Astrostatistics in Canada

This state-of-the-profession white paper focuses on the interdisciplinary fields of astrostatistics and astroinformatics, in which modern statistical and computational methods are applied to and developed for astronomical data. Astrostatistics and astroinformatics have grown dramatically in the past ten years, with international organizations, societies, conferences, workshops, and summer schools becoming the norm. Canada’s formal role in astrostatistics and astroinformatics has been relatively limited, but there is a great opportunity --- and necessity --- for growth in this area.

In the 2020s, extremely large astronomy datasets will be available from both Canadian- and internationally-funded projects and missions. Millions of dollars and thousands of human hours have been invested in order to obtain these data, and we need to make the most of these data when performing scientific inference. Novel statistical and computational methods from astrostatistics and astroinformatics will be the driving force in the next decade of scientific discovery, and interdisciplinary collaboration is key.

In order to establish Canada as an international leader in astrostatistics and astroinformatics, we must first understand our current state in these areas. Thus, we conducted a survey of astronomers in Canada to gain information on the training mechanisms through which we learn statistical methods and to identify areas for improvement. We explore Canadian-based astronomers'  exposure to and training in statistical methodology, their self-described statistical acumen, and their suggestions for improving training in statistics in astronomy programs and for increasing interdisciplinary collaboration with statisticians. In general, the results of our survey indicate that while astronomers see statistical methods as critically important for their research, they lack focused training in this area and wish they had received more formal training during all stages of education and professional development. These findings inform our recommendations for the Long Range Plan 2020 on how to increase interdisciplinary connections between astronomy and statistics at the institutional, national, and international levels over the next ten years. We recommend specific, actionable ways to increase these connections, and discuss how interdisciplinary work can benefit not only research but also astronomy's role in training Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) in Canada.