Nathaniel Schenker

One of my favorite activities so far as president-elect and president has been formulating strategic initiatives for the ASA and appointing good people to work on them. In this and the next couple of columns, I will interview the chairs for my initiatives to see what their workgroups have been up to.

First up is an initiative to update the ASA’s Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Statistical Science. It has been more than a decade since the ASA approved the current curriculum guidelines and much has changed. The “Age of Big Data” arrived. New tools are available for statisticians. Interest in the AP Statistics program has flourished. The number of people earning undergraduate degrees in statistics has increased dramatically. In addition, we took a fresh look at the curriculum for master’s programs last year. Thus, it is a good time to rethink the undergraduate curriculum.

In mid-2013, I appointed Nicholas Horton, professor of statistics at Amherst College, to chair this initiative. Nick and I assembled a terrific workgroup with members from academia, industry, and government to work on updating the guidelines. I recently caught up with Nick to discuss the initiative, and our conversation follows.

Nick Horton

NS: Nick, I’m very happy that you took this project on. Tell me, why were you interested in chairing the initiative?

NH: I’ve been engaged in statistical education issues for many years and have been working to integrate statistical computing into the curriculum as part of these efforts. Being able to help move this project forward has been a great opportunity to review the range of curricular offerings for undergraduate majors, minors, and certificate programs.

NS: What excites you most about the project?

NH: This is a really key time, as we’re seeing growth in statistics programs at all levels. Steve Pierson had several columns last year in Amstat News that detailed continuing growth in undergraduate majors and statistics. Given the increasing importance of undergraduate statistics programs, I’m really honored and enthused about working with the high-powered group we recruited. On several occasions, you’ve described them as a “dream team,” and I concur. Beth Chance, Stephen H. Cohen, Scott Grimshaw, Johanna Hardin, Tim Hesterberg, Roger Hoerl, Christopher Malone, Rebecca Nichols, and Deb Nolan have a wealth of experience plus wide-ranging contributions to statistics education and the profession through their varied papers, books, reports, awards, and commendations. At each of our meetings, I’ve learned something new. It’s been like a puzzle, with many pieces that only a diverse group with experience in industry, government, and a range of academic institutions can bring together.

NS: I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but I know many of the folks who developed the previous guidelines in 2000. One of them asked whether we felt the previous guidelines missed the mark. How would you respond to this?

NH: I’m really appreciative of the work that the previous group did, and I suspect our final guidelines will be consistent with theirs in many ways. But there have been some important changes in the field in the intervening years, and it’s critical for the ASA to stay ahead of the game in this era where increasingly Big Data is being brought to bear on key questions.

In particular, I think there have been some fundamental shifts in what graduates are doing once they head into the work force. They often find themselves in positions that don’t have “statistician” in the title, but instead “analyst.” We need them to be able to pose and answer statistical questions. We need them to be able to tackle problems involving data, which will often be far messier than those presented in textbooks. We also need them to be able to address large data sets and databases, and develop the capacity to “think with data.” The strict use of cookbook formulas is outdated. Creative solutions with seamless integration of statistical and computational knowledge are required in today’s workplace.

Students also require the development of more “professional skills,” such as teamwork and communication in conjunction with technical skills, that can grow and improve as they gain more experience. These need to be introduced earlier in the curriculum, with practice in upper-level courses and experiences. We will need to better integrate topics and practice into this new curriculum, more than just through problem sets. Capstones play a key role in integrating and refining these capacities, in combinations with internships, opportunities to consult, and research experiences.

NS: What have been your workgroup’s major activities to this point?

NH: We got our start last summer and undertook a self-study of the previous guidelines. We had a number of “listening” meetings at USCOTS and JSM to hear from the community about what issues needed to be addressed. We set up a survey on the existing guidelines page. Then, we organized a series of five webinars on various topics (challenges for large programs, integration with community colleges, the role of capstones, Big Data and the undergraduate curriculum, and preparation for graduate study in statistics); presentations from the webinars also are available on the guidelines page. We meet twice per month and are in the process of drafting specific new guidelines and supporting materials.

NS: What will be your workgroup’s final product?

NH: In addition to the formal guidelines (which will be submitted to the ASA Board of Directors for their endorsement in the fall of 2014), we’re planning to create a series of supporting materials that will provide details of key topics, as well as multiple examples of successful models for courses, capstones, and programs. Our goal is to be descriptive, and not prescriptive, but help push the envelope in areas where we see the need for change.

NS: How might the initiative help the ASA, its members, and/or the profession?

NH: We’re hoping the guidelines and resources will help members and departments craft new statistics programs or revise existing ones to enhance the training of the next generation of students to be able to use data to make decisions.

NS: Do you see areas for follow-up on this initiative in the future?

NH: Nationally, the numbers of students taking statistics courses and pursuing degrees in the field continues to grow. This creates challenges that we as a community need to address. It will be important for others to further refine what is included in introductory statistics (though the skills students will need can’t be shoehorned into a single course). While we’re planning to address data science, this will require further discussions about how to blend computational science and statistical science. Finally, we need to address questions of teacher training and faculty development at all levels. If we can effectively do this, then statistics graduates will be well poised for the challenges of the future.

NS: Nick, thanks to you and the workgroup for your work to date. I’ll be excited to see the final product. Thanks also for taking time to discuss the project with me.

NH: My pleasure, Nat.