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Strength in Numbers: The Rising of Academic Statistics Departments in the U. S.
Statistical science as organized in formal academic departments is relatively new. With a few exceptions, most Statistics and Biostatistics departments have been created within the past 60 years. This book consists of a set of memoirs, one for each department in the U.S. created by the mid-1960s. The memoirs describe key aspects of the department’s history -- its founding, its growth, key people in its development, success stories (such as major research accomplishments) and the occasional failure story, PhD graduates who have had a significant impact, its impact on statistical education, and a summary of where the department stands today and its vision for the future. Read here all about how departments such as at Berkeley, Chicago, Harvard, and Stanford started and how they got to where they are today. The book should also be of interests to scholars in the field of disciplinary history.
580 pages, Hardcover
First published November 8, 2012
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August 16, 2013
Right now I'm only reading the chapter on the Carnegie Mellon University statistics department, where I'm about to start a PhD program.
I hadn't known that Frederick Mosteller went here (back when it was Carnegie Tech). I've also been meaning to read The Pleasures of Statistics: The Autobiography of Frederick Mosteller. One of his early students at Harvard (whose stats department Mosteller founded before CMU had one) was Steve Fienberg, still at CMU.
CMU's stats department was one of the first anywhere to focus on Bayesian stats, applications, and statistical computing. (All of these are areas of interest for me---good to know I'm in the right place!)
Early on, they also agreed to evaluate applied research on whether it benefits the applied area, not necessarily statistics as a field. I saw this still in effect at a recent thesis defense, where the focus was on a practical contribution to improving a neurological-data processing pipeline, even if the statistical theory was not new.
The department also chose not to run a drop-in consulting center like many others do. Instead, they form long-term joint research collaborations with other departments' scholars.
Journal editorship is also valued at the department. Hopefully I can pick the many experienced editors' brains in tailoring publication submissions to the right journals.
Although the department was formed in 1966, it didn't have a permanent college to call home until it joined the humanities college in 1980.
StatLib, the department's online collection of downloadable datasets, started in 1989 and is still in use today.
There's a strong focus not only on research but also on teaching, and CMU has the largest group of undergrad stats majors in the US.
I hadn't known that Frederick Mosteller went here (back when it was Carnegie Tech). I've also been meaning to read The Pleasures of Statistics: The Autobiography of Frederick Mosteller. One of his early students at Harvard (whose stats department Mosteller founded before CMU had one) was Steve Fienberg, still at CMU.
CMU's stats department was one of the first anywhere to focus on Bayesian stats, applications, and statistical computing. (All of these are areas of interest for me---good to know I'm in the right place!)
Early on, they also agreed to evaluate applied research on whether it benefits the applied area, not necessarily statistics as a field. I saw this still in effect at a recent thesis defense, where the focus was on a practical contribution to improving a neurological-data processing pipeline, even if the statistical theory was not new.
The department also chose not to run a drop-in consulting center like many others do. Instead, they form long-term joint research collaborations with other departments' scholars.
Journal editorship is also valued at the department. Hopefully I can pick the many experienced editors' brains in tailoring publication submissions to the right journals.
Although the department was formed in 1966, it didn't have a permanent college to call home until it joined the humanities college in 1980.
StatLib, the department's online collection of downloadable datasets, started in 1989 and is still in use today.
There's a strong focus not only on research but also on teaching, and CMU has the largest group of undergrad stats majors in the US.
Displaying 1 of 1 review