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Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director, ASA

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

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Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director, ASA

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  1. Statistics in 2014: Reflections on the Occasion of the 175th anniversary of the American Statistical Association Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director, ASA

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. From these, three overlapping areas of focus emerged for 175th anniversary activities • Education • Impact • Growth

  5. 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

  6. A National Public Relations Campaign for Statistics

  7. 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)

  8. 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)

  9. The Statistical Education of Teachers (SET)

  10. The Statistical Education of Teachers (SET) • Preparing pre-service teachers to effectively teach statistics • Writers: • Chris Franklin • AnnaBargagliotti • Tim Jacobbe • Gary Kader • RichardSchaeffer • DeniseSpangler

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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.

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. ASA/MAA Joint Statement on the Qualifications for Teaching an Introductory Statistics Course http://www.amstat.org/education/pdfs/TeachingIntroStats-Qualifications.pdf

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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.

  20. 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

  21. You can help! • Give the statement a good read • http://www.amstat.org/education/pdfs/TeachingIntroStats-Qualifications.pdf • Spread the word • Help others

  22. Guidelines for the undergraduate curriculum in statistics

  23. The working group • 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)

  24. 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

  25. 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

  26. 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.

  27. Key skills • Statistical • Computational • Technological • Mathematical • Communicational

  28. 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

  29. Big Data/Data Science

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

  31. Common professional development theme • The well-trained statistician needs to know how to “make it to the middle.”

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

  33. 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

  34. 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”

  35. 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

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

  37. 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.

  38. White papers • Discovery with Data: Leveraging Statistics with Computer Science 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

  39. 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)

  40. Future of the Statistical Sciences http://bit.ly/londonreport

  41. 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

  42. 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

  43. 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

  44. An International Prize in Statistics http://statprize.org/

  45. 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

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

  47. 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

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