PhD applicants in Statistics are automatically considered for a tuition-waiver-generating assistantship. Departmental teaching and research assistantship support is available on a competitive basis. Applicants to the PhD program will be automatically considered for financial support as part of the evaluation unless they indicate in the application that they do not wish to be considered for support. Tuition and some fees are waived for students with at least quarter-time assistantship support, except for approximately $1,150 of annual fees.
The Department of Statistics offers teaching and research assistantships.
Teaching Assistant: The student will grade homework and exams, work in the computer lab tutoring introductory statistics students and/or more advanced undergraduates taking statistics courses. After the student has attended the Graduate Academy he/she may teach a stand-alone section of Statistics 100 or 200, or discussion sections of Statistics 400.
Research Assistant: Advanced students often receive research assistantships working with one of the professors, typically closely related to their thesis topics. The duties of this assistantship include analyzing data, performing literature reviews, statistical computing and research methodology. In addition, students who have successfully completed Statistics 427, Statistical Consulting, are eligible for assistantships in the Illinois Statistics Office. These appointments give students experience with statistical consulting and applied research projects such as designing experiments, constructing survey plans, analyzing data, developing theoretical and empirical models, using computers for statistical computations, and preparing statistical sections of research proposals. Clients include members of the university community, government, and industry.