Statistics

BYU’s Statistics Department gives students two programs to choose from, a regular bachelor’s degree program, and an integrated program. The Statistics Integrated BS/MS Program allows well-prepared students to complete both programs efficiently and at lower tuition cost. In the integrated program, students have the opportunity to receive both their BS and master’s degree in just five years. You will get a jump start toward a career as you are propelled through your education in a shorter period of time.

All students, whether participating in the integrated program or working toward a regular undergraduate degree, will have access to top-notch facilities and equipment. Not only is our gear great, but our faculty and staff are as well. Professors and TAs will be available every step of the way to help guide you on your quest to become a statistics expert.

The relationships you build here through mentored teaching and unsurpassed undergrad research are valuable resources that will be helpful throughout your life. At BYU, you’ll approach mathematical science in a way that is both spiritually strengthening and intellectually enlarging. You’ll address real scientific questions in the light of the Gospel.

For more information on required classes for these majors and minors, please see the current undergraduate catalog. You can declare one of these majors or minors by visiting the Advisement Center.

Undergraduate research makes classroom learning come alive and can help propel you into a professional career. You will have the opportunity to put your book knowledge into practice by learning technical and research skills that will prepare you for careers and higher education.

BYU is a pioneer in this area—one of the few universities that allows undergrad students to work side by side with professors on their research projects. This means that even though you may be fresh out of high school, you could find yourself assisting professors and grad students in valuable projects with real-life applications. Some students are even paid during their mentorships.

Undergraduate students can do research in nine areas. Specific projects within these categories include calculating the uncertainty of aging nukes, contributing to advancements in genetics, and analyzing car crash data.

• Biological Weapon Detection

• Chemometrics

Students extract information from chemical systems. Researches use data driven techniques to address problems in chemistry, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and other areas.

• Ecological Statistics

• Environmental Statistics

Students collect and analyze data associated with environmental sciences.  This involves developing statistical models for understanding complex problems related to climate change, air and water quality, atmospheric science, toxicology, and human health.

• Health, Human Performance, & Sports

• Reliability & Industrial Statistics 

• Statistical Genetics/Biostatistics/Neuroimaging

• Statistics in Finance

Students collect and analyze data relating to the money market. This includes collaborating on    mortgage valuation and taxation and the investigation of the role of the sales tax rate has on the amount to tax collected by cities.

People come from all over to use BYU’s facilities and equipment. Statistics students have access to numerous labs and software including:

• Fulton Supercomputing Lab

Houses 933 servers comprising of 9,880 processor cores supported by over 100 terabytes of high performance storage. Undergrad students can set up their own account.

• General Access Computing Labs

Contains the best in statistical software and are available to help all students interpret data with ease.

• R Software

Provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible. The S language is often the vehicle of choice for research in statistical methodology, and R language provides an Open Source route to participation in that activity.

• SAS/STAT Software

Designed for both specialized and enterprise wide analytical need, this software is used in everything from traditional statistical analysis of variance and predictive modeling to exact methods and statistical visualization techniques.

• SPLUS Software

 The most comprehensive library of statistical and mathematical algorithms available is combined with an integrated development environment, streamlining source code control and project management.

• STATA Software

STATA is a complete, integrated statistical package that provides everything for data analysis, data management, and graphics.

• SURCL Computer Lab

Statistics Undergraduate Research Computer Laboratory is equipped with ultra-fast computers to aid students in processing even the largest data sets.

Statistics can prepare you to go into any quantitative field.  With an undergraduate degree in statistics, many job possibilities are open including:

With an undergraduate degree in statistics you could earn:

*Industry-wide estimate from: payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp

Students who participate in the integrated statistics program will have the opportunity to receive both their bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in just five years. With a master’s degree in statistics, BYU students have worked as master statisticians, risk analysts, data managers, and consultants at statistical centers. The more education you get, the more opportunities become available. BYU alumni who have completed the integrated program have worked at:

Many of our students go on to get advanced degrees and additional experience that broaden their career opportunities. BYU Statistics alumni have found jobs in government, academia, and numerous business including working for: