The course work typically consists of at least sixteen courses beyond the bachelor s degree, including mathematical statistics, linear models, statistical theory, applied statistics, real analysis, and probability. After completing the necessary course work and a sequence of examinations, the Ph.D. candidate must write a dissertation representing an original contribution to the field of statistics or probability. The dissertation may be predominantly the development of novel statistical methodology for an area of application. The department is housed in the Mathematical Sciences Building, which also contains the Department of Mathematics and the University Computer Center. The campus has just been rewired to allow modern computer telecommunications.
All offices have PCs that are connected to the mainframe.
The department has two networks. The other is a new IBM RISC system which is similarly linked. The University library has more than 2 million volumes, including numerous statistics texts, monographs, and journals. The department also has a small collection of books and journals for graduate student and faculty use. Some internships and financial aid are available in the summer.