Muhlenberg adds statistics major
This dynamic field is growing rapidly, and statisticians are increasingly in demand across a variety of industries.
Posted by: Megan Kita Wednesday, January 31, 2024 2:45 PM
Alison Davidson, associate professor of statistics, will be teaching data visualization in the fall 2023 semester.Photo by Christy Morris, courtesy of Little Wing Studio
Starting this fall, Muhlenberg students will be able to declare a major in statistics, which was previously only offered as a minor. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment for statisticians will increase by 30% over the next 10 years, which is much faster than the average growth rate for all fields.
“The Statistics major provides students not only with statistical content knowledge, but also with the mathematical and computational foundations frequently used in this field,” said Associate Professor of Statistics Alison Davidson. “Through required coursework, students apply concepts to real-world problems across multiple disciplines. Through the Statistics Capstone, students integrate advanced statistical concepts into projects on topics of their choice. Cap Stone's experience is designed to provide a bridge from learning statistical methods in the classroom to applying methodologies and learning new statistical methods in the real world.”
“Statistics is a discipline that offers possibilities and has the advantage of being applicable to a variety of fields.Students majoring in statistics have many paths to pursue after graduation.”
Establishing this major has been a long-standing goal of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Davidson said. The hiring of additional faculty and the development of new courses (such as predictive statistics and data visualization) contributed to realizing the goal.
Students who pursue this major will find that there are many different career possibilities. “Statistics is a discipline that offers possibilities and has benefits that can be applied to many different fields,” Davidson says. “Students who major in statistics have many paths to pursue after graduation. Some may pursue higher education, while others may explore careers such as actuaries, data miners, quantitative financial market analysts, sports analysts, biostatisticians, epidemiologists, survey researchers, and psychometricians, to name a few.”