The Cornell University Department of Statistical Science (DSS) has become a department of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science (CIS). Previously, it was affiliated with the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

"Association with CIS makes good intellectual sense to both units since statistics was the first information science," said Robert L. Constable, dean of CIS. "In CIS, statisticians and computer scientists will explore a deepening common research ground and together will hire faculty in core computational statistics."

Like computing, statistics are used in areas across campus, ranging fromgenomics and computational biology research to manipulating data collected by the Lab of Ornithology, empirical legal questions and computational finance. And, like CIS, statistics faculty are members of various colleges and departments across campus, including ILR, agriculture, biology, mathematics, and engineering and operations research.

"We have many joint interests and commonalities," said Martin Wells, chair of DSS and Cornell professor of social statistics. "DSS has its roots in the field of mathematics, just as the Department of Computer Science does. Statistics is an information science. We design studies, collect and analyze data, and make conclusions; CIS is the most logical home for work of this nature."

DSS's priorities and its support for Cornell's research community remain unchanged, as will its administrative structure. The department will continue to reach out to new research areas, Wells said.

Statistics was originally the province of the Cornell Statistics Center, which provided services to all colleges and departments and ran the graduate program. In the late 1990s, DSS was created as a department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as was the master's program in professional studies in applied statistics. In 1997, DSS moved to ILR.

"We work with many blurred boundaries, and we use them to our advantage," said Wells. "Our collaborative relationships and joint appointments open many doors for us and highlight opportunities where the use of statistics can contribute significantly to the data-driven sciences."

In the most recent National Research Council rankings, Cornell's doctoral program in statistics ranked in the top five in the United States, earning the highest ranking for any of Cornell's graduate programs.