Ph.D. Track in Bioinformatics
Program Goals:
(1) To give the graduates of this program an adequate knowledge of statistical, computational and experimental methods, techniques and tools for the design and analysis of biological ‘omics’ (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics) experiments, so that they may have successful academic careers in research institutions and universities or successful technical careers in industry.
(2) To train academic and industrial research statisticians who can manage and interpret biological ‘omics’ data and who can work with scientists from various disciplines related to Genetics, Bioinformatics and Biology.
Program Requirements:
While meeting the general course requirements for the PhD in statistics, the student in the Bioinformatics Track will have taken all of the following courses:
STAT 5504: Multivariate Statistical Methods
STAT 5444: Bayesian Statistics
STAT 5564: Statistical Genetics
GBCB 5314: Paradigms for Bioinformatics
CSES 5844: Plant Genomics
GBCB 5004: Seminar in Genetics, Bioinformatics, & Computational Biology (1 credit)
In the case where not all of these courses can be offered, the Director of Graduate Programs in Statistics can grant dispensation for substitute courses. In the first year, students in this track are required to take all the M.S. core courses in statistics plus two more bioinformatics core courses (these can be taken later for students coming into the program with a M.S. degree obtained elsewhere).
Additionally, students will take two courses from the following list of courses, taken with consent from their advisor:
CS 5114: Theory of Algorithms
CS 5124: Algorithms in Bioinformatics
CS/MATH 5484: Numerical Analysis & Software
CS/MATH 5486: Numerical Analysis & Software
CS 5614: Database Management Systems
CS 5804: Introduction to artificial Intelligence
CS 6104: Algorithms in Structural Bioinformatics
CS 6104: Systems Biology & Drug Discovery
CS 6604: Data Mining
MATH 5515/5516: Continuous/Discrete Mathematical Models
Two different, suitable courses can be chosen with approval from the advisor.
Lastly, students in the Bioinformatics Track are required to take three 6000-level courses in statistics in addition to STAT 6114 (Advance Inference).
The remaining three courses can currently be chosen, with consent from the advisor, from the following courses:
STAT 6424: Multivariate Bayesian Analysis
STAT 6514: Advanced Topics in Regression
STAT 6494: Advanced Topics in Mathematical Statistics
STAT 6504: Experimental Design & Analysis
STAT 6404: Advanced Topics in Nonparametric Statistics
STAT 6414: Time Series Analysis II
STAT 6105: Measure & Probability
Students in the Bioinformatics Track will be required to take only on section of STAT 5984 (Special Topics in Statistics) instead of two.
The topic(s) of the dissertation must be related to the Bioinformatics track and must be approved by the dissertation committee members. The committee should consist of five faculty members including at least one member from outside the Department of Statistics with expertise in genetics, bioinformatics and computational biology.