Stats on Stats: Statistical Sciences in the Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences

• Activity Number: 5 - Strategic Planning and Vision Building for the Statistics Profession: Are Existing Databases Underutilized?
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 29, 2018 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Thomas Harold Barr*
• Companies: American Mathematical Society
• Keywords: annual survey; mathematical sciences; statistics; profession; policy; management

Abstract

The Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences is a census of statistics, biostatistics, mathematics, applied mathematics, and other types of departments across the US and its territories. Conducted by the American Mathematical Society on behalf of ASA, IMS, MAA, SIAM, it began in 1957 as a simple salary survey of math departments and has grown to span topics such as undergraduate enrollments in statistics courses, recruitment and hiring, starting salaries for PhDs, faculty demographics, and attrition. Current and longitudinal reports published by the AMS are valuable to chairpersons, institutional leaders, policy makers, job seekers, and many others. In this presentation, we will take an illustrated, big-picture tour of the Annual Survey, look at it from the statistician's perspective, examine the challenges it faces in the future, discuss possible changes in its focus, methodology, and reporting, and solicit forward-looking ideas from session attendees.