Teaching Requirements

Each student in the PhD program is required to teach a statistics or mathematics course for at least one semester. Before serving as a teaching assistant (TA), a graduate student whose native language is not English must attain a minimum score of 50 on the SPEAK or TSE and attend the International and All Campus Teaching Assistants Orientation Program. All PhD students are required to attend the All Campus Teaching Assistants Orientation and participate in two post-orientation workshops held during the semester. Students who do not complete this requirement within one year of their admission will see a reduction in the percentage of their assistantship.

Thesis Advisor

Soon after passing the qualifying examination, the student should find a faculty member who will agree to be the student's thesis advisor. The student and advisor will then plan a course of study, including course work, outside reading, and original work, leading to the preliminary examination. Emphasis can be on, for example, mathematical statistics, computational statistics, applied or theoretical probability, methodology, or statistical applications in another discipline.

Annual Review of PhD Candidates

The Graduate Committee of the Department of Statistics conducts an annual review of each candidate's progress toward completion of the PhD degree. Any candidate whose progress is not satisfactory is subject to dismissal from the program. The following guidelines, in addition to the course requirements, will be used in measuring a candidate's satisfactory progress. The student must:

•  Take the Qualifying exam in the Fall semester after the first full year. A student receiving a passing score on the exam becomes a PhD candidate and maintains regular progress towards the PhD degree. A students who does not achieve a passing score will have one of two possible outcomes: (1) near passing, allowed to make a second attempt the following year, or (2) terminal non-passing score.
• Pass the preliminary exam by the end of January of the fourth year of study

Departmental Seminars

The Department of Statistics sponsors seminars where researchers from academia or industry discuss their recent research. Each student enrolled in the PhD program is expected to attend the seminars. Participation in the seminar series is one aspect given consideration by the Graduate Committee in its annual review of the student's performance.