Ph.D. Advising

Ph.D. advisory committees are composed of at least four faculty members. A Statistics Ph.D. Committee must have at least 3 Statistics faculty (faculty with at least a 25% appointment in Statistics) including the chair or one of the co-chairs. The committee must also include a faculty member from outside the department. If the student submits a committee of four statistics faculty, the graduate school will appoint a Graduate School Representative to the committee. The committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Programs, as well as by the Dean of the Graduate School.

The initial assignment of an advisor to a student pursuing the Ph.D. degree is understood to be temporary. A change can be made if, for example, the student develops an interest in a research program of a different faculty member. Any changes in advisors or committee members must be approved by the Director of Graduate Programs. A faculty member from another university or a professional from industry or government may serve on a student advisory committee as an external member, with full voting rights, along with the required committee composed of four members of the NC State graduate faculty. The credentials of the external member should be comparable to those required for membership on the graduate faculty. It is necessary to submit the external member’s resume to the Graduate School.

Statistics Ph.D. Programs

Students with a goal of Ph.D. are admitted provisionally until they have passed the Qualifying Exam at the Ph.D. level.

Ph.D. Co-Major

A student pursuing the Ph.D. co-major program must satisfy the requirements of both departments. In the past, co-major degrees at the Ph.D. level were awarded jointly with Biomathematics, Crop Science, Economics and Operations Research. The dissertation must embody the results of original research of a standard that would warrant publication in a research journal from one or both of the two fields. A Statistics Ph.D. Co-Major committee must have at least 2 Statistics faculty (faculty with at least a 25% appointment in Statistics) including the chair or one of the co-chairs.

All questions regarding the graduate program should be directed to Graduate Services.