The Statistics and Data Science Center is an MIT-wide focal point for advancing research and education programs related to statistics and data science. The Center was created in 2015 with the goal of formalizing and consolidating efforts in statistics at MIT. The Center’s academic mission is to host and develop new academic programs, from a minor to a PhD in statistics and data science. The Center is also a window on the cutting-edge research in statistics and data science that is performed at MIT, characterized by a unique integration of computation and domain knowledge to statistical questions.

The ubiquity and rapid proliferation of data have created unprecedented challenges and opportunities in research for which statistics is a uniquely powerful tool — from economics and anthropology to computer science and environmental engineering. The Statistics and Data Science Center was formed as part of MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) and plays a vital role in addressing these new challenges at MIT. IDSS and the Statistics and Data Science Center provide a shared space for these disciplines, shaping the practice of statistics at MIT and fostering multidisciplinary collaborations that examine some of the most complex societal challenges we face today.