NISS Basics
• A national institute that serves the statistical sciences community by– Performing and stimulating high-impact research
at critical interfaces between statistics and disciplinary science, as well as between industry/government and academia
– Supporting career development at all levels, with special emphasis on postdoctorals
– Engaging the national community in a variety of activities, especially but not exclusively by means of its affiliates programs and SAMSI
NISS Research Projects
• Are government- or industry-funded– Respond to national needs as well as issues raised by affiliates
• Are driven by disciplinary needs• Target interfaces
– Between the statistical sciences and disciplinary sciences– Between industry/government and academia
• Involve senior researchers, postdocs, students from multiple disciplines and across the country
• Are mixture of long-term involvement and shorter-term explorations subsequently taken up by others
• Leverage NISS’ partnership with SAMSI to increase community participation and impact
Project Areas • Digital Government: disclosure risk vs. data utility; data quality
– Funding: NSF DG (CISE), BLS, BTS, Census, NASS, NCES– Collaborators from: partner agencies, CMU, Duke, ISU, Penn State, Purdue, SMU
• Software engineering: lightweight instrumentation of fielded software– Funding: NSF ITR (CISE)– Collaborators from GA Tech, U MD, U WA, Vanderbilt
• Dynamics of social networks: Comparison of p* and intelligent agent models– Funding: NSF MSBS (DMS & SBE)– Collaborators from CMU, Duke, NCSU, UNC
• Pharmacophore identification– Funding: Hereditary Disease Foundation/High-Q Foundation– Patent pending for PharmID
• Task Force on High School Graduation, Completion and Dropout Rates– Funding: NCES– NISS-developed indicators endorsed by National Association of Governors
SAMSI Basics• Vision: New synthesis of statistical sciences and
applied mathematical sciences with disciplinary science to confront difficult data- and model-driven scientific challenges
• Structure: Partnership of – Duke University– North Carolina State University– University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill– NISS
• Research: Basic research in the statistical and applied mathematical sciences, framed by disciplinary needs
SAMSI Programs
• 2-3 research programs per year, at interfaces– Involve both statistics and applied math– Often involve probability, computational sciences, OR
• 2005-06– Astrostatistics– Financial Mathematics, Statistics and Econometrics– National Defense and Homeland Security
• 2007-06– Development, Assessment and Utilization of Complex
Computer Models – Random Matrices and High-Dimensional Inference
Opportunities for Participation
• Undergraduates– SAMSI/CRSC Undergraduate Workshops (1 day, 2 day, 1
week)• Graduate students
– Research programs– IMSM Workshops (10 days)
• Postdocs– 2+ year appointments, in collaboration with NISS,
universities, … • Established (and new) researchers
– Workshops – Research visits (short- and long-term) – SAMSI-University Fellowships– Program proposals and leadership
Manifesto• Focus: research issues lying at interfaces of the
mathematical and statistical sciences and the geosciences. Examples:– Mathematical and statistical modeling of large, complex
geosystems– Representing uncertainty in geosystems– Analyzing large geoscience data sets
• Emphases– The future– Extending CMG into areas of the mathematical and
geophysical sciences that are not currently reached– Active participation by all attendees (more to follow)– New researchers
Manifesto—2
• Outcomes: sharper identification of– Research needs and approaches at the interface of
the mathematical and statistical sciences and the geosciences
– Collaborations to address the issues
Participate!!!
• Poster Sales Talks (11:30 AM today)– 2 minutes, no visual aids
• Poster Session (6:30 PM today)• Two-Minute Madness (3:00 PM today)
– 2 minutes, no visual aids
• Breakout discussions– 4:30 PM today: by GEO topic– 11:30 AM tomorrow: by MATH/STAT topic
• New researcher session (10:30 AM tomorrow)– 10 minutes, up to 6 overheads– Volunteers needed!