2011 Summer School in Statistics for Astronomers, and The Fifth Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy Conference

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AST-1113001BabuSummer School in Statistics for Astronomers VII; June 6-11 2011; Pennsylvania State University, College ParkandStatistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy V; June 13-17 2011; Pennsylvania State University, College ParkThis award provides primary support both for the latest in the annual statistics schools aimed at improving the statistical ability of astronomers, and for the professional conference on statistical challenges, held every five years.Astronomical research often involves imaging, photometric and spectroscopic surveys of the sky that produce terabyte to petabyte databases and billion-object catalogs. While the promise is tremendous, achieving the scientific goals depends critically on extraction of useful knowledge using statistical inference, and especially the use of advanced statistical methods. Observational astronomers are thus confronting a wider range of statistical challenges than ever before, while unfortunately most U.S. astronomers are not well trained in statistics, learning only elementary methods through books written by and for physical scientists. To alleviate this educational gap, an annual intensive week-long Summer School was started in 2005 by the group at Pennsylvania State. The 2011 Summer School follows the tradition and presents concepts and methodologies at an intermediate level, accompanied by hands-on software tutorials with application to astronomical datasets. If maintained at a steady state, these Summer Schools will train about 10% of the nation's young astronomers, filling a critical lacuna in the US scientific workforce.This award also supports the fifth Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy (SCMA) cross-disciplinary conference. Held once every 5 years since 1991, SCMA meetings are unusual in emphasizing cross-disciplinary interactions between statisticians and astronomers. This is emphasized by having invited speakers in one field followed by a commentator from the other field. These meetings have become the premiere forum for research statisticians and astronomers to discuss methodological issues of mutual interest.