About the Department of Statistics

Statistics is concerned with the interrelationships between observation and theory. Thus statistics deals with the formulation and application of the scientific method. Important components of statistical studies include probability, mathematical statistics, model building, statistical computing, quality and process control, time series analysis, regression theory, nonparametric function estimation, experimental design, Bayesian analysis, stochastic processes, sampling theory, and simulation.

Statisticians make important contributions in business, medicine, economics, defense, and engineering. The demand for statisticians at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels is one of the highest for any professional group.

The Department of Statistics at Rice is a community of nine core faculty, eleven joint faculty, seventeen adjunct faculty, forty-five Ph.D. students and ten to fifteen undergraduate students. We regularly host visitors from all over the world and we maintain an active post-doctoral program through NSF and NIH sponsorship. We are a member of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and reside in the computational engineering building, Duncan Hall.

Degree Programs

In addition to the undergraduate B.A. degree, students may work towards one of the three graduate degrees offered: the professional master's degree, M.Stat (thesis not required); the research master's degree, M.A. (thesis required); and the doctoral degree Ph.D.

Facilities

The department, the George R. Brown School of Engineering, and the university computing center offer a wide range of computing equipment. Computing is an integral part of education in the department, and the faculty are committed to maintaining a first-class computer environment for students. The department maintains a network of servers for its core computing and each full-time graduate student is provided with a desktop computer.