  Despite centuries of close association, statistics and astronomy are
surprisingly distant today. Most observational astronomical research relies on
an inadequate toolbox of methodological tools. Yet the needs are substantial:
astronomy encounters sophisticated problems involving sampling theory, survival
analysis, multivariate classification and analysis, time series analysis,
wavelet analysis, spatial point processes, nonlinear regression, bootstrap
resampling and model selection. We review the recent resurgence of
astrostatistical research, and outline new challenges raised by the emerging
Virtual Observatory. Our essay ends with a list of research challenges and
infrastructure for astrostatistics in the coming decade.
