Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute

Abstract

DMS 0635449

Principal Investigator: James O. Berger

SAMSI is a national institute that will deeply impact the future

of the statistical and mathematical sciences and, through them,

science in general, by catalyzing creation of the theory and

methodology necessary to confront the central data- and

model-driven scientific challenges of our time. SAMSI will focus

on new syntheses of the statistical sciences, applied mathematics

and disciplinary science. To illustrate the vision, consider an

activity central to modern science and technology, and with which

SAMSI will be heavily engaged: numerical modeling of complex

physical processes. Developing numerical models and evaluating

their fidelity to reality requires merging knowledge from

multiple disciplines. Applied mathematics builds on disciplinary

understanding to construct a fine-detail numerical representation

of the deterministic aspects of a process; probability provides

concepts and insight to characterize stochastic elements of the

process; and statistics provides the mechanisms to relate these

constructs to observational data on the real-world process. But,

despite a multiplicity of context-specific advances, there is

currently no general framework for combining these disciplines,

much less a formal system for simultaneously applying them. The

SAMSI efforts in this direction will focus on filling this gap,

by bringing together statisticians, mathematicians and modelers

from across the country (and beyond) to establish frameworks for

model development and validation, at a high level that spans

multiple application contexts.

To carry out this synthesis of the statistical sciences, applied

mathematical sciences and disciplinary sciences, SAMSI engages

established researchers - from academia, industry, national

laboratories and government - as well as young researchers

(postdoctoral fellows and graduate students) at the formative

stages of their careers. Each research program lasts from 6

months to one year, and involves a host of activities ranging

from research by intensive interdisciplinary working groups to

broad, energizing workshops. Outreach to undergraduate students,

high-school teachers and faculty from teaching institutions

extends SAMSI's impact on the essential development of the

national human resource base for science. To enable activities of

the breadth and depth necessary for the success of SAMSI, the

institute is a partnership between the National Science

Foundation and the consortium of Duke University, North Carolina

State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences. These

partners provide a uniquely strong base for SAMSI's national

scope. Scientific input to SAMSI comes, in part, from a National

Advisory Council composed of eminent statistical and mathematical

scientists. Most important, SAMSI will engage the entire

nationwide statistical and mathematical sciences communities, by

means of widely publicized opportunities to bring problems to

SAMSI, or direct SAMSI's attention to them.