Statistics GIDP underway at UA

The long tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration at The University of Arizona has paved the way for the new Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP) in Statistics, according to BIO5 member Walter W. Piegorsch, PhD, a professor in the UA Mathematics Department and newly elected chair of the new GIDP. The program administers master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as a doctoral minor. Plans are underway to also offer a graduate certificate in statistics. Chartering and initial development of the new program was spearheaded by J. Bruce Walsh, PhD, associate head of the UA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a BIO5 member. Dr. Walsh served as the GIDP’s first chair.

Statistics is the 15th GIDP on the UA campus, formed in March 2006 in response to substantial campus need for coordinated, collaborative statistical expertise in support of the UA’s extensive research initiatives, which are data intensive and require interdisciplinary teams of investigators to produce real innovation. The variability of such data -- especially data generated in human studies -- complicates the effort to interpret the underlying phenomena. Incorporating input from statisticians during the early phases of a study's design (in addition to the data collection, analysis, and interpretation phases later in the investigation) can lead to more effective results.