Joint Natural Resource Sciences and Statistics PhD

Entrance Requirements

A student may apply to the joint program as a new student or as a current student from one of the individual programs. Admission must be approved by the Graduate Chairs from the School of Natural Resources (SNR) and the Department of Statistics. Students entering the joint program are expected to meet the admission requirements for the Natural Resource Sciences PhD program and the Statistics PhD program. Students without these requirements can be provisionally accepted into the joint PhD program but must remove any deficiencies within the first year. This provisional status will be removed when all provisions are satisfied.

Supervisory Committee

Equal numbers of faculty from SNR and the Department of Statistics must serve on the Committee. This Committee consists of two advisors and two readers, where SNR and the Department of Statistics need to be represented by an advisor and a reader. A faculty member cannot serve as both an advisor and a reader. The Committee composition needs to be approved by both Graduate Chairs.

Program of Studies

The following courses must be included on the Program of Studies:

• Statistics: All core courses from the MS in Statistics program; 15 additional credit hours of 900-level courses, excluding STAT 997 and STAT 999
• SNR: At least 15 hours of Natural Resource Sciences courses as determined by the Supervisory Committee

Dissertation

The dissertation will be developed under the supervision of the advisors on a topic approved by the student’s Supervisory Committee. Students are expected to make meaningful research contributions to both Natural Resource Sciences and Statistics.

Examinations

Students need to pass the following exams:

• The PhD Qualifying and PhD Comprehensive Exams required for a Statistics-only major
• The PhD Comprehensive Exam for a Natural Resources Sciences-only major with requirements determined by the Supervisory Committee
• The Final Oral Exam over the dissertation research

Download information from the Statistic Department