  (Abridged from Executive Summary) This white paper focuses on the
interdisciplinary fields of astrostatistics and astroinformatics, in which
modern statistical and computational methods are applied to and developed for
astronomical data. Astrostatistics and astroinformatics have grown dramatically
in the past ten years, with international organizations, societies,
conferences, workshops, and summer schools becoming the norm. Canada's formal
role in astrostatistics and astroinformatics has been relatively limited, but
there is a great opportunity and necessity for growth in this area. We
conducted a survey of astronomers in Canada to gain information on the training
mechanisms through which we learn statistical methods and to identify areas for
improvement. In general, the results of our survey indicate that while
astronomers see statistical methods as critically important for their research,
they lack focused training in this area and wish they had received more formal
training during all stages of education and professional development. These
findings inform our recommendations for the LRP2020 on how to increase
interdisciplinary connections between astronomy and statistics at the
institutional, national, and international levels over the next ten years. We
recommend specific, actionable ways to increase these connections, and discuss
how interdisciplinary work can benefit not only research but also astronomy's
role in training Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) in Canada.
