128
Undergraduate majors
(including ACMS)
EDUCATION
In addition to offering its own major and minor degrees, the Department of Statistics is a participant in the Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences (ACMS) major. There are many opportunities for undergraduate research in Statistics. Undergraduates have been involved in research in data mining, spatial statistics, mathematics education, and visualization.
The Department has a full-time MS program in Advanced Methods and Data Analysis. It also operates MS programs for part-time and concurrent students. The Department also participates in the interdisciplinary MS in Data Science program. The Department has a very strong PhD program which includes a track in Machine Learning and Big Data. Together, the MS and PhD graduate programs offer a broad range of courses, many taught in close collaboration with the Department of Biostatistics.
Students
Autumn 2023
- 84 Undergraduate majors, Statistics
- 44 Undergraduate majors, ACMS (Statistics)
- 74 Master of Science students, full-time program
- 8 Master of Science students, part-time or concurrent
- 53 PhD Students
Degrees Awarded
2022-2023
- 44 Bachelor of Science (Statistics) degrees
- 25 Bachelor of Science (ACMS-STAT) degrees
- 46 Master of Science degrees
- 11 PhD degrees
Major Student Awards
Since 2017
- 6 NSF Graduate Fellowships
- 2 Data Science IGERT Fellowships
- 1 BDGN TG
- 3 NDSEG Fellowships
RESEARCH
Much of the current research in the Department of Statistics emanates from scientific problems in other fields. Faculty in the department have contributed to research in a wide range of fields including demography, economics, image analysis, neuroscience, and public health. The Department is internationally recognized as a leader in research and education. For example, in the most recent National Research Council assessment, the UW Statistics PhD program’s ranking by other scholars was 2-4; and its research rank was 3-6 (both out of 61). In the 2018 U.S. by US News and World Report rankings, the Department was placed fifth among United States statistics departments.
Department of Statistics faculty have joint appointments with Biostatistics, the Allen School for Computer Science and engineering, Nursing, Sociology, and Social Work. The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) is a multi-disciplinary center focusing on developing statistical methodology relevant to social scientists. CSSS also teaches many joint courses with the Statistics Department, mostly at the graduate level.
In addition to joint appointments, statistics faculty have ongoing collaborations with colleagues in Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences, Computer Science, Epidemiology, Global Health, Health Metrics, and Psychology, among others. The Department is a member of the multi-disciplinary Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and has a variety of cross- or multi-disciplinary research programs. The departments of Statistics and Biostatistics are close partners both in graduate education and faculty collaboration. This synergy represents a singular strength of the statistical research environment at UW that is almost without parallel elsewhere.
Areas of Research Include:
- Causal Inference
- Demography
- Empirical Processes
- Environmental Statistics
- Graphical Models
- Network Models
- Public Health
- Semiparametric Models
- Social Sciences
- Spatio-Temporal Statistics
- Statistical Machine Learning
- Stochastic Models
FACULTY
- 11 Professors
- 4 Associate Professors
- 3 Assistant Professors
- 1 Associate Teaching Professor
- 2 Acting Assistant Professors
- 2 Lecturers (part-time)
- 11 Emeritus Professors
- 15 Adjunct Faculty from other campus departments
- 21 Affiliate Professors from local industry and other universities
Faculty honors and leadership roles include:
- 3 National Academy of Science members*
- 1 Institute of Medicine member
- 3 American Academy of Arts and Sciences members*
- 3 Sloan Fellows
- 2 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows*
- 1 Distinguished Teaching Award
- 1 Royal Irish Academy member
- 1 Bronze Guy medal from the Royal Statistical Society
- 1 St. Patrick’s Day Medal from Science Foundation Ireland
- 1 Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) winner
- Executive editor of Statistical Science, and numerous co-editors and associate editors across both statistical and subject-matter journals.
- Awards from the American Statistical Association (ASA) and other academic societies since 2009 include ASA Founders Medal, ASA Noether Award, ASA Outstanding Statistical Application award, Parzen award, AAPA Rohlf Medal.
- Many faculty receive grant support from a variety of agencies including NSF and NIH, the latter including an R37 MERIT Award.
*includes adjunct and emeritus faculty
