Thoughts on the Importance of the Undergraduate Statistics Experience to the Discipline’s (and Society’s) Future

Abstract

Xiao-Li Meng’s recent article “Desired and Feared—What Do We Do Now and Over the Next 50 Years?” (2009) was of particular interest to me as a former undergraduate statistics major and as an Associate Professor who teaches 12 sections of introductory statistics annually at Montgomery College, a two-year college in Montgomery County, Maryland (an adjoining county to Washington, D.C.). I approach my comments from these perspectives as I believe that these groups very much need to be represented/addressed in the discussion of Meng’s observations and proposals. My remarks are also influenced by a Washington Post article published during the 2009 Joint Statistical Meetings that referred to statisticians as “superheroes,” described some of the challenges we face, and ultimately presented a favorable light (in my opinion) on our discipline.