7 Skills
In addition to the skills you will develop through coursework, there are many additional skills necessary to successfully complete a graduate program in statistics. Many of these stills will need to be learned on your own.
7.1 Computing
Much of statistical research and teaching depends on the ability to write code and perform analyses in various statistical software. Here is a list of computing skills that may be relevant during your graduate career.
7.1.1 Statistical Software
Here is a list of Statistical Software that may be needed
- R
- Python
- SAS
- JMP
- SPSS
- Matlab
Most faculty and graduate students in statistics focus their work in R. We have one course (STAT 5790) specifically devoted to R, but much of your learning both for courses and research will be learned on your own.
7.1.2 Servers/Clusters
The department and university have several servers and clusters available for graduate student use. Most servers are linux based, although there is a Windows server for SAS. The clusters all use the SLURM workload manager. Here are some of the departmental resources:
- pyrite
- pronto
- gs
Here are some of the university resources:
- condo
- nova
- hpc-class
More information about university resources can be found at the high performance computing website.
7.1.3 Data Wrangling
Whether you are working with data or the output of simulations, you will invariable end up wrangling data to a format suitable for analysis or production of figures and tables.
7.1.4 LaTeX
LaTeX is the primary software system for typesetting documents in statistics. Getting comfortable with LaTeX as soon as possible will be helpful for your graduate career.
7.2 Communication
Statisticians must communicate their statistical results typically through written work, poster presentations, and speaking. The audience can vary from the general public to statistical experts and your communication style and level must adapt accordingly.
7.3 Time Management
As your life becomes more complicated with coursework, assistantship duties, and other outside-of-school demands, you will need to improve your time management skills.
Keeping your calendar up-to-date will be helpful in organizing your time. If you keep your Outlook calendar up-to-date, then it will help others schedule meetings.
Here are a couple of general resources about time management:
The latter is from one of the most famous alums of our PhD program.
7.4 Networking
Networking is the act of maintaining and building relationships in professional community. As a student and a (teaching/research) assistant, you are networking. As a presenter at a conference, you are networking. Thus, maintaining professionalism through all your interactions are important.