Paul Minton founded the Southern Methodist University Department of Statistics (now the Department of Statistics and Data Science) in 1961. The Department awarded its first Master’s degree in 1963 and its first PhD in 1968. It has since established doctoral programs in Biostatistics (2014, in collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and Data Science (2024). The Department also offers a Master’s in Data Science and Applied Statistics, a Master of Science in Data Science (online), and Bachelor of Science degrees in Statistics and Data Science. Its programs currently enroll 185 graduate and 266 undergraduate students.
Research interests of Department faculty members include Bayesian methods, causal inference, clinical trials, compositional data analysis, educational statistics, numerical methods, spatial statistics, time series, and topological data analysis. Application areas are likewise diverse, ranging from genetics and public health to climate science, geology, engineering, and sports. Research support comes from federal agencies (NSF and NIH) and local industry and government. SMU’s location in the 4th largest metropolitan area in the US provides opportunities for research collaboration and employment with leading organizations in education, finance, healthcare, telecommunication, and transportation.
Department Head
Daniel F. Heitjan
Primary Liaison
Daniel F. Heitjan
Alternate Liaison
TBD
Early Career Liaison
Chul Moon