M.S. DEGREE IN STATISTICS

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science offers a Master of Science degree in Statistics, Master of Science degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Applied Statistics. The degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science are discussed under Mathematics and Computer Science degrees respectively.

The graduate program in Statistics has been developed for students interested in becoming practitioners of statistics, who are trained in statistical methodology. The programs emphasize the foundations and concepts of statistics as well as the new and developing areas of statistics. Though the applications of statistical science are emphasized, the theoretical foundations are presented as well. Specifically, students are prepared for professional work in the design and analysis of experiments, the development and analysis of statistical models, data analytic techniques and the associated computational methods, and statistical computing. The curriculum is designed to allow students to develop the skills needed to achieve positions in the many pharmaceutical, chemical, health services, public service and consumer product corporations and other industries that require significant research and development efforts. Through the accessibility of computers and the availability of software to analyze huge data set ,the use of statistical methods has now become quite widespread in many industries.

The MS in Statistics is of interest to undergraduate mathematics majors looking for challenging career paths that apply their problem solving skills to important social, health, medical and business issues; undergraduate statistics majors who feel the need to expand their knowledge; people currently working as statistical assistants; people trained in biology, chemistry, physics or medicine who are involved in the analysis of experiments; and computer scientists who are involved in data analysis.

Our statistics faculty have degrees from leading institutions. They are active at the national and local level of professional societies and consult for Fortune 500 companies. Several other department members with training in statistics and probability are active in the statistics program. In addition, we occasionally bring in statistical scientists from local telecommunications or pharmaceutical firms to present courses on special topics in new and developing areas of statistics.

Our proximity to the pharmaceutical industry permits students the exciting option of an applied industrial experience, working under the supervision of a practicing statistician and a departmental faculty advisor.

Students and faculty in the Department have access to state-of-the-art interactive computing environments for data analysis and data graphics. The SAS Application System and S-Plus are available on a network of Sun Microsystem workstations and servers (4/360, 4/330, SPARCStation 2, IPCs and SLCs). Minitab and the IMSL math/stat libraries run on a Digital Equipment Corporation VAX 6310. A wide variety of PC software (such as JMP, MacSpin, Data Desk, Solo, Statistix) is available in our Apple Macintoshes and IBM PS/2's laboratories. Other software is described in the Computer Science section. The network of Sun workstations and servers and DEC minicomputer is connected to other minicomputers via a campus-wide ethernet which allows access to our statistical software from throughout the campus and from off-campus dial-in. A high speed connection between our campus network and the JvNCnet Regional Research Network provides students and faculty in statistical science access to the world-wide Internet, the NSFnet, and the scholars, researchers, statistical scientists, libraries and databases connected to it.