Marie Davidian

About a year ago, right after the 2012 presidential election, I sat down to write my first Amstat News column. Statistics was in the news almost daily, owing to the spot-on predictions of the election outcome by Nate Silver and others. As president-elect, I had formulated three presidential initiatives with the help of the ASA Board of Directors, which were already under way. The International Year of Statistics was almost upon us. My calendar for 2013 was packed with trips—the first in early January to speak at an International Year kick-off event in Belgium. If one was lucky enough to be elected ASA president, being elected 2013 president was luckier still—the opportunities presented by the International Year to advocate for our discipline and association were unprecedented.

It’s hard to believe that the International Year and my term as president are already coming to a close. By all accounts, the International Year has been a resounding success. A phenomenal website highlighting the contributions of our field. More than 2,200 participating organizations holding events and undertaking outreach activities almost daily. The capstone Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop, which I will be attending, charting a course for the future.

Throughout this International Year, I have had the privilege of not only traveling extensively to speak to many of our 19,000 members, but—thanks to the efforts of ASA staff members Steve Pierson, Jeff Myers, Lynn Palmer, and Ron Wasserstein—promoting statistical science to the media and science policy leaders in the federal government and at funding agencies. And I have had the opportunity to see not only my initiatives evolve, but to undertake a major new one with my fellow presidents Bob Rodriguez and Nat Schenker.

My first initiative is one I hope will continue in perpetuity: enhancing the visibility of statistics among our fellow scientists through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. As I discussed in my April column, AAAS CEO Alan Leshner noted his impression that most scientists view statistics not as a science but as a “bag of tools.” I took that comment as a call to action and asked a workgroup led by officers of AAAS Section U on statistics to undertake a campaign to address it.

A major pillar of that campaign is encouraging statisticians to join AAAS, as do scientists in numerous other fields, and, through increasing participation and engagement, dispel the spirit of Leshner’s comment. During my travels, I’ve been excited to hear how many of you have taken up this call, and I hope that even more of you will.

And I’m delighted to report that, in September, Steve, Jeff, Ron, and I paid a follow-up visit to Leshner. We thanked him for challenging us to change this perception and apprised him of our efforts. Most interesting was Leshner’s report that his daughter, who has since studied finance, loves statistics and has even considered pursuing a PhD. He was enthusiastic about our progress and offered to highlight the importance of statistics in his many appearances at scientific meetings and events. Leshner encouraged us to work toward raising the profile of statistics in the AAAS’s journal Science by submitting articles and advocating for an increased role for statisticians in its editorial process.

Fortuitously, immediately following that meeting, we moved to another with new Science editor Marcia McNutt and several of her senior editors. We could not have received a more enthusiastic reception. McNutt and her staff asked for the ASA’s help with encouraging greater involvement of statisticians in Science. They recognize the critical role of statistics in reproducible research and would like to recruit more expert statisticians as reviewers and members of the Board of Reviewing Editors. We are compiling a list of interested members; please contact me if you would like to be included.

McNutt is keen to see statisticians submit perspectives and articles, and she suggested a Science-ASA collaboration on tutorials highlighting trends in statistical methodology. When we pointed out the disheartening Science convention of placing statistical content under the heading “Mathematics,” as with Brad Efron’s Perspectives piece on Bayes’ theorem in the June 7, 2013, issue, she promised a dedicated “Statistics” heading henceforth. Continued discussions are planned.

My second initiative unfolded at JSM 2013 in Montréal, where four ASA sections participated in a pilot of SPEED sessions, a mechanism focused on reducing the number of concurrent sessions. As reported by 2013 JSM Program Chair Bhramar Muhkerjee, evaluations of this new format were overwhelmingly positive, and SPEED sessions will be held again in 2014 in Boston.

A workgroup of ASA members chaired by Lance Waller has been hard at work on my third initiative and is finalizing a white paper discussed in my February column. This report, “Recruitment, Training, and Placement to the Profession of Statistics: The Evolving ‘Pipeline’,” documents current and future needs for statisticians and opportunities and challenges for attracting and training the next generation. The report offers a series of recommendations and will be available on the ASA website next year.

One recommendation is connected to expanded engagement with the data science community—a theme Bob, Nat, and I are addressing with our Big Data initiative, which we announced in June. The three projects we outlined are either completed or well under way. Short courses on text analytics will be held at both the 2014 Conference on Statistical Practice and JSM 2014. We have invited prominent data scientists in the technology and business sectors to meetings with ASA representatives in spring 2014 with the goal of enhancing our understanding of the statistical skills needed in data science. And we have appointed a workgroup that will develop recommendations on graduate statistics curriculum development toward preparing our students to work in data science applications. Stay tuned for updates on the outcomes of these projects.

Beyond these formal initiatives, Steve, Jeff, Ron, Lynn, and other ASA staff are continually identifying opportunities to raise awareness of our discipline. Jeff continues to recruit ASA members to contribute to the ASA’s Huffington Post blog. Steve has arranged meetings with science leaders; one he and I met, Suzanne Iacono, deputy assistant director of the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, revealed her strong support for collaborations between computer scientists and statisticians and hopes it will lead to a workshop devoted to that theme next year. As Steve notes in the November issue, “Influencing Federal Research Funding Policy—White Papers?”, we are exploring the potential of white papers generated by the statistical community to influence science policy and funding priorities. And so on.

Serving as ASA president is a unique opportunity to learn of the remarkable breadth of our profession and work with amazing people committed to its betterment. I cannot thank 2012 ASA President Bob Rodriguez enough for his advice, wisdom, and friendship and Ron, Steve, Jeff, Lynn, the wonderful ASA staff, and fellow board members for their dedication to our discipline. With Ron at the helm, our association could not be in better hands. And I am thrilled to hand over the gavel to my friend Nat Schenker—Nat’s long history of ASA service makes him the ideal leader during 2014, the 175th year of our association.

And it has been a privilege to meet so many of you, whose volunteer efforts are key to the ASA’s mission. Thank you for the honor of serving as your president.