a question of whether their company will
1,000
United States
survive in the fiercely competitive global
market, but whether they will survive in the
Fastest Growing
United States.
Economies
Statistics plays an important role in the
“Established”
innovation economy pyramid at many lev-
Economies
els. The 2004 report “Statistics: Challenges
(
T
housands)
Fastest Growing
and Opportunities for the Twenty-First
100
Economies: China,
Hong Kong, India,
Century” documents many of these. Total
Ireland, Israel,
quality management, Six Sigma, and
Singapore, South
Korea, Taiwan
Edward Deming’s 14 points ensure the com-
Applications
Established
petitiveness of companies whose domain
ent
Economies: Canada,
is the middle of the innovation economy
France, Germany, Italy,
P
at
Japan, Netherlands,
pyramid. The use of false discovery rate in .S.
10
U
Sweden, Switzerland,
fields as diverse as cosmology and medical
of
United Kingdom
statistics and the diversity of fields that use
ces
Brad Efron’s bootstrap methods speak to
the invaluable contributions to our research
S
our Source: 2008
1
NSF Science
base and importance of statistics to the sci-
and Engineering
ence infrastructure.
1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Indicators
The competitiveness argument is some-
Figure 4. U.S. patent applications: fastest-growing economies gaining on U.S. rapidly
times perceived as casting progress by other
countries in a negative light, but that is not 250
Source: 2008
United States
the intention. The countries that have striv-
European Union
NSF Science
en to improve their S&T infrastructure are
and Engineering
200
Asia 10*
Indicators
deservedly reaping the benefits. We should
*Asia 10 includes
support those countries efforts to build their (
T
housands)
150
China, Japan, India,
economic base. We should also ensure the
Malaysia, Thailand,
Taiwan, South
United States remains as economically com-
Korea, Phillipines,
petitive as possible.
100
Singapore, and
Lastly, as an advocate for more basic publications
Indonesia.
research funding, I’m sometimes accused
50
S&E
of exacerbating our federal deficits by advo-
cating for more federal spending. In fact, T
otal
0
Capitol Hill and administration staffers fre-
1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006
quently ask from what budgets the money Figure 5. S&E publications: passed by Europe; Asia rapidly closing
to fund the increases we are requesting
should come. While it would be tempt-
ing to start naming programs, we would be
ASA Science Policy Actions
foolish to offer up programs to cut (as any
• Signed letters in support of funding for NSF, NIH, 2010 Census, and NCHS
one we target would inevitably be bigger
• Joined groups in submitting comments on proposed changes to the Family Educational
and more powerful than we). It is our job
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
to advocate our interests and Congress’ job
to determine overall priorities.
• Endorsed H.R. 6314, “Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic and Engineering Act
While I’ve focused support material for
of 2008”
basic research funding in this article, I’m
• Organized briefing for congressional “Blue Dog” science staffers with help of Task Force
also interested in arguments in support of
on the American Innovation
the statistics work done across our federal
How You Can Help
government system. Please email pierson@
amstat.org with your suggestions. n
If you can provide specific examples of how statistics has contributed to society,
in topics ranging from the environment and health care to economic growth and
defense, please send them to me at
pierson@amstat.org. They will be considered
for inclusion in one-page documents to be used on Capitol Hill for explaining what
statistics is and how it contributes in a practical manner. As an example, I’ve read
Correction about William Gossett’s contributions to Guinness Brewing and the contributions
of statisticians to agricultural productivity. There is also statisticians’ development of
In the July issue of Amstat News,
double-blind, randomized, controlled experiments and adaptive trial designs and
Jeanne Griffith’s name was
their contribution to biomedical research and other applications.
misspelled in the Government News
article. We regret the error.
For details about the ASA’s involvement in science policy, see
www.amstat.org/
scipolicy/index.cfm.
AUGUST 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 35
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