Iowa State has a history of offering co-major PhD degrees between Statistics and other departments. Co-majors have been pursued with agronomy, animal science, botany, computer science, economics, education, engineering, entomology, genetics, mathematics, meteorology, psychology and sociology. Since the balance of methodological and theoretical statistics required in a discipline varies by program, we offer two tracks for those seeking a co-major PhD degree. The Department of Statistics requirements are outlined below. (The requirements of the other department are determined by that department.)
Requirements
You must be fully admitted to each program. You will have two co-major professors - one from each program.
Track 1 - Applied
The student must take the Master’s core (STAT 5501, 5502, 5503, 5790, 5542, and 5543) plus STAT 6501. The program must also include at least three additional 5000- or 6000-level Statistics courses, with at least two at the 6000 level. The written PhD qualifying exam will cover the material from STAT 5501, 5502, 5542, and 5543. The dissertation must advance the knowledge in at least one of the two disciplines.
Track 2 - Theory
The student must take the Master’s core (STAT 5501, 5502, 5503, 5790, 5542, and 5543) plus STAT 6541, 6542, and 6543. The program must also include at least three additional 5000- or 6000-level Statistics courses, with at least one at the 6000 level. The written PhD qualifying exam will cover the material from STAT 5501, 5502, 5542, and 5543. The dissertation must advance the knowledge in at least one of the two disciplines.
See also