This project will provide support for postdoctoral fellows at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), to engage in cross-disciplinary research with significant statistical research components. Jerome Sacks is Director of NISS, located in Research Triangle Park. NISS is a recently formed institute whose inspiration came initially from an NSF sponsored workshop on cross-disciplinary research. Subsequent meetings in the statistical community produced a site selection procedure and, ultimately, the Research Triangle site. The creation of the Institute responded to the fact that in order to address major national problems or "Grand Challenges", substantial progress has to be made in the methods and applications of statistical science. A critical component of a continuing effort in this direction is the involvement and encouragement of junior researchers. The present project will support junior fellows to work on dedicated projects of high importance. It will provide postdoctoral fellowship support for projects of a cross disciplinary nature. The scope of the project is closest to the role of the institutes in mathematics (IMA, MSRI, IAS). However, the outlook is quite different. While the mathematics institutes support postdoctoral fellows, their focus is on active collaboration with researcher from different disciplines, to solve important "national problems" which involve new statistical research, in a manner fully consistent with recommendations of the Commission the Future of the NSF. ( See: A Foundation for the 21st Century, 1992.)//
