Welcome to the web site of the Statistics Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP) at The University of Arizona. Here you will find information about our graduate program, the science of statistics, and links to useful resources.

Overall faculty expertise in the Program spans a wide range of topics, examples of which include bioinformatics, biostatistics, classification and regression trees, computational biology, data mining and visualization, econometrics, environmetrics, network analysis, population & quantitative genetics, and quantitative risk assessment. GIDP graduate students develop core knowledge in statistical theory and methodology, but also gain experience in practical, trans-disciplinary research; approximately one-third of their graduate program is devoted to a chosen, subject-matter specialization. Areas for this specialization center on current faculty interests and expertise, and include the topics mentioned above. Through these offerings the GIDP in Statistics promotes University-wide activities in the broad areas of both theoretical and applied, interdisciplinary statistics.

This available Slide Presentation gives a short overview of our program; also see our University Showcase video, produced in 2006. Prospective students who wish to learn more about the program may also visit the Admissions section at the Graduate College website.

• Statistics in the Internet age is an active, computer-intensive endeavor. Each day the World Wide Web generates vast sums of social networking, remote sensor, consumer activity, and other electronic data. Statisticians combine mathematical and statistical modeling with powerful computer technologies to "mine" these data for new patterns. This digital data surge will only enhance future needs for statistical analysts: “I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians,” says Google's chief economist Hal Varian, “...and I'm not kidding” (New York Times, For Today's Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics, August 6, 2009).



• A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted the need for "more workers with stronger backgrounds in statistics" in the high-tech labor market. Indeed, in an eariler WSJ report, "Statistician" was rated as the "3rd best job in the U.S."



• Statistics graduates are highly favored in the job market: in a 2009 report from SmartMoney.com a degree in Statistics ranked among the top 5 majors that can get you a job.



• A similar report from PayScale.com showed that Statistics graduates also earn competitive salaries: a degree in Statistics ranked as 11th highest in median salary at mid-career (defined as 10 years from acquisition of the bachelor's degree) among over 70 different majors/fields of study.

Faculty openings for 2011 are available, pending budgetary approval, as per the following:

Associate Professor of Biostatistics. See www.uacareertrack.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=197693 for more details and to apply online.

The GIDP will matriculate its newest class of graduate students this Fall! We are thrilled to welcome Ph.D. students Fang Fang from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Nellie Gopaul from Florida International University, David Rockoff from Iowa State University, and Yue Zeng from the University of Delaware, and M.S. student Ian Goldstein from Macalester College, to our graduate training program. In addition, the following new students will undertake studies towards the GIDP's Graduate Certificate in Statistics: Jorge Lara Alvarez, Brian Hallmark, Dominic LaRoche, and Nicole Turcotte.
We welcome all our new graduate students to their adventure in interdisciplinary statistics!

GIDP faculty member Keisuke Hirano has earned an academic promotion and is now Professor of Economics. We extend our heartiest congratulations to Dr. Hirano!

GIDP faculty member Bonnie J. LaFleur has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Statistical Association (ASA; also see below). The ASA Board oversees and directs the activities of the largest organization of professional statisticians in the western hemisphere, and Dr. LaFleur’s election places her in a position to impact greatly the future direction of the statistics profession. She begins her duties in January 2011. Congratulations Dr. LaFleur!

GIDP member Chris Segrin has authored a book chapter detailing the social aspects of depression. His research has found that not only do depressed people sometimes lack social skills, but the way in which their relationships operate can contribute to increased feelings of depression. "We find that the relationship between social skills and depression is robust," said Dr. Segrin, a behavioral scientist and Head of the Department of Communications. "They are being cast aside by their social network. This actually maintains their depressive state." See more on Dr. Segin's research at the UA News Site.

GIDP member J. Bruce Walsh was quoted recently in the New York Times on the effects of moths in the home. While clothes-eating moths, or rather their larvae, can cause hundreds of dollars in damage, it turns out that most species are not the clothes-eating kind, says Prof. Walsh. So, don't rush to panic if you see one. (Dr. Walsh is an expert on moths and butterflies, and has even identified a new species of moth, Lithophane leeae, in the Chiracahua mountains east of Tucson; see Dr. Walsh's podcast on the discovery.)

