share what you know about the PR campaign

website with students, colleagues, professional networks, via social media, etc.

• Use the materials in your classes• More opportunities to be involved coming in 2015• Make it an INTERNATIONAL campaign• Contact the ASA’s PR Coordinator, Jeff Myers

(jeffrey@amstat.org)

The Statistical Education of Teachers (SET)

The Statistical Education of Teachers (SET)• Preparing pre-service teachers to effectively teach statistics• Writers:

– Chris Franklin– Anna Bargagliotti– Tim Jacobbe– Gary Kader– Richard Schaeffer– Denise Spangler

Preliminary content of SET (sneak preview!)• Teachers of all grade levels need to understand the “statistical

process”• Preparation in statistics should be connected through the grade

bands• Content at each grade band should progress teachers through the

statistical investigative process

Preliminary recommendations of SET

• SET recommends that elementary teachers take– A special section of an intro course, OR– An entire course in statistics content for teachers, OR– A reconfiguration of an existing content course for teachers

to include at least 6 weeks of study of statistics and related ideas in probability

Preliminary recommendations of SET

• SET recommends that middle school teachers take– A special section of an intro course, AND– A course focused on the statistical content they will be

teaching using the GAISE framework as a model.

Preliminary recommendations of SET

• SET recommends that high school teachers take– An introductory course that emphasizes modern data analysis,

simulation approaches to inference using the appropriate technologies– A second course including randomization and classical procedures for

inference– A statistical modeling course based on multiple regression

You can help!• Write to Chris Franklin at the University of Georgia if

you have suggestions• Consider how to implement these ideas in your

setting• Evaluate your institution’s connections with the

teacher education program

ASA/MAA Joint Statement on the Qualifications for Teaching an Introductory Statistics Course

http://www.amstat.org/education/pdfs/TeachingIntroStats-Qualifications.pdf

• In the US, most undergraduate statistics courses are taught in departments other than departments of statistics

• http://www.amstat.org/education/pdfs/TeachingIntroStats-Qualifications.pdf

The statement…

• Encourages qualified instruction of the modern intro course• Describes what the modern intro course is• Describes what teachers of such courses need to know• Describes the minimum educational requirements

• Ideally, a department considering hiring or selecting someone to teach an introductory statistics course should require a candidate to have at least a master’s degree with a strong concentration in statistics.

• But because this is often not possible, the individual should have at a minimum at least the equivalent of – Two statistical methods courses, and – experience with data analysis beyond material taught

in the introductory class

You can help!• Give the statement a good read• http://www.amstat.org/education/pdfs/TeachingIntro

Stats-Qualifications.pdf• Spread the word• Help others

Guidelines for the undergraduate curriculum in statistics

• Beth Chance (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)

• Stephen H. Cohen (National Science Foundation)

• Scott Grimshaw (Brigham Young University)

• Johanna Hardin (Pomona College)

• Tim Hesterberg (Google) • Roger Hoerl (Union College)

• Nicholas Horton (Amherst

College, chair)• Chris Malone (Winona State

University) • Rebecca Nichols (American

Statistical Association) • Deborah Nolan (University of

California, Berkeley)

The working group

Time for an update• Increasing importance of statistics• Growing number of bachelors level statistics

graduates• Growing demand for undergraduate programs in

statistics• A lot has changed since the current guidelines were

developed

Preliminary recommendations

• Not just a collection of unrelated tools • Tools for and experience with working with complex data• Work with data, ask good questions, communicate results

well• Develop data, computing, and visualization skills

Preliminary recommendations

• Effective statisticians at any level display an integrated combination of skills that are built upon statisticaltheory, mathematics, statistical application, computation, data manipulation, and communication.

