Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy VII

Astronomy at the beginning of the 21st century, and particularly research arising from wide-field survey observatories at various wavebands, finds itself with serious challenges in statistical treatments of data to achieve its astrophysical goals. A vast range of statistical problems arise in the scientific interpretation of astronomical studies involving sampling, multivariate and survival analysis, image and spatial analysis, signal processing and time series analysis, nonlinear regression, and more. It is this diversity of statistical issues confronting astronomy today that led to the creation of the Center for Astrostatistics at Penn State in 2003 to facilitate development and promulgation of statistical expertise and toolkits for astronomy and related observational sciences.