It’s statistically unlikely to go from a BYU undergraduate to a BYU professor in just five short years, but Robert Richardson overcame the odds.
BYU is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Robert Richardson to the Department of Statistics. As a very recent PhD graduate, Richardson will add new excitement to the increasingly popular statistics major.
Originally from Arizona, Richardson graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in statistics in 2010. Shortly after graduating, he spent four years working on his PhD at the University of California Santa Cruz, which he completed in June 2015.
“I actually kept in touch with some people here at BYU,” Richardson said. “It happens to be a good fit . . . There are a lot of people [here] who do research similar to some of my research areas.”
Richardson’s area of specialty during his PhD was spatial temporal statistics, which includes collecting data sets that can be applied to different climate models. In this field, it’s possible to predict natural phenomena like El Niño by using data sets such as ocean surface temperatures.
Richardson’s decision to study statistics stemmed from an unusually diverse set of interests that he developed early on in his education.
“I actually was interested in too much stuff,” said Richardson. “One of the things about statistics that I liked was that I could do everything. I’ve been in things like ecology, environmental science, and applications in chemistry and engineering.”
While Richardson considers himself fortunate to have received an appealing job offer so soon after graduating, he admits that landing an entry-level job in statistics can be tough without proper preparation. Even though there are hundreds of jobs in statistics, he says, there are also hundreds of applicants.
The solution he proposes is to make the right connections as an undergraduate.
“It’s important to get good grades, but if you know what you want to do after graduation, there’s more that you can do,” said Richardson. “You can make connections. You can try to find internships and experiences. I think there are a lot more experiences than undergraduates realize.”