I have heard that the NSF is considering changing the name of the Division of Mathematical Sciences to the Division of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.<\/p>\n
Update 12 October 2012<\/strong>. Today AMS President Eric Friedlander sent the following email to AMS members, IMS President Ruth Williams sent the succeeding email to IMS members, and SIAM President Nick Trefethen sent the third email to SIAM members.<\/p>\n Update 17 October 2012.<\/strong> Today MAA President Paul Zorn sent the final email below to MAA members.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n October 10, 2011<\/p>\n Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n I write to encourage discussion and comments among members of the AMS about the proposal under consideration by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) be renamed the Division of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.\u00a0 At the request of the NSF, I attach a letter from DMS Division Director Sastry Pantula advocating this name change; I also attach a particularly cogent response from a member of the AMS leadership.<\/p>\n Please send your views and comments to<\/p>\n dmsname@ams.org<\/a><\/p>\n (The process to summarize comments is described below.)<\/p>\n Many of us strongly oppose this name change.\u00a0 Such a name change could create an unnecessary and unfortunate divide in the mathematical sciences community.\u00a0 We question whether this portends a shift within DMS away from support of basic research toward mission-oriented research.\u00a0 This could bring the less mathematical aspects of Statistics into the same funding pool as basic research in Mathematical Sciences, thereby negatively impacting resources available for basic research in the Mathematical Sciences, including basic research in Statistics.<\/p>\n While waiting for NSF approval to consult the broad mathematical community, I have discussed this personally \u00a0with many mathematical scientists, including the leadership of the AMS.\u00a0 The responses I have received have been near-unanimous in their opposition to such a name change.\u00a0 It is significant that three previous DMS Division Directors Peter March, William Rundell, and Philippe Tondeur have written to express their opposition to this name change.<\/p>\n Permit me to give some reasons why such a name change is much more important than “just a name.”<\/p>\n 1.)\u00a0 The mission of the NSF is to fund basic research.\u00a0 Much ofmission-oriented Statistics is funded by other federal agencies,\u00a0hospitals, industry, etc.\u00a0 This name change suggests a move within\u00a0DMS to relax its focus on basic research.<\/p>\n 2.)\u00a0 The suggestion of “new resources to all core programs” is far\u00a0different from any commitment to seek new resources to support the\u00a0basic research of these programs.<\/p>\n 3.)\u00a0 The current name (Division of Mathematical Sciences) was crafted to\u00a0be inclusive.\u00a0 The inclusiveness of DMS has resulted in increased\u00a0\u00a0funding for many programs including Statistics.\u00a0 The Mathematical\u00a0Sciences should work together, emphasizing commonality and presenting\u00a0the best case for the importance of the Mathematical Sciences.<\/p>\n 4.)\u00a0 Statistics is only one of 10 programs supported by DMS.\u00a0 In 2010, of\u00a0the 2978 proposals submitted to DMS core programs, 242 were submitted\u00a0to the Statistics program.\u00a0 It is natural to ask why Statistics\u00a0appears to be uniquely selected by DMS for special emphasis.<\/p>\n 5.)\u00a0 The analysis of big data is indeed important, and the Mathematical\u00a0Sciences will play an important role in developing fundamental concepts\u00a0and approaches to manage the “data deluge” and extract useful content.\u00a0That said, National Science Foundation support of the Mathematical\u00a0Sciences should energetically embrace basic research in all aspects\u00a0of the Mathematical Sciences to advance fundamental knowledge and\u00a0initiate unexpected revolutionary applications.<\/p>\n I encourage you to send your views and comments to<\/p>\n