Integrating Statistics with the Sciences

• Activity Number: 93
• Type: Roundtables
• Date/Time: Monday, July 30, 2012 : 7:00 AM to 8:15 AM
• Sponsor: Biopharmaceutical Section
• Author(s): Amy Wagaman*+
• Companies: Amherst College

Abstract

Undergraduate statistics courses, particularly introductory courses, have undergone major changes in recent years due to successes in statistics education research. At the same time, statistics is also becoming a major component of education for future scientists and pre-medical students. As we make changes to our statistics courses, consideration should be given to the evolving needs of other disciplines (economics, neuroscience, biology, chemistry, psychology, and environmental science to name a few). Researchers in the sciences are using more sophisticated methods than ever before and additionally the importance of quantitative arguments in the sciences has increased (see HHMI-AAMC new pre-med guidelines for example). This roundtable will discuss various ways of integrating statistics with the sciences, both in and out of the classroom, with some examples drawn from a recent Biomathematics NSF grant and an AALAC (formerly Mellon 23) workshop on this topic.