Direction of Research in Statistics and Applied Statistics: Physical Sciences and Engineering John Borkowski Professor of Statistics Montana State University

Outline A review of research areas appearing in journals related to the physical sciences and engineering –chemistry, chemical engineering, manufacturing, industrial engineering, … A brief discussion of possible ways to develop an active research program

Review of Selected Publications I reviewed titles of articles published in three popular journals related to statistical theory and applications in the physical sciences and engineering:  Journal of Quality Technology (JQT)  Technometrics (Techno)  Quality Engineering (QE)

Review of Selected Publications Time Period: 2003 to years Number of Articles: 635  JQT 155 articles  Technometrics 193 articles  QE 287 articles

Review of Selected Publications Categorized into 5 areas of research: 1.Statistical Quality Control / Statistical Process Control (SQC/SPC) 2.Design of Experiments / Response Surface Methodology (DOE/RSM) 3.Reliability (REL) 4.Modeling (MOD) 5.Other (OTHER)

Review of Selected Publications Each of the 5 areas had multiple research categories. Many articles were classified into 2 or 3 research categories. 842 research category classifications across the 635 articles.

Summary by Research Area JQT Techno QE Total SQC/SPC (43.5%) DOE/RSM (30.6%) Modeling (11.4%) Reliability ( 7.1%) Other ( 7.4%) Total

The Future of SQC/SPC ?  Product/Process Profile Analysis  Multivariate Control Charts (Sampling plans? Response vector contains both continuous and discrete response variables?)  New applications of SQC/SPC (To genomics / proteomics data? To microarray data? To ecological processes and spatial processes?)

The Future of RSM/DOE ?  “ Space-filling” designs for irregularly-shaped regions (applications of orthogonal arrays, Latin hypercubes, uniform designs ?)  Mixture designs with many components in highly-constrained regions (applications of orthogonal arrays, Latin hypercubes, uniform designs ?)  Restrictions on randomization, split-plotting (in mixture experiments, with categorical responses?)  Desirability functions + optimal design (How do we combine several design evaluation criteria?)  Genetic algorithms (Can we apply GAs to the problems above?)

The Future of Modeling?  Generalized linear models + response surface methodology (Response optimization? Robust designs?)  Model and variable selection Information criteria (e.g. AIC)? Model averaging? Bayesian methods?  Classification and Regression Trees ?

Some Thoughts on Developing an Active Research Program Networking Working with other statisticians Working with other researchers who are not statisticians

Networking Attend conferences Present research at conferences Introduce yourself to other researchers Do not be afraid to ask questions Personal example: Dr. Greg Piepel, a statistician at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), USA Result: I became Visiting Faculty at PNNL, submitted research for publication in JQT

Networking Keep in contact with other researchers (For example: former students) Personal example: In 2005, I was invited by Thammasat University to be a Visiting Faculty member because of a former PhD student from my university who now teaches in Thailand. Result: I have been a Visiting Faculty member for 4 summers, and I am involved in TU student research, received a Fulbright scholarship, attended conferences and visited other universities in Thailand, Thailand Statistician

Working with other statisticians Read abstracts of journal articles as often as possible so that you are aware of current research topics Be patient. Personal Example: Nam-Ky Nguyen (Hanoi, Vietnam) asked me to be co- author on research paper Result: Publication in JSPI (2008) and invitation to work on World Bank Problem in Vietnam

Working with other researchers who are not statisticians Many researchers need statistical help (consulting, data analysis, summarizing results) Personal Example: I work with researchers in ecology and environmental science, biology, earth science, … Result: I have received money from their research grants and published in their journals: J. of Wildlife Management, J. of Range Management, Weed Science,…

Some Observations I believe there is potential for collaborative research –within Thailand –between Thailand and other countries The problem is to determine what opportunities exist and then how to address them The solution begins with communication (primarily networking)

How well do you know your colleagues ? Do you know what your colleagues are interested in ? Do you know what their specialty areas are in statistics ? Do you know which colleagues are interested in collaborative research ?

Things to Consider Create a directory of statisticians who want to develop their research program Determine if they have any specific research areas of interest Determine if they have any specific research problems that require collaboration (Conduct a survey ?)

Things to Consider Many U.S. universities have funded international programs that allow faculty to visit other countries for research Contact directors of these programs expressing interest in developing a relationship with your organization (e.g., exchange of faculty and students) Many international faculty would like to visit Thailand

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