Vision 2020: Making Impact with Statistics in the Era of Data Science

• Activity Number: 597 - Vision 2020: Making Impact with Statistics in the Era of Data Science
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 1, 2019 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies
• Author(s): Jeffrey Leek* and Xiao-Li Meng* and Hadley Wickham* and John Quackenbush* and Rachel Schutt* and Tian Zheng*
• Companies: BlackRock and Columbia University and Harvard University and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and RStudio
• Keywords: Big data; Data science; Impact; New challenges; Next generation; Statistics

Abstract

The emergence of big data has created challenges and opportunities for statistics in the data-centric era. This session will feature an all-star panel of six excellent researchers and leaders in the fields of statistics and data science, with representation from academia and industry. The theme of this panel discussion will be driven by the keyword “Vision 2020”, which essentially captures a forecasting question: what is an idealistic versus realistic vision for our profession for the next generation of statisticians and data scientists? The panel members will share their valuable experience reflecting on provocative questions, including for instance, new challenges regarding both research and education; the central roles of statistics in data science; how to better train our students for the data-capable workforce; how can our community define a reward system to attract a broad set of talents who make an impact in various ways in the field of data science, and etc. This discussion and debate will help shed light for researchers and educators to identify directions and priorities for 2020, and navigate the career planning and thinking of the next generation of researchers.