Key skills

• Statistical• Computational• Technological• Mathematical• Communicational

You can help!• Review the draft proposed guidelines, and send

feedback to nhorton@amherst.edu• Review your current guidelines for minor and majors

and consider changes to your curricula, and/or• prepare a submission for the special issue of the

American Statistician on the undergraduate statistics curriculum http://www.amstat.org/news/2014TASspecialissue.cfm

Big Data/Data Science

ASA’s big data/data science initiative• Engagement with stakeholders• Curriculum development• Continuing professional development

Common professional development theme

• The well-trained statistician needs to know how to “make it to the middle.”

This has led to a new direction for professional development in the ASA

Components of the PSD program• Communication: Speaking, presentation, consulting,

listening, and writing• Collaboration: Team building, teamwork, and

understanding personality types• Career Planning: Finding a challenging and rewarding

position, goal setting, career advancement, negotiation, and strategic planning

• Leadership: Influence, conflict resolution, and creative problem solving

For example, at JSM 2014• “Preparing Statisticians for Leadership: How to See

the Big Picture and Have More Influence”• “Effective Presentations for Statisticians” • “Strategic Career Management”• “Learning and Improving Skills to Become a More

Effective Statistical Collaborator”• “From Idea to Publication: How to Get that Book

Written”• “Career Development: Challenges and

Opportunities for Statistical Innovation and Impact”

You can help!• Do your best to stay current on methods,

applications, and pedagogy in your areas of expertise

• Model professional development for your students• Remember that the non-technical skills you teach

will be critical to students as well

Impact-related activities• White papers• Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop• International Prize in Statistics

White papers help drive research funding• Aimed at major research funders, addressing their priorities• Tell the story

– Statisticians are vital partners in advancing science with their expertise in experimental design, inference, and quantifying uncertainty

– Articulate the essential expertise statisticians can provide to help tackle our nation’s critical research priorities.

White papers• Discovery with Data: Leveraging Statistics with Computer S

cience to Transform Science and Society

• Statistical Research and Training Under the BRAIN Initiative

• Statistical Science: Contributions to the Administration’s Research Priority on Climate Change

You can help!• Volunteer to be on the writing team for future

whitepapers.

• Share the whitepapers (and read them – they are interesting and useful, and have classroom application)

Future of the Statistical Scienceshttp://bit.ly/londonreport

• Aimed at non-statistical audiences• A great resource for statistical educators

– Section 1: Case studies• Randomized controlled trials• The Bayesian paradigm and image processing• MCMC revolution• Statistics in court• Statistics, Genomics, and Cancer• After the Gold Rush: Kriging and Geostatistics• ‘Analytics’ in Sports and Politics

• Section 2: Current Trends and Future Challenges in Statistics: Big Data

• Section 3: Current Trends and Future Challenges in Statistics: Other Topics

• Reproducibility crisis• Climate change• Updating the RCT• Statistics versus conventional wisdom

• Section 4: Conclusion

You can help!• Share the link• Share the report with appropriate entities• Post a short note about the report with its link to

your website• Send a copy to the statistics departments at

universities in your country

http://bit.ly/londonreport

An International Prize in Statisticshttp://statprize.org/

The prize will• Recognize major achievement in the field of statistics• Raise media and public awareness of the importance of

statistics• Identify and support valuable insights and advancements

The International Prize Foundation• Susan Ellenberg, University of Pennsylvania (ASA) • David Madigan, Columbia University (IMS) • Neils Keiding, University of Copenhagen (IBS)• Richard Laux, UK Statistics Authority (RSS)• Xuming He, University of Michigan (ISI)• Ron Wasserstein (ASA) – interim Secretary

The International Prize will (eventually)• Be a $1M prize• Awarded annually at one of the major statistics meetings• Be a big deal in the media

You can help!• Help us spread the word about this big dream• Post a link to the site• Help us think about who might have the means and

the interest in the prize (Thoughts? Send to ron@amstat.org)

• http://statprize.org/

So…• Are you convinced that it is a GREAT time to be a

statistician? And are you proud to be one?• Did you get a sense of the challenges we are tackling? Are

we attempting to address the right challenges?• Did you find at least one way you can help?

Contact me: Ron Wasserstein (ron@amstat.org)