Skip Navigation

University Bulletin: Undergraduate Programs 2003-2004 The George Washington University  

 
   
 

STATISTICS

Professors J.L. Gastwirth, N.D. Singpurwalla, J.M. Lachin III, H.M. Mahmoud, T.K. Nayak, Z. Li, J. Chandra (Research), R. Modarres (Chair)
Associate Professors S. Bose, E. Bura
Assistant Professors S. Kundu, S. Balaji, Y. Lai, Q. Pan
Professorial Lecturers F. Ponti, P. Chandhok, J. Wu
Associate Professorial Lecturers R.F. Teitel, C.M. Fleming
Lecturer H. Modarres

Master of Science in the field of statistics—General prerequisite: course work in multivariate calculus, matrix theory, and at least two undergraduate statistics courses.

Required: The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The program of study consists of 30 credit hours of graduate course work without a thesis. The department may also approve a program of study consisting of 24 credit hours of course work plus a thesis (Stat 299300). All candidates must take Stat 2012 Courses may be chosen in related fields (economics, mathematics, finance, management, computer science, engineering, public health) with approval of the advisor.

Doctor of Philosophy in the field of statistics—Prerequisite: A master's degree in statistics or a related discipline. The main requirement is a strong background in mathematics, including courses in advanced calculus, linear algebra, and mathematical statistics. Some deficiencies may be made up concurrently during the student's first year. In some instances, a student may enter the Ph.D. program with a bachelor's degree.

Required: The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, including satisfactory completion of (1) Stat 2012, 21718, 223 or 271, 257, 258, 263, 264, and at least two courses chosen from among Stat 262, 26566 and 27374; (2) a minimum of 15 additional credit hours as determined by consultation with the departmental doctoral committee; (3) the General Examination, consisting of two parts: (a) a written qualifying examination that must be taken within 24 months from the date of enrollment in the program and is based on Stat 2012, 257, and 263 and (b) an examination to determine the student's readiness to carry out the proposed dissertation research; and (4) a dissertation demonstrating the candidate's ability to do original research in one of the following fields: Bayesian inference, biostatistics, design of experiments, multivariate analysis, nonparametric statistics, probability (theoretical or applied), reliability theory, robust methods, sampling, statistical computing, statistical inference, stochastic processes, and time series.

Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in the fields of biostatistics and epidemiology—See Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

