Requirements for Doctoral Degree and Information

The goal of the Statistics PhD program is to train students to conduct original methodological and/or theoretical research in statistics and to apply advanced statistical methods to scientific problems. Students are expected to take advanced graduate classes in the theory and applications of statistics and other relevant classes. The Ph.D. program requires a Qualifying Exam, a Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam and a Final Oral Exam. The Ph.D. requires 90 hours of graduate credit, including a dissertation. At least 45 hours must be completed at UNL after the filing of the program of studies which must be approved by the student’s PhD graduate committee. The Ph.D. program will normally include at least 12 hours and at most 55 hours of dissertation research. (In Statistics, 20-25 hours is typical.) In addition there are specific course requirements and a language requirement.

The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

Entrance into the Department's Ph.D. program is determined by the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. The same exam serves as both the Masters Exam and the Ph.D. Qualifying exam, though qualifying for the Ph.D. program requires a higher level of performance than passing at the Masters level.

The Statistics Ph.D. Qualifying Examination is intended to verify mastery of tasks that require integration among core courses, (STAT 882-883, 802, 873, and 970). The exam is offered twice a year: 1) in January, during the week prior to the start of spring semester classes and 2) in August, prior to starting of semester classes and after final exams. The exam has two parts. The first is a closed-book exam of 5 hours. The second is an open-book exam of 5 hours. Your advisor or the chair of the Graduate Exam Committee (GEC) can supply additional information on the exam. Exam results will be given to the students within two weeks.

General Policies for the Ph.D. Qualifying exam

A student either qualifies for the PhD (high pass), passes for the MS or fails the entire exam. The Graduate Exam Committee (GEC) is responsible for soliciting questions from the faculty, and preparing and grading the exam. The GEC will inform the candidate of his/her exam score within a period of two weeks from the last day of the exam. If a student qualifies to pursue the PhD, the exam is valid for 2 years for admission to the PhD program. The exam may be taken twice and a third time if the student passes but does not qualify on the second try.

Course Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Each Ph.D. student in Statistics must take Stat 971 (Statistical Modeling), Stat 980 (Advanced Probability) and Stat 982 and Stat 983 (Advanced Inference I and II ). Also, the
student must take 12 additional hours of 900 level classes, excluding STAT 970, STAT 997 and STAT 999.

Each student must complete Stat 971, 980, 982 and 983 with a grade of at least B+ in each. If a student completes any of these courses with a grade below B+, his/her Supervisory Committee may either require the student to repeat certain courses or administer extra written exam(s) in area(s) where weakness is felt.

Administrative Procedures

(1) After a student has passed the Department's Ph.D. Qualifying Exam, but before he or she has earned 45 credit hours, the student forms a Ph.D. Supervisory Committee. The student must choose an Advisor, who will chair the Supervisory Committee and direct the dissertation. A form listing the Ph.D. Supervisory Committee must be filed with the Graduate Studies Office.

(2) A Program of Studies form must be filed with the Graduate Studies Office before the student has earned 45 credit hours. This form is completed with the advice and consent of the student's Supervisory Committee.

(3) Once a student has passed the Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam and satisfied the language requirement, the student must file the Admission to Candidacy form with the Graduate Studies Office. This form must be filed no later than seven months prior to graduation.

Language requirement

All Ph.D. students are required to demonstrate proficiency in a statistical computing language. SAS is one such statistical computing language. Many of the Statistics classes require computations and you will find it to your advantage to learn SAS and at least one other statistical computing packages (S-Plus, R, Statistica, SPSS, IMSL, etc).

Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam

The student's Ph.D. Supervisory Committee will determine the timing and the content of the Ph.D. comprehensive exam.

Dissertation

The Ph.D. dissertation will be developed under the supervision of a faculty advisor on a topic approved by the student's Ph.D. graduate committee. Dissertation hours (Stat 999) normally range between 15 and 30 semester hours. See the Graduate Studies Bulletin for further requirements for the Ph.D. dissertation.

Final Oral Exam

After a student completes a Ph.D. dissertation there is a final oral exam. This exam, also called a "thesis defense", is open to the public. Complete details of the final examination procedure are in the Graduate Studies Bulletin.

Ph.D. minor in Statistics

There are three requirements for a Ph.D. minor in Statistics: (1) sixteen credits of 800/900 level Statistics courses, (2) a Statistics faculty member must serve on the student’s PhD graduate committee and (3) specific requirements are determined by the Statistics faculty member on the student’s committee in conjunction with the student’s PhD graduate committee.

Seminar Participation

Seminars and colloquia are a valuable part of a student's training. Regular participation in all departmental colloquia and seminars in the student's area of interest is expected of all Ph.D. candidates. The student's advisor will help direct the seminar participation

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