• National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded panel of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) issues report, Cross-Disciplinary Research in the Statistical Sciences, recommending establishment of "an institute to foster major collaborative efforts between statisticians and other scientists" and to "sponsor related activities, such as workshops, conferences and training."

• Joint committee of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and IMS endorses feasibility of a National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) and solicits proposals for sites.

1990

• Proposal accepted from Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc. (TUCASI), with strong participation from Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Research Triangle Institute (RTI), to locate NISS in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
• Founding ceremony held on December 3, 1990, with Richard Cyert as keynote speaker and Governor James Martin in attendance.

• NISS established as a non-profit North Carolina corporation.with statistics societies, Triangle universities, TUCASI and RTI as parent organizations.
• Research Triangle Foundation grants start-up funding of $1.5 million.
• Jerome Sacks appointed Director

• Alan F. Karr appointed Associate Director of NISS.
• First major project initiated: Statistical Strategies for Monitoring and Assessing Environmental Changes and Effects, funded by the U.S. EPA.

• National Science Foundation funds institute-wide postdoctoral program.
• First postdoctoral fellows appointed.
• Second project initiated: Analysis, Exploration and Inference in Large Educational Data Sets, funded by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and NSF.

• Third major project begins: Measurement, Modeling and Prediction for Surface Transportation Systems, funded by Mathematical/Physical Sciences and Engineering Directorates of the NSF for $6 million over five years.
• North Carolina General Assembly approves $250,000 planning funds for NISS building.

• Legislature approves $2,250,000 for construction of NISS building.

• Design for NISS building completed.
• Software development project begins, partnered by Lucent Technologies: Code Decay in Legacy Software Systems: Measurements, Models and Statistical Strategies.

1997

• Groundbreaking, construction and dedication of NISS building.
• Large data sets project begins: Pilot Projects to Explore Large Data Sets.
• GIG award from NSF: Postdoctoral Fellows at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences.

1998

• TRANSIMS activity-travel project begins: Statistically Based Activity Generation (funded by US Federal Highway Administration via subcontract from Los Alamos National Laboratory, principal dvelopers of TRANSIMS
• Jerome Sacks receives Founders Award from American Statistical Association

1999

• Digital Government project begins: A Web-Based System for Disclosure-Limited Statistical Analysis of Confidential Data

2000

• Affiliates program established
• Alan Karr appointed Director
• Focused Research Group project begins: Statistical Framework for Evaluation of Complex Computer Models