A Message From LSA Dean Anne Curzan
A Message From Our Department Chair
Messages From Our Program Directors
Professor Ed Ionides
Director of Undergraduate Programs in Statistics
Graduation from the University of Michigan is a major accomplishment. I am writing to celebrate those who have graduated from the three major programs run by the Statistics Department (Data Science, Life Science Informatics, Statistics) as well as two minor programs (Minor in Applied Statistics, Minor in Statistics).
These are rigorous programs, each of which combines a different blend of statistical theory, statistical methodology, data analysis, mathematics, computer science, and applications of statistics across the sciences, social sciences and engineering. You will all move on to your future goals well equipped with statistical skills and a broader education within the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has added uncertainties to the world. As society readjusts itself to the new realities, your skills collecting and interpreting data will be needed more than ever. Over the coming years, you will find yourselves in positions of responsibility and leadership. I hope that your analytic and inquisitive minds will be put to good use.
This is also a time to thank those who make our academic programs possible. The faculty, lecturers and staff in the Statistics Department are always a dedicated team, and this semester they have demonstrated it via an impressively seamless transition to running courses online. We also recognize the critical roles of parents, mentors and colleagues: nobody makes it to graduation without years of love and support. Finally, we thank our graduates for choosing to study with us.
Go Blue!
Professor Ji Zhu
Director of the Ph.D. Program
It is that time of the year again, but everything is so drastically different this time. PhD oral exams are online, we can’t celebrate the graduation in-person, and there won’t be a graduation ceremony as usual. But this cannot stop me from congratulating you for your wonderful achievement. Obtaining a PhD is a big milestone in one’s life. I’m truly proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself. I’m so glad that we can at least gather together in this virtual yearbook to celebrate your academic success.
While I was writing these remarks, I wondered what succinct bit of knowledge I could pass to the graduating class. The first thing that came to mind was “Change is the only constant.” The Statistics we see today is very different from what it was 20 years ago when I graduated.
20 years ago, SVM, Boosting, Random Forests, and high-dimensional data were cutting-edge and poorly understood by many. Today, these topics form part of the core curriculum at all levels, from undergraduate to PhD courses. The cutting-edge of today consists of Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Non-convex Optimization, to name a few. In another 20 years, these topics will become standard, and another wave of new concepts will take their place at the forefront of Statistics. The field will be vastly different from what it is now. You will need to stay on your toes to keep up with the continuous innovation. I implore you all to keep learning, to keep your mind open, and to believe in yourselves.
I also want to thank you for giving your best to the department in the past several years. I hope you bring the same energy and enthusiasm wherever you may go. Let me congratulate you again and wish you the best in your future endeavors!
Professor Tailen Hsing
Director of Master’s Program (Data Science)
Congratulations to the Class of 2020 on your graduation!
You were the first batch of students in our Data Science Master’s Program. Just a few months ago, I was looking forward to holding a proper graduation ceremony to send you off. Of course, the plan was derailed by the worst pandemic in a hundred years. Fanfair now has to be replaced by a few parting words spoken from the heart.
I sincerely hope that you have had a positive experience in the Data Science Program and at University of Michigan. I hope that you have benefited from your courses, enjoyed the company of your classmates, and made friends. Most of all, I hope the experience has helped you craft a vision of your career and life in general. I normally don’t give advice, but I’ll make an exception on this special occasion.
First, let’s all take care of ourselves and pay attention to work-life balance. That may include many things, for instance, managing stress and spending time with family and friends. Your life and work will be more meaningful if you can achieve this.
Second, let’s have dreams and think outside the box. By that I don’t mean pursuing risky adventures. However, I am saying this is an excellent time to be creative in coming up with big plans on what you want to achieve in the next few years.
Third, let’s be positive and not worry too much about the future. This advice may ring hollow at the moment. COVID-19 has caused losses and pain to a lot of people. However, the pandemic will be over before long. Data scientists will have an even more prominent role and more opportunities in the post-pandemic world. For instance, one can predict that biomedical data science will be an area that governments and industry alike will rush to develop. I am confident your future will be bright!
With that I bid my farewell to you, Class of 2020. It was a pleasure and an honor to have you in the program. Be safe, do well, and keep in touch.
Go Blue!
Professor Long Nguyen
Director of Master’s Program (Applied Statistics)
Dear students and families of class 2020,
I hope this message finds you and your family in safe conditions and a healthy state of mind amid the current siege of the pandemic, whether you are presently in Ann Arbor, your state or home country.
In spite of the unprecedented and on-going challenges in our society and our lives, I am thankful and very happy to have this opportunity to write to you and your family regarding an important milestone of your career: you have graduated with a Master’s degree in Applied Statistics from the University of Michigan. You are a graduated Wolverine!
On behalf of the University of Michigan Statistics department’s faculty and staff, congratulations!
Most of you have completed the study in two years. You have come a long way.Two years ago, you were among the 72 students that had been selected from a pool of nearly 750 strong applicants. You came from all over the world, along with a cohorts of diverse undergraduate background ranging from engineering and business fields to physical and social sciences.
You have chosen to study statistics because you found in this discipline its usefulness and versatility in so many different fields. Through the education and training I think you have also come to appreciate Statistics’s beauty and deep strength in giving us the guidance to think clearly and to make informed decisions when given all kinds of data that come our way.
To achieve the Master’s degree you have had to go through UM’s rigorous program that provides with a foundation in statistical inference and probability, as well as the most advanced techniques in data analysis, statistical computing and machine learning. You have worked with UM’s world-class faculty and staff members. I believe that through our demanding course projects, presentations and in some cases, cutting-edge research experience, you have acquired the tools, knowledge, and the confidence necessary to take on challenging data-driven problems in the real-world. Now you have earned the right to be called an UM-trained statistician.
Many students in our cohorts are also statistics educators in their roles as excellent graduate student instructors in our many undergraduate courses. We thank you for such important contributions to the department and to our field.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank your family and friends. We are grateful to all those who have provided the mental and financial support that are so crucial for your achieving the completion of your study.
As statisticians we work in the business of uncertainty. We deal with all sorts of data and signals, be they clean, noisy or purely random. We draw useful information and knowledge from such data in our reasoning so as to make sound decisions under uncertainty. Perhaps we have never been in a more uncertain moment in our lifetime.
At this time some of you are fortunate enough to have had your job lined up, but many others are still looking for an opening and pondering the future. I am convinced that you are much more equipped now than you were two years ago. I am hopeful that as statisticians you will be well-positioned to help weather the current storm for yourself and family, to overcome the challenges of the moment, while helping to make our world a better place.
I sincerely wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Please keep us posted for your progress. We would like to hear more of your experiences and successes. Congratulations again and Go Blue!
