Steve Pierson Director of Science Policy American Statistical Association.

Getting our Message to the Public and Policymakers

Steve PiersonDirector of Science Policy

American Statistical Association

This is StatisticsASA’s PR Campaign

Outline

Our challenges/goals

The American Statistical

Association

Public Relations Campaign

Policy Efforts

Statisticians’ challengesStatisticians are:

1. People consulted after data collection to analyze data in support of desired result

2. Mathematicians who deal with probability3. People who collect numbers4. People who do surveys5. None of the above

Statistics: Singular or Plural?Plural: data , numbersSingular: science of learning from data and

quantifying associated uncertainty

Statisticians’ challenges (cont’d)Google “Statistics Definition”: The branch of

mathematics dealing with numerical dataBig Data

% of HS Stats teacher with Stats degree <10%NAS and NSF PanelsData Science, Analytics, Machine Learning,

econometrics, psychometrics, sabermetrics, …

Challenges: Research Funding

What Statistics has going for it

0

500

1,000

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1987 1996 2005 2014

Stati

stics

and

Bio

stati

stics

Deg

rees

Bachelor's

Master's

PhD's

NCES IPEDS

What Statistics has going for it

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1987 1996 2005 2014

Percentage of U.S. Statistics and Biostatistics Degrees Awarded to Women

Bachelor's

Master's

PhD's

NCES IPEDS

What Statistics has going for itPositive press and ratings

For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics, New York Times, August 5, 2009

Statistical Analysis and Data Mining top “The 25 Hottest Skills That Got People Hired in 2014”

Careercast names Statistician one of 2015 top jobs for millennials

…Nature’s 100 most cited research articles

ever: Nine by statisticians

How we’d like you to view StatisticsIndependent scientific disciplineNot a tool bag but a type of critical thinkingStatistics improves science, business, policy

…Statistical literacy helps everyday decisions

whether personal (health, finance) or careerStatistics prepares one for diversity of careers

American Statistical Association

19,000 MembersMembership a concern but not addressed by TiS

35 Staff Members (1.5 Statisticians, Three PhD’s)

Annual Budget: $9.2 millionMain Revenue: dues, journals, meetingsOne major meeting 6000-7000 attendeesNew positions in last 8 years

Director of Science Policy 2008Public Relations Coordinator 2012Director of Development 2014

This is Statistics Campaign$200K/yr contract with DC

communications firmLaunched August 2014Primary Audience: HS and

undergrad studentsMessage: benefits of statistics

knowledge/degree for careerContract covers: webpage

content, media outreach, social media, outreach to teachers/counselors associations, content development (videos, profiles) http://

thisisstatistics.org/

This is Statistics

ASA Process and SelectionThree board meeting discussions: 2013

Subcommittee appointedRFP in Fall 2013Proposal review October 2013Interview/selection in November 2013

ManagementContact several times a weekMonthly call to review progress and next

stepsQuarterly meeting of principalsAnnual contract

MetricsTwitter Followers: 2,230; Facebook likes:

3,643Video views: 1,200 to 22,000Media outreach Website visits:

Augus

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Nov

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Decem

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Work to be done:How to leverage ASA resources

Ongoing, expanding19,000 membersNumerous communication channels100+ Statistics/Biostatistics departmentsOther partners (e.g., federal statistical agencies)

Better reach studentsNext steps for campaign?

Media pitchesVideosAdvertising?

Policy WorkIncreased activity spurred in 2012

rejected proposal to change NSF Division of Mathematical Sciences to Division of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences

Whitepapers/one-pagers on how statisticians can advance OSTP Initiatives

Meetings at NIH, NSF, OSTPASA Board statement on Data Science: Foundation is Database management + Statistics/Machine Learning

+ Parallel/Distributed computing

SummaryASA’s challenge: lack of visibility and

understanding of statisticsOne prong of ASA response: This is StatisticsMulti-faceted approach also includes PR,

PolicyResults?

TBD

[email protected]