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I was asked to share a few words about the future of the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability. I do not pretend to be much of a visionary, but I can tell you about some of the issues we are facing and some plans for the future that are currently underway to address them.
I also want to speak to everyone. This includes those of
you who might either be an established peer, perhaps
even retired from teaching, or a graduate student, postdoc
or new Ph.D. beginning a career in mathematical
statistics or probability. We face both critical issues and
opportunities and I hope you will be asking yourself
where you might be able to find a role, even if it is just
becoming a member or encouraging new members.
Membership in the Bernoulli Society is free of charge to
all Ph.D. students and forms are available at this
conference to become a member.
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Let me begin with a quick overview of our evolution and present activities, but with an eye on the future.
The Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability was founded in 1975 as a section of the International Statistical Institute with a mission to advance the sciences of probability and mathematical statistics and their applications for the welfare of mankind. This is achieved primarily through conferences, publications and, of course, the many electronic vehicles of our new information age such as web pages, blogs and email, to name only a few. It is this new information age that is having the most transformative impact on the future of professional societies.
Professional societies are built on our affinities for social order in our research, education, competition and other interactions as human beings. As a result, committees are born, small research group collaborations and co-authorships emerge and we identify with a professional organization operating for the greater good on a global scale. For the future, ways in which to improve access to these benefits for developing countries continues to be a chief concern for the future of the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability.
The conference structure of the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability is rich and varied, and continues to evolve across diverse geopolitical boundaries. However, large international conferences such as this SPA meeting often depend on the nurturing and support made possible by the infrastructure provided by a professional society. Many of these are collaborations and co-sponsorships with IMS, EMS and the various regional organizations in Europe, Latin America, and Asian and Pacific Rim countries.
In addition to 2013 as the 125th anniversary year for ISI 1, it is also the 300th year since the publication of Jacob Bernoulli’s Ars Conjectandi. A special conference is being planned with the Bernoulli family in Basel for 2013, as well as other events being discussed in the Bernoulli Council, to commemorate the historical roots of our profession, and to enhance awareness of the contributions that have ensued since then.
Awards and recognition serve to credit individuals with extraordinary accomplishments, to provide standards of community approval and historic perspective, as well as to enable a shared sense of pride in the work of a profession.
As this conference commemorates the tremendous contributions of Professor Itô, so too, the Itô, Doob, Lévy lectures, as well as the newly announced Doeblin Prize, help us to pay tribute to the pioneers of the past and acknowledge some of our path-breaking researchers of today.
At the IMS meeting in Gothenborg last month, David Cox made note of the importance of survey/review expository articles, not unlike some of the oral expositions we have heard at this meeting, to take stock and show the way to the frontiers of research in our rapidly expanding and highly technical fields of mathematical statistics and probability. One way that Bernoulli might facilitate this is to develop an award that will recognize such contributions. This is something that the current Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability President Victor Perez-Abreu and I both support with definite plans to pursue it.
As crucial that our participation in conferences is to the global health of our field, society based/sponsored journals make it possible for the researchers themselves to direct journals and to respond to developing needs. So, some form of print and/or electronic publications is the lifeblood of professional societies.
From research journals to conference proceedings and textbooks, these are traditionally how progress and directions are communicated and shared in ways that bear the professional scrutiny of experts from around the world.
To this end, the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability produces and sponsors a number of publications, print and electronic. I had a special request from Tom Kurtz to call your attention to the new electronic Encyclopedia STATPROB jointly sponsored by IMS and the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability, among other societies. Tom Kurtz, University of Wisconsin, serves on the editorial board in probability for IMS and Tom Liggett, UCLA, for Bernoulli. Flyers are available at the Springer desk with more details.
Research publications are the bridge from the past to the present, and the archive for posterity. They also provide the benchmarks that measure individual contributions, help to secure employment and facilitate professional advancement. It is also here that we start to see the role of a much larger business, government and university infrastructure which we look to for support and that most definitely cannot be ignored in pursuit of our mission.
However, in the language of this conference, the information age has spawned a phase transition in the landscape and dynamic that supports the way in which we collect, archive, educate and disseminate research.
For example, Open Access is a major step forward in improving efficiency and effectiveness of the dissemination of information. It is also in the process of revolutionizing the relationship between commercial publishers and the scientific research community around the globe. New mutually agreeable models must be found that reward publishers for innovative products that support the dissemination of research while providing affordable open access to the published results. Publishers who are most innovative and competitive in designing attractive products with transparent pricing that will support and facilitate this new age of information are being sought by professional societies.
The development of sustainable financial models that will equitably support this transition to the new information age make a good example of the type “real” P&L problem that Chris Rogers was referring to in his very provocative lecture on Monday!
In conclusion, as for the past, we here in Osaka are the beneficiaries of dedicated scholars, from Tosio Kitagawa, Andre N. Kolmogorov and Jerzy Neyman, who were among the early presidents of the International Association of Statistics in the Physical Sciences that eventually grew into Bernoulli Society, and to founding presidents David Kendall and David Blackwell, among many others who recognized the importance of a professional society and acted altruistically to achieve what is easy for us to take for granted.
About the future, the mission has not changed. However, there is no question that the new information age is completely changing the way we achieve our basic goal of advancing probability, mathematical statistics and their applications for the welfare of mankind throughout the world. Thank you.
Ed Waymire, Corvallis
1 ISI was founded in 1885, but the international meetings organised by the ISI started in 1887. Therefore this anniversary is in fact the celebration of 125 years of ISI Sessions.
