The Department of Mathematics and Statistics has adopted the following course requirements for the Ph.D. degree.  Any of these courses may be a part of the M.S. program, since Missouri S&T courses taken for the M.S. degree may be included in the Ph.D. program of studies.  

A Ph.D. program with emphasis in statistics must include MATH 315 (Introduction to Real Analysis), STAT 346 (Regression Analysis), STAT 443 (Nonparametric Statistical Methods),Stat 444 (Experimental Design), STAT 453 (Linear Statistical Models I). In addition, the program must include at least five of the following: MATH 415 (Functions of a Real Variable I), STAT 441 (Stochastic Processes), STAT 445 (Multivariate Analysis), STAT 446 (Intermediate Probability), STAT 454 (Linear Statistical Models II), STAT 457 (Advanced Mathematical Statistics I), STAT 458 (Advanced Mathematical Statistics II), STAT 470 (Theory of Reliability).

All students who intend to pursue the Ph.D. degree should plan to take the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination soon after completing an M.S. program. At this time the student also should identify an area of emphasis. A typical program of study for a Ph.D. student in statistics includes at least 72 hours (90 is more common) of graduate work beyond the bachelor's degree, consisting of coursework and research. In addition, there is a Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination and the Ph.D. Thesis Defense.  Demonstrated competence in a computer programming language is required for the Ph.D. degree with emphasis in statistics.  Please see the Graduate Catalog for more details.  

Ph.D Language Requirement

Ph.D in Mathematics, Statistics Emphasis.  All students who are doctoral candidates in mathematics with statistics emphasis must show programming competency in one programming language, chosen from C, C++, FORTRAN, or another programming language approved by the student's Ph.D advisory committee, prior to his/her completion of the doctoral degree.  This requirement can be satisfied by any one of the following:  (1) obtaining a grade of B or better in a semester-long programming course in the programming language, taken for graduate or undergraduate credit, no earlier than six years before the awarding of the Ph.D, (2) successfully completing a programming project of sufficient complexity as determined by the student's Ph.D advisory committee.  A computing component of master's or doctoral research done by the student may satisfy this requirement if approved by the student's Ph.D advisory committee, (3) earning a grade of B or better in a graduate-level course in statistical computing.  Also, with the approval of the student's Ph.D advisory committee, the programming competency requirement may be met by satisfying the foreign language requirement of doctoral student pursuing a Ph.D degree with the mathematics emphasis.  

 The Mathematics & Statistics Department shall establish a "Ph.D Language Committee" to aid the advisory committees in administering either of the above requirements.  This committee shall consist of four departmental faculty members, at least one of whom shall be a statistician, who are members of the Graduate Faculty, elected by the department to two-year terms, and members may succeed themselves.  The Ph.D Language Committee shall aid the advisory committees as needed in choosing material to be translated, grading the translations, and help statistics students' advisory committees with details related to the programming competency requirement.