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For Prospective Students

Our collaboration center is seated in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech. Our mission is to improve research across the Virginia Tech community by providing statistical expertise and education to all members of the academic community. We provide statistics graduate students the opportunity to work with researchers across Virginia Tech, the state, and even the world. Our collaborators apply their statistical expertise to problems in fields such as urban studies, engineering, bioinformatics, horticulture, psychology, economics, wildlife science, education, food sciences, finance, and many others.

Learning how to apply statistical methodology to real world problems is a fundamental component of a successful graduate education in statistics. To do this one must not only excel in the classroom, but also have the opportunity to hone communication and technical skills in a collaborative research environment. Graduate students involved in the collaboration center will learn and apply technical skills, and also become well-versed in effective communication with both the technical and non-technical audience. By combining technical knowledge with effective communication, the statistical collaborator will have a tangible impact on the ultimate success of the research project.

Graduate students who become involved in collaboration center are exposed to a comprehensive collaborative experience. Students get a unique opportunity to apply technical skills from their coursework to real world problems in a supervised learning environment.

Consider the following merits:

  • Opportunities to work on real world projects in a multitude of fields. Broaden your knowledge in fields other than statistics.
  • Be part of the team: Weekly meetings provide opportunity to discuss collaboration issues.
  • Begin as an associate collaborator. Grow into a lead collaborator.
  • Develop communication skills that will make you a strong collaborator and also help you in your professional career. Build short and long term collaborative relationships with Virginia Tech researchers.
  • Assistantships available: Fund your education while gaining valuable experience working ~20 hours per week as a statistical collaborator.
  • Learn and use a variety of statistical software packages such as R, SAS, JMP, and others.
  • Opportunities to teach two-hour short courses on a statistical topic, hold walk-in hours to answer quick statistical questions, and collaborate with researchers on longer-term projects.
  • We annually provide funding for students to present their work at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2011 in Miami Beach, 2012 in San Diego, 2013 in Montreal.)
  • Our collaborators worked on 353 collaboration projects in 2011.
  • Work alongside Virginia Tech’s active chapter of StatCom.

As a graduate student in the Virginia Tech Department of Statistics, you may look forward to a top tier experience in statistical collaboration that will serve you well throughout your professional career.

Click here to learn more about the Virginia Tech Department of Statistics Graduate Education Program.