Not Just a Consolation Prize
NCSU mas ter’s of statistics degree off ers wealth of opportunities
in academia for institutions such clients, writing reports, and giv-
as Shaw University, University of ing oral presentations. Students
South Carolina, and The Johns choose elective courses from a
T
hat’s right—the master’s Hopkins University and gov- variety of options, including time
of statistics degree at ernment agencies such as the series analysis, Bayesian infer-
North Carolina State U.S. Environmental Protection ence, longitudinal data analysis,
University (NCSU) is not a con- Agency and National Agricultural clinical trials, spatial statistics,
solation prize for those who can- Statistics Service. data mining, statistical comput-
not earn a PhD degree. On the Starting with its first master’s ing, multivariate analysis, applied
contrary, it provides a solid foun- graduates (e.g., Harold Manning, least squares, nonparametrics, and
dation and prepares students for Jeanne Williams Freeman, and quality control.
statistics/biostatistics doctoral Joseph Cameron) in the mid The NCSU master’s of statis-
degrees in the United States. 1940s, the NCSU Statistics tics program also offers different
Additionally, it prepares students Department has awarded more concentrations in biostatistics
for many jobs in industry, gov- than 880 master’s of statistics (the most popular among all
ernment, and academia. degrees. The first year of the master’s options), environmental
A number of NCSU master’s NCSU program focuses on statistics, mathematical statistics
graduates have gone on to earn building a solid foundation in (popular among PhD-seeking stu-
doctoral degrees from NCSU, mathematical statistics, linear dents), and statistical genetics. All
The University of North Carolina models, and statistical methods. concentrations require the same
at Chapel Hill, The Johns Such a foundation is essential core courses and vary in the set of
Hopkins University, University for students’ future professional other courses required during the
of Alabama, and Iowa State, growth. Students are required to second year. Some master’s stu-
among others. Also, NCSU mas- pass a written examination on dents are supported as teaching
ter’s graduates work for pharma- these courses at the end of their assistants and industrial trainees
ceutical companies such as GSK, first year. with local companies, as well.
Eli Lilly, Merck, and Pfizer; con- During their second year, stu- Well-qualified students of
tract research organizations such dents take design of experiments, diverse backgrounds are recruit-
as Quintiles, PPD, and Rho; sampling, and categorical data ed from around the globe. The
financial institutions such as analysis or survival analysis. They NCSU Statistics Department is
Wachovia and Bank of America; also are required to take a statisti- also involved with interdisciplin-
and IT companies such as SAS, cal consulting course that provides ary master’s programs in analytics,
Nortel, and IBM. They also work practical experience working with bioinformatics, biomathematics,
financial mathematics, and opera-
tions research. Co-major master’s
degrees (double majors) with
various other departments on the
MASTER’S PROGRAM
NCSU campus are also available.
A large number of NCSU
Does your school offer an online master’s degree? Highlight the advantages
master’s graduates continue to be
of your school’s master’s in statistics program in an upcoming issue of Amstat
active in the ASA. NCSU faculty
News. Or, if you are a student who has recently graduated with a master’s
members enjoy meeting their
degree in statistics, we would like to hear from you. Email Amstat News
fellow alumni and celebrating
Managing Editor Megan Murphy at
megan@amstat.org or Assistant Director
their successes at the annual Joint
of Research and Graduate Education Keith Crank at
keith@amstat.org.
Statistical Meetings. Ultimately,
NCSU’s success is measured by
the success of its alumni, and
NCSU is proud of its alumni. ■
18 AMSTAT NEWS MAY 2009
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