SIBS About NCSU

The Department of Statistics at NCSU is one of the largest departments of statistics and biostatistics in the country, with undergraduate and graduate programs enrolling over 105 and 150 students, respectively. The department is also one of the oldest, founded in 1941 by Gertrude Cox, and has trained leading statistical scientists for decades.

The faculty in the department are diverse both in background and expertise. About one-third of the faculty are women, three are African-American, and one is Hispanic, and roughly half of the students are women. The areas of specialization of the faculty span a wide range of topics: faculty have expertise in statistical theory and methods relevant to biomedical research, the study of environmental phenomena, problems in agriculture, life sciences, natural resources, and genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. Faculty members are internationally recognized researchers developing new statistical methods, gifted instructors, and caring and motivating mentors for students. Many of the faculty have been awarded research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and other government entities to support their work developing new statistical methods.

Because of its size, the department can offer a vast selection of courses and opportunities for its graduate students. All students follow a standard "core" program of foundational statistical theory and methods courses, which they may follow by courses focusing on topics relevant to different areas of application. Students pursuing a Masters degree may opt to study a particular "concentration," including biostatistics, environmental statistics, statistical genetics, and industrial statistics, for which they may choose related courses. The biostatistics concentration is the most popular and requires courses in statistical principles of clinical trials, longitudinal data analysis, analysis of survival data, and design of experiments. At the PhD level, students study advanced statistical theory and methods and those in focusing on biostatistics may choose from courses on topics such as survival analysis, mixed effects modeling, missing data methods, and causality that cover recent and current research developments. The "Biomedical Statistics Working Group," comprising faculty and students interested in biostatistics, meets every few weeks and features methodological seminars, group study of specific topics, and presentations on careers and other opportunities for biostatisticians.

Students have ample opportunity for gaining practical experience through Graduate Industrial Traineeships at local pharmaceutical and software companies and medical research institutions (including DCRI) and as research assistants to faculty carrying out federally-funded biostatistical research. Students pursuing the PhD with a focus on biostatistics work with members of our faculty engaged in cutting-edge research in this area.