Statistics and Applied Mathematics

The Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics offers master's and doctoral programs within the Graduate Program in Statistics and Applied Mathematics. Depending on chosen emphasis, students can follow a track granting the title of "Statistics and Applied Mathematics" and a track granting the title of "Applied Mathematics and Statistics". The goal of these programs is to help students develop into independent scholars who are prepared for productive careers in research, teaching, and industry.

Applications for admission are handled by the School of Engineering. Academic questions can be addressed to the Graduate Director

Course Requirements

Statistics and Applied Mathematics: This track is for students emphasizing Statistics. All students must complete the core courses described below.

In addition to these 30 units, M.S. students must complete two additional 5-unit courses from the approved list, for a total requirement of 40 units. Ph.D. students must complete four additional 5-unit courses from the approved list, for a total requirement of 50 units.

Applied Mathematics and Statistics: This track is for students emphasizing Applied Mathematics. All students must complete the core courses described below.

In addition to these 35 units, Ph.D. students must complete four additional 5-unit courses from the approved list, for a total requirement of 55 units.

For both emphasis tracks, M.S. students will be allowed to substitute up to two courses with their required research project in which they conduct a research program in one or two of the quarters of their second year. The project will consist of solving a problem or problems from the selected area of application and will be presented to the sponsoring faculty member as a written document.

Ph.D. students will be required to serve as teaching assistants for at least two quarters during their graduate study. Certain exceptions may be permitted for those with extensive prior teaching experience or those who are not allowed to be employed due to visa regulations.

Qualifying Examinations

At the end of the first year, all students will take a pre-qualifying examination covering the five or six (non-seminar) core courses. This examination will have two parts: an in-class written exam, followed by a take-home project involving data analysis. Students who do not pass this exam will be allowed to retake it before the start of the following fall quarter; if they fail the second examination they will be dismissed from the program.

Ph.D. students must complete the oral proposal defense, through which they advance to candidacy, by the end of the spring quarter of their third year. The proposal defense is a public seminar as part of an oral qualifying examination given by the qualifying committee.

Thesis and/or Dissertation Requirements

A capstone project is required for the M.S. degree and a dissertation for the Ph.D. degree.

For the M.S. degree, students will conduct a capstone research project in their second year (up to three quarters). Students must submit a proposal to the potential faculty sponsor by the start of the fourth academic quarter. If the proposal is accepted, the faculty member will become the sponsor and will supervise the research and writing of the project. The project will involve the solution of a problem or problems from the selected area of application. When the project is completed and written, it will be submitted to and must be accepted by a committee of two individuals, consisting of the faculty adviser and one additional reader. Additional readers will be chosen appropriately from within the Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department or outside of it. Either the adviser or the additional reader must be from within the Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department.

A dissertation is required for the Ph.D. degree. Ph.D. students must select a faculty research adviser by the end of the second year. A written dissertation proposal will be submitted to the adviser, and filed with the graduate secretary. A qualifying examination committee will be formed, consisting of the adviser and three additional members, approved by the Chair of the Graduate Program and the Dean of the Graduate Division. The student will submit the written dissertation proposal to all members of the committee and the graduate secretary no less than one month in advance of the qualifying examination. The dissertation proposal will be formally presented in a public oral qualifying examination with the committee, followed by a private examination. Students will advance to candidacy after they have completed all course requirements (including removal of all incompletes), passed the qualifying examination, and paid the filing fee. Under normal progress, a student will advance to candidacy by the end of the spring quarter of her/his third year. A student who has not advanced to candidacy by the start of the fourth year will be subject to academic probation. Upon advancement to candidacy, a dissertation reading committee will be formed, consisting of the dissertation supervisor and at least two additional readers appointed by the Graduate Program chair upon recommendation of the dissertation supervisor. At least one of these additional readers must be in the Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department. The committee is subject to the approval of the Graduate Division. The dissertation will consist of a minimum of three chapters composed of material suitable for submission and publication in major professional journals in statistics and stochastic modeling. The completed dissertation will be submitted to the reading committee at least one month before the dissertation defense, which consists of a public presentation of the research followed by a private examination by the reading committee. Successful completion of the dissertation defense is the final requirement for the Ph.D. degree.

Relationship of Masters and Doctoral Programs

The M.S. and Ph.D. programs are freestanding and independent, so that students can be admitted to either. Students completing the M.S. program may proceed into the Ph.D. program, and students in the Ph.D. program can receive a M.S. degree upon completion of M.S. requirements, including the capstone research project. Each Ph.D. student will be required to have knowledge of statistics and applied mathematics equivalent to that required for the M.S. degree. In addition, Ph.D. candidates will be required to complete coursework beyond the M.S. level.

Transfer Credit

Up to three School of Engineering courses fulfilling the degree requirements of either the M.S. or Ph.D. degrees may be taken before beginning the graduate program through the concurrent enrollment program. Ph.D. students who have previously earned a master's degree in a related field at another institution may substitute courses from their previous university with approval of the adviser and the graduate committee. Courses from other institutions may not be applied to the M.S. degree course requirements. Petitions should be submitted along with the transcript from the other institution or UCSC Extension. For courses taken at other institutions, copies of the syllabi, exams, and other course work should accompany the petition. Such petitions are not considered until the completion of at least one quarter at UCSC. At most, a total of three courses may be transferred from concurrent enrollment and other institutions.

Review of Progress

Each year, the faculty reviews the progress of every student. Students not making adequate progress toward completion of degree requirements are subject to dismissal from the program (see the Graduate Handbook for the policy on satisfactory academic progress).

Financial Support

The department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics attempts to provide financial support, in the form of Fellowships, Teaching and Research Assistantships, to all students admitted into its graduate programs, with priority typically given to Ph. D. students.  Thanks to the generous support of the National Science Foundation the department is also able to offer scholarships through the S-STATSMODEL program.  For more information check out the program's webpage here.

Requirements for a Parenthetical Annotation to an External Degree Program

Students from another degree program who meet the following requirements can have the parenthetical title of "statistics" annotated to their degree title. For example, a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering who meets the requirements would get a certification that read "Ph.D. Electrical Engineering (Statistics)". This certification is supplied for those students who effectively do a Statistics M.S. on their way to a Ph.D. in another program. To qualify for this, the degree granting department must sign an agreement with the AMS department regarding parenthetical annotations. The course requirements are: AMS 205A, AMS 206, AMS 207, AMS 256 and one other course from a list of approved courses in AMS (currently 211, 221, 223, 241, 245, 261, 274 although others will be added in the future).