Program Overview

Introduction to the Master of Science in Statistics and Data Science Program

The Master of Science in Statistics and Data Science program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in statistical theory, methodology, and application. The program offers two degree plans: the Master's Thesis Degree Plan (Thesis Plan) and the Comprehensive Exam Plan (Non-Thesis Plan).

Degree Plans

• Thesis Plan: Students must complete at least 30 credits of acceptable graduate courses, including at least 6 thesis credits, at least 12 non-thesis credits of 700-level courses, and at least 21 credits through on-campus courses at the university.
• Non-Thesis Plan: Students must pass the comprehensive exam and complete at least 32 credits of acceptable graduate courses, including at least 18 non-thesis credits of 700-level courses, at least 23 credits through on-campus courses at the university, and 1 credit of the Comprehensive Exam course.

Degree Requirements

To graduate, students must successfully complete the following six courses:

• STAT 645 - Introduction to Statistical Computing (3 units, offered every fall semester)
• STAT 661 - A First Course in Probability (3 units, offered every semester)
• STAT 667 - Statistical Theory (3 units, offered every semester)
• STAT 755 - Multivariate Data Analysis (3 units, offered every spring semester)
• STAT 757 - Applied Regression Analysis (3 units, offered every fall semester)
• STAT 760 - Statistical Learning (3 units, offered every spring semester)

Electives

For elective credits to count towards degree requirements, all these credits must be approved by the student's Graduate Committee or the Graduate Director. Appropriate courses outside the Department of Mathematics and Statistics may be approved, depending on the student's research interests.

The Master's Thesis

Students who choose the Thesis Plan must write a master's thesis to complete the program. The thesis process starts with the student choosing a Thesis Advisor, a graduate faculty member of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics who works in a research area of interest to the student. The Advisor guides the student through the thesis writing process, which may involve preparatory work such as reading books and/or research papers, computer programming, intense calculations, etc.

The Comprehensive Exam

Students who choose the Non-Thesis Plan must complete the Comprehensive Exam. The exam is offered once every semester, close to the end of the semester, and is designed to evaluate students' fundamental knowledge of probability and statistics. The topics for the exam are a union of the major topics from the Probability (STAT 661) and Mathematical Statistics (STAT 667) courses.

General Information

The exam is 6 hours long and is broken up into a 3-hour morning session and a 3-hour afternoon session. Students will be allowed a maximum of two attempts at passing the Comprehensive Exam.

Study Guidelines

To study for the exam, students are recommended to take both Probability (STAT 661) and the Statistics Theory (STAT 667) classes, practice by doing problems assigned as homework and more problems from the course textbooks, and study proofs of theorems in the texts.

Exam Syllabus

The exam syllabus includes:

1. The formal language of probability
2. Univariate and multivariate random variables and probability distributions
3. Measures of expectation, variation, and risk
4. Special discrete and continuous distributions and their applications
5. Convergence of probability distributions
6. Sampling distributions related to the normal distribution
7. Estimation
8. Testing hypotheses
9. Linear models

Graduate School Academic Requirements

Good Standing

Each graduate course must be completed with a grade of "C" or better for the credit to be acceptable toward an advanced degree. Students must maintain good standing with an overall cumulative graduate credit GPA of at least 3.0 on a scale of 4.0.

Probation

If the student's cumulative grade-point total is between 2.31 and 2.99, the student is placed on probation. The student must then raise their cumulative graduate GPA to 3.0 by the end of the following semester or the student will be dismissed from graduate standing.

Dismissal

If the graduate grade-point total is 2.30 or lower, the student is dismissed from graduate standing, or if the graduate GPA remains below 3.0 for two consecutive semesters, the student is dismissed from graduate standing. Dismissed students are no longer in a graduate program but may take graduate-level courses as a Grad Special. Students wishing to complete their degree must obtain approval to take graduate-level courses, raise their graduate GPA to at least 3.0, and then re-apply to a graduate program.