Training in statistical modeling and modern statistical methods with a strong theoretical insights and variety of applications.

Faculty expertise: Bayesian statistics; biostatistics; stochastic modeling; spatio-temporal statistics; statistics in natural resources and ecology; social science statistics including applications in psychology, economics and education; business (business-to-business pricing); survey sampling; genomics and bioinformatics.

Degree requirements: The general requirements for receiving a master’s degree are at least 30 semester hours of course work at the 7000 level or higher, of which at least 18 hours must be from the Department of Statistics at MU. The 30 hours may not include credit hours of

At least 15 semester hours of course work at the 8000 level or above must be taken from the Department of Statistics at MU. The 15 semester hours cannot include more than a total of three hours of STAT 8090.

Additional courses recommended but not required are:

Remedial Courses: The following courses are required if equivalent courses were not taken as an undergraduate: MATH 7140, STAT 7750 and STAT 7760. These courses may not be used for more than six of the required 30 hours.

Prerequisites: Three semesters of calculus for the physical sciences including calculus of several variables or equivalent; one semester of linear algebra; at least one semester of mathematical statistics. TOEFL and GRE scores required. Applicants need not be mathematics or statistics majors.

A candidate for the regular Master of Arts degree, may choose either an exam or a thesis option in order to satisfy the main requirement for the Master’s degree.

Exam Option: A candidate may choose to take the qualifying exam (the same exam as Ph.D. candidates, see Doctorate of Statistics requirements for more details) instead of writing a thesis and presenting it.

Thesis Option: Under this option, all candidates must submit a written report on an independent effort toward producing original work. This report may, with the adviser’s consent, take the form of a thesis, a written review on a set of papers in statistics, or a written report on an independent study project, which may include an original application of statistics. For this work, a student must register for at least three semester hours of 8090.  Under the thesis option, all candidates are required to present an open seminar on the results of the written report. The report should be made available for public review, through the Department of Statistics office, for at least one week before the examination. Under the thesis option, the MA examination covers material presented in the written report and the seminar and may also cover course work.