In addition to its degree programs, the Statistics Department offers a graduate certificate in survey design and data analysis. With permission, a limited number of 100-level courses in the department may be taken for graduate credit; additional course work is required. See the Undergraduate Programs Bulletin for course listings.
201–2 Mathematical Statistics (3–3) Balaji, Mahmoud
  Probability, distribution theory, sampling theory, estimation, sufficient statistics, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, multivariate normal distribution. Prerequisite: Math 33, 124. (Academic year)
207 Methods of Statistical Computing I (3) Modarres
  Error analysis, computational aspects of linear models, sweep operator, random number generation, simulation, resampling. Optimization, numerical integration (Gaussian quadrature, Simpson's rule); E–M algorithm. Prerequisite: Stat 118, 15758 Math 124; knowledge of a programming language.
208 Methods of Statistical Computing II (3) Modarres
  Numerical linear algebra, matrix decomposition and eigenvalue problems. Smoothing and density estimation. Graphics, interactive and dynamic techniques for data display. Object-oriented programming. Prerequisite: Stat 118, 15758 Math 124; and knowledge of a programming language.
210 Data Analysis (3) Staff
  Review of statistical principles of data analysis, using computerized statistical procedures. Multiple regression and the general linear model, analysis of contingency tables and categorical data, logistic regression for qualitative responses. Prerequisite: Stat 118, 157 or 201, and 183 or equivalent. (Spring)
213 Intermediate Probability and Stochastic Processes (3) Li
  Discrete and continuous random variables and their distributions, conditional distributions and conditional expectation, generating functions and their applications, convergence of random variables; introduction to Brownian motion, homogeneous and nonhomogeneous Poisson processes and martingales. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 or equivalent. (Spring, alternate years)
214 Applied Linear Models (3) Bura
  Introduction to regression techniques for discrete and continuous response variables. The course includes a computing component using SAS and S+. Prerequisite: Math 33 and 124. (Fall, alternate years)
215–16 Applied Multivariate Analysis (3–3) Modarres
  Application of multivariate statistical techniques to multidimensional research data from the behavioral, social, biological, medical, and physical sciences. Prerequisite: Stat 119, 15758, Math 124. (Alternate academic years)
217 Design of Experiments (3) Bura
  Design and analysis of single- and multiple-factor experiments. Includes block designs, repeated measures, factorial and fractional factorial experiments, response surface experimentation. Prerequisite: Stat 15758 Math 124. (Fall, alternate years)
218 Linear Models (3) Kundu
  Theory of the general linear parametric model. Includes least squares estimation, multiple comparisons procedures, variance components estimation. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 Math 124. (Spring, alternate years)
221 Design of Experiments for Behavioral Sciences (3) Staff
  Applications of advanced experimental design to research problems in behavioral sciences and education. Prerequisite: Stat 105 or 118 or equivalent and permission of instructor. Not open to graduate students in mathematical statistics. (Spring)
223 Bayesian Statistics: Theory and Applications (3) Singpurwalla, Bose
  An overview of Bayesian statistics, including its foundational issues, decision under uncertainty, linear models, expert opinion, and computational issues. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 (Spring, alternate years)
226 Advanced Biostatistical Methods (3) Li
  Statistical methods for the analysis of longitudinal data: nonparametric, fixed effects, mixed effects, generalized estimating equations. Methods for the analysis of emerging data: group sequential analysis, Brownian motion, Bayesian methods, and stochastic curtailment. Other advanced topics of current research in biostatistics. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 or permission of instructor. (Spring)
227 Survival Analysis (3) Li
  Parametric and nonparametric methods for the analysis of events observed in time (survival data), including Kaplan–Meier estimate of survival functions, logrank and generalized Wilcoxon tests, the Cox proportional hazards model and an introduction to counting processes. Prerequisite: Stat 2012or permission of instructor. (Fall)
231 Categorical Data Analysis (3) Kundu
  A study of the theoretical bases underlying the analysis of categorical data. Measures and tests of association; Mantel-Haenszel procedure; weighted least squares and maximum likelihood estimators in linear models; estimating equations; logistic regression; loglinear models. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 (Fall, alternate years)
233 Questionnaire Design (3) Staff
  Questionnaire development from the perspective of cognitive techniques. Questionnaire issues range from choosing the mode of data collection (mail, telephone, or in-person) to selecting the respondent to the differences between asking attitude and factual questions. Pretesting the instrument chosen.
238 Survey Management (3) Staff
  Tools used in the management of a survey operation from the initial customer contacts through training, fieldwork, data processing, data analysis, report writing, and presentation of results. Issues in budgeting, staffing, and scheduling, with emphasis on quality management. (Fall)
242 Regression Graphics/Nonparametric Regression (3) Bura
  Linear regression, nonparametric regression, smoothing techniques, additive models, regression trees, neural networks, and dimension reduction methods. Prerequisite: Stat 118; Math 33, 124, or equivalent. (Spring, alternate years)
257 Probability (3) Balaji, Mahmoud
  Probabilistic foundations of statistics, probability distributions, random variables, moments, characteristic functions, modes of convergence, limit theorems, probability bounds. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 knowledge of calculus through functions of several variables and series. (Fall)
258 Distribution Theory (3) Gastwirth, Mahmoud
  Special distributions of statistics, small and large sample theory, order statistics, and spacings. Prerequisite: Stat 257. (Spring)
259 Advanced Probability (3) Mahmoud
  Conditional expectation and martingales; weak convergence in general metric spaces and functional central limit theorems for i.i.d. random variables and martingales; applications to biostatistics. Prerequisite: Stat 257 or an equivalent measure-theoretic introduction to probability.
262 Nonparametric Inference (3) Kundu
  Inference when the form of the underlying distribution is unspecified. Prerequisite: Stat 2012
263 Advanced Statistical Theory I (3) Nayak, Bose
  Decision theoretic estimation, classical point estimation, hypothesis testing. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 (Fall)
264 Advanced Statistical Theory II (3) Nayak, Bose
  Asymptotic theory, hypothesis testing, confidence regions. Prerequisite: Stat 257, 263. (Spring)
265 Multivariate Analysis (3) Nayak, Modarres
  Multivariate normal distribution. Hotelling's T2 and generalized T20, Wishart distribution, discrimination and classification. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 (Fall, alternate years)
271 Foundational and Philosophical Issues in Statistics (3) Singpurwalla
  Axiomatic underpinnings of Bayesian statistics, including subjective probability, belief, utility, decision and games, likelihood principle, and stopping rules. Examples from legal, forensic, biological, and engineering sciences. Students are expected to have a background in computer science, economics, mathematics, or operations research. Prerequisite: Stat 2012
273–74 Stochastic Processes (3–3) Mahmoud, Singpurwalla
  Fundamental notions of Markov chains and processes, generating functions, recurrence, limit theorems, random walks, Poisson processes, birth and death processes, applications. Prerequisite: Stat 2012 (Alternate academic years)
275 Econometrics I (3) Staff
  Same as Econ 375.
276 Econometrics II (3) Staff
  Same as Econ 376.
281 Advanced Time Series Analysis (3) Balaji, Singpurwalla
  Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling and forecasting of univariate and multivariate time series. Statespace or Kalman filter models, spectral analysis of multiple time series. Theory and applications using the University computer. Prerequisite: Math 33, Stat 2012 or equivalent. (Spring)
287–88 Modern Theory of Sample Surveys (3–3) Chandhok
  Application of statistical theory to the sampling of finite populations. Simple, stratified, cluster, double and subsampling. Special topics, including super-populations and randomized response. Prerequisite: Stat 15758 or equivalent. (Academic year)
289 Seminar (3) Staff
  Admission by permission of instructor.
290 Principles of Demography (3) Staff
  Same as Econ 290.
291 Methods of Demographic Analysis (3) Staff
  Same as Econ 291.
295 Reading and Research (3) Staff
  May be repeated once for credit.
299–300 Thesis Research (3–3) Staff
398 Advanced Reading and Research (arr.) Staff
  Limited to students preparing for the Doctor of Philosophy general examination. May be repeated for credit.
399 Dissertation Research (arr.) Staff
  Limited to Doctor of Philosophy candidates. May be repeated for credit.
 

The George Washington University

© 2008 University Bulletin
The George Washington University All rights reserved.

Information in this bulletin is generally accurate as of fall 2007. The University reserves the right to change courses, programs, fees, and the academic calendar, or to make other changes deemed necessary or desirable, giving advance notice of change when possible.