The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently renewed the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute’s (SAMSI) grant for five years, making this SAMSI’s second renewal.

SAMSI is one of eight mathematical institutes funded by the NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences, but this is the only one that focuses on statistics and applied mathematics. It was originally founded in 2002 and is now celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The grant is a collaboration of Duke University, North Carolina State University (NCSU), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) in conjunction with the William Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science.

“The renewal of our funding is a tribute to the incredible commitment to SAMSI by the whole community, our partner institutions, the national leadership in statistics and applied mathematics, everyone who has served SAMSI as a directorate member or program leader, and—more broadly—all the people who have visited SAMSI and participated in our research over the years,” said Richard Smith, SAMSI director.

Over the 10 years, SAMSI’s programs have grown, adding summer programs in 2006 and increasing its education and outreach programs to undergraduate and graduate students. Last year, the institute started holding some of its workshops on the West Coast in addition to the workshops held in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

SAMSI has mentored more than 80 postdoctoral fellows and associates, many of whom now hold academic positions as well as positions in industry and government. SAMSI has hosted hundreds of visitors each year to participate in multidisciplinary workshops that push the boundaries of data-driven and model-driven research.

In 2013–2014, SAMSI will hold two major programs, one focusing on computational methods in the social sciences and the other focusing on low dimensional structure in high-dimensional systems. It also will host a summer program on neuroimaging data analysis. For more information about SAMSI and its programs, visit the SAMSI website.