6  Research

Required courses provide the necessary background to enroll in elective courses. Elective courses provide the necessary background to initiate research. Ultimately, the primary purpose of a PhD program is train students in the developing their capacity to perform research.

There are a variety of different types of research within the Department of Statistics including theoretical, computational, applied, etc. Ultimately, it is (statistical) research if it can be published within the (statistical) literature.

6.1 Getting Started

To get started in research, you should

• Attend Departmental Seminars
• Attend Working Group Meetings
• Attend PhD and MS Defenses
• Attend (local) conferences:
  • Undergraduate Research Symposia (once per semester including summer)
  • GPSS Conference (annually in Feb)
  • American Statistical Association (ASA) Iowa Chapter Meetings (annually?)
  • One-off conferences
• Attend STAT-ers Research Breakfast
• Investigate faculty research
• Browse statistical journals
  • Chance
  • Significance
  • The American Statistican
  • many other journals

6.2 Researching

When you have found a Major Professor, the two of you will decide how to proceed on your research. Generally, you will be doing some of the following

• Reading the literature
• Deriving results
• Performing experiments or simulation studies
• Producing figures and tables
• Writing
• Presenting

6.3 Writing

The primary product of a graduate program is a written CC or Dissertation. Ultimately the CC and Dissertation chapters become journal articles. Thus, writing is a key component your career as a graduate student. Unfortunately, graduate students have little formal preparation focused on the technical writing that is required in statistics.

One helpful university resource is the Center for Communication Excellence. This group provides one-on-one consultation where the client (you) provides a writing sample and the consultant provides feedback on this writing sample. This is a helpful resource for everybody, but particularly for those whose native language is not English.

6.4 Presenting

In addition to written content, a primary outlet for statistical research is through presentations at conferences, departmental seminars, and job interviews. At conferences, these presentations can be in the form of posters or speaking presentations.

Good opportunities to practice presenting (either posters or speaking) is in departmental working groups, GPSS conference, [ASA Iowa Chapter(https://community.amstat.org/iowachapter/home) meeting, and other local events.

When you and your Major Professor agree that you are ready, you will submit an abstract to present at a conference. An abstract is a paragraph summary with a title that describes your work. Conferences that faculty regularly attend are

• Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM)
• ENAR
• WNAR

6.4.1 ISU Templates

When representing Iowa State University, it is appreciated if you utilize an Iowa State University template. Various templates are available for both posters and presentations.