186
Undergraduate majors
(including ACMS)
EDUCATION
Statistics is the science of learning from data. The statistician today is a partner in most scientific and technological endeavors. They design methods for gathering data, they develop mathematical models to analyze, interpret and discover relationships in the data, and they use technology for visualizing and exploring data.
At the University of Washington, students interested in statistics have several options to choose from:
- The Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Statistics, which includes three tracks: mathematical statistics, applied statistics, and data science.
- In conjunction with the Departments of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering, and Mathematics, the Department of Statistics offers a multidisciplinary Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences.
- A minor in Statistics
The Department has a full-time MS program in Advanced Methods and Data Analysis. It also operates MS programs for part-time and concurrent students. The Department also participates in the interdisciplinary MS in Data Science program. The Department has a very strong PhD program which includes tracks in Statistical Genetics, Statistics in the Social Sciences, and Machine Learning and Advanced Data Science. Together, the MS and PhD graduate programs offer a broad range of courses, many taught in close collaboration with the Department of Biostatistics.
Students
Autumn 2025
- 139 Undergraduate majors, Statistics
- 47 Undergraduate majors, ACMS: Data Sci & STAT
- 49 Master of Science students, full-time program
- 4 Master of Science students, part-time or concurrent
- 51 PhD Students
Degrees Awarded
2024-2025
- 41 Bachelor of Science (Statistics) degrees
- 22 Bachelor of Science (ACMS: Data Sci & STAT) degrees
- 36 Master of Science (full-time) degrees
- 4 Master of Science (part-time or concurrent) degrees
- 9 PhD degrees
Major Student Awards
Since 2023
Undergraduate:
- 2 Brent and Jill Smith Scholarships (UG)
- 6 NSF PALiISaDS Scholarships (UG)
Graduate:
- 3 NSF Graduate Fellowships (Grad)
- 3 NDSEG Fellowships (Grad)
- 1 Amazon AI Ph.D. Fellowship (Grad)
RESEARCH
Much of the current research in the Department of Statistics emanates from scientific problems in other fields. Faculty in the department have contributed to research in a wide range of fields including demography, economics, image analysis, neuroscience, and public health. The Department is internationally recognized as a leader in research and education. For example, in the most recent National Research Council assessment, the UW Statistics PhD program’s ranking by other scholars was 2-4; and its research rank was 3-6 (both out of 61). In the 2022 U.S. by US News and World Report rankings, the Department was placed seventh among United States statistics departments.
Many Department of Statistics faculty have joint appointments with Biostatistics, the Allen School for Computer Science and engineering, Nursing, Sociology, and Social Work. The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) is a multi-disciplinary center focusing on developing statistical methodology relevant to social scientists. CSSS also teaches many joint courses with the Statistics Department, mostly at the graduate level.
In addition to joint appointments, statistics faculty have ongoing collaborations with colleagues in Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences, Computer Science, Epidemiology, Global Health, Health Metrics, and Psychology, among others. The Department is a member of the multi-disciplinary Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and has a variety of cross- or multi-disciplinary research programs. The departments of Statistics and Biostatistics are close partners both in graduate education and faculty collaboration. This synergy represents a singular strength of the statistical research environment at UW that is almost without parallel elsewhere.
Areas of Research Include:
- Causal Inference
- Demography
- Empirical Processes
- Environmental Statistics
- Graphical Models
- Network Models
- Public Health
- Semiparametric Models
- Social Sciences
- Spatio-Temporal Statistics
- Statistical Machine Learning
- Stochastic Models
FACULTY
- 9 Professors
- 1 Associate Professor
- 4 Assistant Professors
- 1 Teaching Professor
- 2 Assistant Teaching Professors
- 2 Lecturers (part-time)
- 12 Emeritus Professors
- 13 Adjunct Faculty from other campus departments
- 21 Affiliate Professors from local industry and other universities
Faculty honors and leadership roles include:
- 3 National Academy of Science members*
- 1 Institute of Medicine member
- 3 American Academy of Arts and Sciences members*
- 3 Sloan Fellows
- 2 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows*
- 1 Distinguished Teaching Award
- 1 Royal Irish Academy member
- 1 Bronze Guy medal from the Royal Statistical Society
- 1 St. Patrick’s Day Medal from Science Foundation Ireland
- 1 Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) winner
- Executive editor of Statistical Science, and numerous co-editors and associate editors across both statistical and subject-matter journals.
- Awards from the American Statistical Association (ASA) and other academic societies since 2009 include ASA Founders Medal, ASA Noether Award, ASA Outstanding Statistical Application award, Parzen award, AAPA Rohlf Medal.
- Many faculty receive grant support from a variety of agencies including NSF and NIH, the latter including an R37 MERIT Award.
*includes adjunct and emeritus faculty
