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Faculty research interests include statistical applications in such areas as agriculture, forestry, wildlife, fisheries, social sciences, and the physical and life sciences. Other faculty in the Department work in theoretical and computational statistics. One of the strong points of the program is the extensive interaction between faculty and students, with much of the instruction in the form of an apprenticeship.
Students in the M.Ap.Stat. program have a broad range of undergraduate backgrounds including the agricultural, social-behavioral, physical, and biological-life sciences, as well as mathematics and statistics. Some students in the Department pursue dual master's degrees or work toward the M.Ap.Stat. while pursuing a Ph.D. in another department. Students completing the M.Ap.Stat. degree are prepared to serve as applied statisticians or to pursue advanced graduate work. Employment opportunities exist for applied statisticians in business, industry, government, and in educational and research organizations.
Application Procedure Students interested in applying for graduate study in the Department of Experimental Statistics should complete the following steps:
Admission To The Degree Program The faculty of the Department of Experimental Statistics evaluates each application for admission to the Masters of Applied Statistics program. Graduate School requirements for regular admission are:
Financial Aid The Department will try to help qualified students locate financial assistance to help with their expenses. The most common financial assistance is through an assistantship awarded by the Department.
Graduate assistantships are available in the Department of Experimental Statistics to support our graduate program. Assistantships are awarded to students on a competitive basis with the approval of the Department Head. Academic qualifications and ability to carry out assistantship duties are the major considerations in awarding assistantships. In addition, some assistantships are funded by contracts; these may require special skills or qualifications. Only students with strong academic records will be appointed to a graduate assistantship. Applications for assistantships are accepted throughout the year and can be obtained from the Department of Experimental Statistics. Completed applications should be submitted at the same time as the Application to Master of Applied Statistics Program. The department will normally provide assistantship support only up to a maximum of two calendar years. Contact the Department Head for more information.
Student Responsibility and Standards According to Graduate School regulations, graduate students are considered to be in good standing and making satisfactory academic progress if they earn a 3.00 cumulative average on all graduate course work taken within the LSU system and a 3.00 semester average on all course work (graduate and undergraduate). A student who does not satisfy these minimum standards will be placed on academic probation by the Graduate School and may not be appointed or reappointed to a graduate assistantship until the student's cumulative grade point average is at least 3.0. A student whose semester and/or cumulative average is as low as 2.75 may be dropped from the Graduate School without a probationary period. A student already on probation whose cumulative and/or semester GPA is below 3.00 will be dropped from the Graduate School. For these purposes a summer term is counted the same as a regular semester. The grades recorded determine the student's academic status even if the student changes to a different graduate degree program.
Graduate students are expected to assume full responsibility for knowledge about Graduate School and Departmental policies, requirements, and deadlines. Degree programs are subject to change, and it is the student's responsibility to be aware of such changes. Information about changes is available from the Graduate School, the Department, and the Graduate Bulletin.
Course Loads Graduate assistants are required to register as full-time students (i.e., at least 9 credit hours in the spring or fall, at least six of which must be at the graduate level, and 6 hours in the summer distributed among Sessions A, B, and C, at least three of which must be at the graduate level) until all degree requirements are completed. Graduate assistants must maintain full-time status to retain their assistantships.
Final acceptance of the Master's program rests with the Graduate Advisory Committee made up of three members of the graduate faculty proposed by the graduate student and formally appointed by the Department Head. The major professor is usually the chair of this committee. One member of the committee must be a full member of the graduate faculty from the Department of Experimental Statistics, and one member must represent the minor area. Any subsequent changes in the proposed program must be approved by the student's committee.
Degree Requirements: The degree requires completion of 38 semester hours, including a 14-hour core of two courses in statistical theory and two courses in statistical methods, nine hours of advanced statistics courses, nine hours in a minor area, and six hours of professional courses (see degree requirements in Appendix). The department's policy is that only EXST courses may be used to satisfy these course requirements, with the exception of the minor field courses. However, in limited and unusual circumstances, courses from other curriculums may be used to satisfy the elective courses requirement. To effect such an exception, the student must submit a written request and justification, and his/her committee must approve the request. No course may be substituted that substantially duplicates the coverage of an EXST course.
Under some circumstances, the Graduate School allows students to transfer up to 12 hours toward the degree from other schools with the approval of the Department Head and the Dean of the Graduate School (see the LSU Graduate Bulletin for details). Students with or pursuing a second Master's degree from LSU can apply no more than 6 hours from the first degree toward the second.
A M.Ap.Stat. student who completed a course more than five years before graduation may not apply that course toward the requirements for the M.Ap.Stat. degree unless the student passes an exam administered by one or more faculty members selected by the student's committee. The results of this validation exam must be signed by all members of the committee and reported to the Graduate School before the request for the student's final exam will be approved.
The LSU Graduate School Bulletin is the final authority for all regulations.
Special Problem: Students are required to complete a special problem under the guidance of their committee. The special problem often involves the development or detailed use of a special statistical application for which the student takes major responsibility. At least seven days before the final oral examination all committee members should receive a thoroughly edited and completed draft of the special project. After the oral examination and before graduation, students must submit an edited copy of the special problem to the Department Head to be added to the Department library.
Seminar: All students must present a seminar to the Department, and must register for EXST 7086, Advanced Seminar in Statistics, during the semester in which they plan to present their seminar. The seminar must be conducted before the date of the final oral examination.
Comprehensive Final Examination: Each candidate for a M.Ap.Stat. degree will be required to pass a comprehensive final examination which consists of two parts, a written comprehensive examination and a final oral examination. The two parts need not be taken in the same semester, but a student must receive a passing grade on the written comprehensive examination before the date of the final oral examination.
Students planning to take the written comprehensive examination must complete a Departmental form early in the semester during which they plan to take the examination (see Appendix for a copy of the form and for more information on the written examination procedures). At least three weeks prior to the time of the final oral examination and by the Graduate School deadline, the Department must submit to the Graduate School a request for appointment of the examining committee; deadlines are published by the Graduate School at the beginning of each semester. Students must submit the appropriate materials to the Department before this time. The oral examination is comprehensive and may cover any portion of the student's graduate work including, but not limited to, the special problem. Normally, a candidate for the M.Ap.Stat. degree will take the oral examination during the semester in which he or she plans to graduate. If a student wishes to take the oral examination at an earlier date, the student's committee must furnish the Dean of the Graduate School with a sound academic reason for doing so.
Graduation: Students must submit a Request For A Final Exam and an Application For a Degree to the Graduate School early in the semester during which they plan to graduate (forms and information are available from the Graduate School). Deadlines are published by the Graduate School at the beginning of each semester, and it is the student's responsibility to meet these deadlines. Students must contact committee members and schedule the final oral examination early enough to comply with Graduate School requirements.