A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Our periodic newsletter covers recent department activities. Let me highlight here additional points not quite visible under any formal category. I list them in a random order.

(a) If I had to single out one item as the most significant in the department's life, without a doubt it would be the growth of our graduate program. For example, the number of first year graduate students nearly doubled this year relative to last year, and our core theory sequence for the MS program (STAT-582/3) with typical enrollment of about thirty five students per semester, jumped to 70+ and 60+ for this year (limited by the classroom size!). Explanation? Perhaps a combination of things: (i) the strength and reputation of our program, (ii) the breadth of applied topics we cover (e.g., Biostatistics, Industrial Statistics, Statistical Computing, Design of Experiments, Data Mining, etc.), (iii) the weak economy, (iv) the demand for our courses from other graduate programs, and more. (b) We have expanded our programs and we actively support other programs. For example, since its inception two years ago, our curriculum has been enhanced to support the business school’s "Master of Quantitative Finance" (MQF), and starting this year, we are offering a graduate option in Data Mining. All this is in addition to our existing graduate options in Biostatistics, and Quality and Productivity Management (jointly with the department of Industrial Engineering). (c) The spectrum of research interests covered by our faculty members is wide. This is demonstrated by strong grant support to our faculty from agencies like the National Science Foundation, the National Security Agency, the Office of Naval Research, the National Institute of Health, The Federal Aviation Administration, the Veteran Administration, and more. Furthermore, many of our faculty members are reaching out to other programs and are involved in cross-disciplinary research and education projects with other schools and institutions at Rutgers and beyond. These include the UMDNJ, the Veteran Administration, the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, the Center for Alcohol Studies, the department of Human Genetics, the BIOMAPS Institute (biological, mathematical, and physical sciences), the FAA, and more. (d) New around our offices: We have a vibrant statistical-computing lab with about twenty-five computers on the fourth floor of Hill Center, and we renovated our main classroom (Hill 552) which is now 50% bigger (we sacrificed two interior offices for its expansion).

(f) Some statistics about the statistics department:

Faculty/staff: 20/4.5 20/4.5 19/4.5

Size of grad program: 149 104 80

Size of UG program: 127 120 123

Total class enrollment ^(#): 4255………. 3947……… N/A ^(#) excluding summer or winter semester

Thanks to our contributors!! If you read these lines, there is a good chance that you are one of many who benefited from our program. Your generosity ensures that many young talents will continue in your footsteps. It is gratifying to see how many of you are giving back to the very enterprise that, in all likelihood, was your best investments ever! Your contributions are much appreciated and much needed and if you, or your spouse, work for an employer who matches employees’ charitable contributions, please remember to leverage your contribution through the program.

Please visit us in person or on the web and give us your feedback about our program, improved contacts with alumni, refresher courses, and whatever is on your mind.

With best wishes,

Yehuda