Master’s Notebook
Statistics Teachers Needed in
Industrial Settings
michael J. Patetta, sAs
to gain knowledge in statistical programming lan-
I
t is widely assumed that you need a PhD in sta-
tistics to teach applied statistics in an industrial
guages such as SAS, S-Plus, SPSS, and Stata.
setting. However, many teaching jobs in indus-
To the graduate student, I would highly recom-
trial settings require only a master’s degree in statis-
mend taking advantage of any internship programs
tics. A career as a statistical instructor can be reward-
that are available. When I was in graduate school,
ing, as you continually learn new statistical methods
I took my courses in the morning and interned at
and obtain personal satisfaction knowing you are
the North Carolina State Health Department in
helping professionals solve problems.
the afternoon. I gained valuable experience work-
As a statistics instructor for SAS, I occasion-
ing with large data sets, applying statistical methods
ally encounter professionals who have not had pre-
to real-world problems, and interacting with people
vious training in statistics. I also teach students with
from different backgrounds and with different sta-
advanced degrees in statistics and other quantitative
tistical abilities. The internship experience also gave
fields. One of the challenges, then, is to communi-
me plenty of stories to tell as a statistics instructor.
cate effectively with people of various technical back-
To be an effective teacher, interpersonal and
grounds and relate statistical concepts and applications
communication skills are critical. A graduate stu-
to nonstatisticians. Most of my students would not
dent can obtain these skills by working as a teacher’s
appreciate a course that relied entirely on mathematical
assistant. Teaching statistical software workshops in
formulas and proofs. As a result, many of the statistical
computer labs is an excellent way to gain teaching
courses at SAS use graphics and computer simulations
experience. I also recommend joining Toastmasters
to explain high-level statistical concepts. Furthermore,
International to hone communication skills.
the courses use computer-based exercises so students
In conclusion, a career as a statistics instructor
apply the statistical concepts to new situations.
can be intellectually stimulating because you are
One of the responsibilities of statistics instructors
constantly learning new statistical methods and
is to take information found in textbooks and schol-
ways to apply them to real-world problems. There
arly articles and translate it into PowerPoint slides.
is also job satisfaction in knowing you are helping
You quickly realize you have to thoroughly under-
other professionals solve their business and research
stand the statistical concepts and applications to cre-
problems. The people you meet and the places you
ate a slide illustrating these concepts. You also have
go also contribute to job satisfaction in this reward-
to illustrate the concepts with interesting stories that
ing career choice. n
appeal to students with a variety of backgrounds.
Coming up with data sets to show in demonstra-
tions and exercises is another challenge. However, the
very process of creating a course in a particular statisti-
cal topic enhances your understanding of it.
Statistics instructors at SAS travel to many of their
course engagements, experiencing various cities, eating
at fine restaurants, and interacting with people from
different geographic backgrounds. As travel budgets
tighten, we also teach courses over the Internet. Our
web courses offer the same slides and demonstrations
as our face-to-face courses, but require no travel.
Because statistical instructors are applied statisti-
cians, the most useful courses to take in graduate
school involve a large amount of practical statistics
applications in various fields. Some of the courses I
recommend include linear models, categorical data
analysis, time series, survival analysis, data mining,
and multivariate data analysis. It is also important
NOVEMBER 2009 AmstAt News 23
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