not replace the current master’s
programs. In particular, graduates
with a master’s in statistics gener-
ally need to get more training in
“
I found it interesting that 44% of the
statistics and a PSM degree would respondents age 7–18 did not know much
only make matters worse.
However, a couple of people
about engineering and only 20% of the
wrote to say there is merit to
parents encouraged their children to
the PSM if the student knows
he wants to go into management
consider a degree in engineering.
or work in a specific, nonstatistics
”
discipline, such as psychology.
In those cases, it would make departments should be moving not know much about engineer-
sense to supplement the statistics to en masse. ing and only 20% of the parents
courses with courses from the encouraged their children to con-
other discipline.
U.S. Students
sider a degree in engineering. I
In general, I do not think The American Society for Quality raise this issue because I believe
there is strong demand for stu- (ASQ) recently sponsored a sur- it is an even bigger problem for
dents with a PSM that concen- vey to find out why U.S. students statistics and biostatistics. How
trates primarily on statistics. And are not pursuing engineering many U.S. students (even in col-
given the effort required to start degrees. While the survey was lege) realize statistics and bio-
and maintain such a program, it not based on random sampling, statistics are viable disciplines in
is certainly not something our I found it interesting that 44% which to get their degrees?
of the respondents age 7–18 did
A number of degrees grant-
ed in statistics and biostatistics
have grown tremendously in
recent years. (See my article in
the January 2008 issue of Amstat
News.) But, this growth is com-
ing from an increase in foreign
students, especially at the gradu-
ate levels. Currently, the percent-
age of statistics and biostatistics
degrees that go to U.S. citizens is
lower than for other science, engi-
neering, and mathematics disci-
plines. (For mathematics, 95% of
bachelor’s degrees, 71% of mas-
ter’s degrees, and 49% of PhDs
went to U.S. citizens in 2006.
The corresponding percentages
for statistics and biostatistics
are 92%, 50%, and 37%.) By
increasing the visibility of statis-
tics and biostatistics as professions
(especially for K–12 students),
we might be able to increase
the number of U.S. students pur-
suing degrees in our discipline.
To contact me, send an
email to
keith@amstat.org.
Questions or comments about
this article, as well as sugges-
tions for future articles, are
always welcome. ■
32 AMSTAT NEWS MARCH 2009
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