Contributions

The five major statistical organizations leading this effort—the American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, International Biometric Society, International Statistical Institute, and Royal Statistical Society—have established an international statistics prize to serve the dual, interrelated purposes of:

  1. Recognizing a statistician for his or her work that advances the public welfare
  2. Educating the public globally on the significant and ubiquitous statistics innovations that have greatly improved modern life and public welfare

Never before has statistics experienced the convergence of factors—the media’s focus on big data, rising interest by young people in statistics, across-the-board support from all the major statistical organizations, and a strong desire and commitment among statisticians to increase the public profile of the statistical profession—that will be instrumental in successfully launching an internationally recognized prize.

To ensure we grasp this opportunity to put statistics at the forefront of discussions about the scientific advances of our day, several of the organizing societies listed above have contributed funds to ensure a prize of at least $80,000 can be awarded every other year.

Our goal is to offer a much larger prize, potentially as large as other major scientific awards, and we seek the financial commitment of individuals, businesses, and organizations to significantly increase the size of this award and help create an aura to match that of other prestigious scientific awards.

As such, the organizing groups are prepared to name the prize after a major donor or donors. Of course, contributions of any size are welcome.

To discuss how you might be involved in the building of this exciting prize for statistics, contact Ron Wasserstein at the American Statistical Association.