GIDP Chairman Walter W. Piegorsch has been named Editor-in-Chief of of the journal Environmetrics, the oldest scientific journal publishing on quantitative methods in the environmental sciences. The Journal is the official organ of The International Environmetric Society and is published by John Wiley & Sons.
Dr. Piegorsch also was featured on Tucson television station KOLD-13 in its "60-Second Science" series, in which issues of scientific interest are distilled and described in a 60-second segment. He discussed his work on statistical models for setting safe exposures to environmental pollutants.

GIDP member Rabi Bhattacharya has re-released his classic book with R. Ranga Rao on Normal Approximation and Asymptotic Expansions, with the addition of some new material, published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in their series on Classics in Applied Mathematics. Congratulations to Dr. Bhattacharya!

GIDP member Robert Maier has co-edited a book-length treatment entitled Algorithmic Probability and Combinatorics. The compilation is part of the American Mathematical Society series on Contemporary Mathematics, and it presents research on computational aspects of probability, combinatorics and enumeration. Congratulations to Dr. Maier!

Past GIDP News Releases:
Fall 2007
Fall 2008
Spring 2009
Fall 2009
Fall 2010

Useful links

The American Statistical Association (ASA), founded in 1839, is one of the oldest professional organizations in the United States. Sections are organized within the Association on the basis of subject matter interest in specialized fields. Student membership in the ASA is available; join online. Membership includes a subscription to the newsletter The AMSTAT News and (upon election) one or more journals, e.g., the prestigious Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA) or the ASA student publication Stats. The AMSTAT News is the news periodical of the Association and includes articles on current events affecting statisticians, discussions of professional problems, job listings, and information concerning members and Association activities. JASA publishes selected papers on theoretical and applied aspects of statistics as well as comprehensive reviews of books bearing on the field of statistics. In Stats, articles often discuss career information, student experiences, current problems, and interesting case studies.

The International Biometric Society (IBS) was organized in 1947 for the promotion and development of statistical and mathematical theory and methods in the biosciences, including agriculture, biomedical science & public health, ecology, environmental sciences, forestry, and allied disciplines. The Society is an international collective, organized by geographic region: persons living in the United States belong either to the Eastern or Western North American Regions (ENAR or WNAR). Student memberships (in WNAR) are available; see the WNAR website at http://www.wnar.org, or the larger IBS website at http://www.tibs.org. The official organ of the Biometric Society is the prestigious journal Biometrics, subscription to which can be included with membership in the society. The IBS also co-sponsors publication of the interdisciplinary Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics (JABES).

The International Environmetric Society (TIES) was organized in 1993, and aims to foster the development and use of statistical and other quantitative methods in the environmental sciences, environmental engineering, and environmental monitoring and protection. The society publishes a regular Newsletter, along with the journal Environmetrics to disseminate multidisciplinary research on the development and application of quantitative methods in the environmental sciences. Student membership in TIES is FREE, and includes an electronic version of the TIES Newsletter.

The Econometric Society, founded in 1930, is an international society dedicated to the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statistics and mathematics. The Society publishes the world-reknowned journal Econometrica and a monograph series in economic theory, econometrics, and quantitative economics. It also organizes scientific meetings in six regions of the world, including a World Congress every five years.

The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is one of the oldest international scientific associations in the world. Its first congresses were convened in 1853, and it was formally established in 1885. The Institute is an autonomous society, which seeks to develop and improve statistical methods and their application through the promotion of international activity and co-operation. A biennial scientific "Session" is held in odd years, and often brings together thousands of statisticians from the international community. The official publication of the ISI is the International Statistical Review, although the institute also produces or supports a wide variety of other statistical publications. Membership is by election only at present, although students and others interested in the ISI can join one of the many ISI Sections.

The Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) is an international organization founded in 1935 to further research, teaching and development of applications in the field of mathematical statistics. The IMS publishes a monthly Bulletin, the renowned review journal Statistical Science, and a series of Annals: the Annals of Statistics, the Annals of Applied Statistics, the Annals of Probability, and the Annals of Applied Probability. Student membership in the IMS is FREE and includes a subscription to the Bulletin and one of the Annals. (Additional subscriptions are available at reduced cost.)


StatSci.Org is an online portal for statistical sciences, and includes web links for statistical associations, news groups, journals, teaching, computing, and research.