Ananda Jayawardhana, Mu Sigma Rho Past President
It is time to nominate eligible undergraduate and graduate students for membership in Mu Sigma Rho (MSR), The National Statistics Honorary Society. Student members will receive a certificate, MSR honorary pin, and a one-year free student membership in the American Statistical Association.
According to an October 2021 Amstat News article, “The number of statistics and biostatistics bachelor’s degrees have increased by 474 percent since 2010.” However, the growth of statistics majors has not been reflected in MSR membership numbers. The same article listed 28 universities that granted statistics or biostatistics degrees for the first time in 2020. Anyone connected with one of those or any other university without an MSR chapter can contact the MSR secretary, Lynne Seymour, to discuss starting one.
To become a member, students must be nominated by a chapter and satisfy several academic requirements. Students attending a university with an existing chapter can find their chapter representative from the national MSR webpage and discuss the nomination process.
In some cases, an ASA chapter has sponsored an affiliated MSR chapter, including the Boston Chapter, Kansas-Western Missouri Chapter, and Washington Statistical Society. Chapters are usually associated with an academic institution or ASA chapter, but a group of statisticians in a nonacademic institution can also apply for an affiliated chapter.
In addition, MSR annually honors one outstanding teaching faculty member through the Mu Sigma Rho William D. Warde Statistics Education Award (deadline for nominations is in mid-April). This award is given to someone who has an excellent teaching record and a lifetime devotion to statistics education.
Recently, MSR created an award for outstanding junior faculty. This award is given to an early-career faculty member who has made significant contributions to the success of undergraduate students in statistics.
A university does not have to have an MSR chapter to nominate an outstanding statistics professor for either of these awards.
For additional information, contact MSR President Lisa Kay.
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