Statistics

Statistics in the science of collecting, organizing and interpreting numerical data whether it's census numbers or rainfall totals. Statisticians use surveys and experiments to try and predict things like population growth or economic conditions. They work with government, business and industry to develop ways to test for quality of products or evaluate the results of a new program.

Representative Job Titles and Area of Specialization

Actuary
Agricultural Statistician
Applied Statistician
Biostatistician
Computational Linguist
Computational Statistician
Computer Programmer/Analyst
Demographer
Econometrist
Engineering Analyst
Epidemiologist
Management Information Science Specialist
Marketing Researcher

Mathematical Statistician
Meteorological Statistician
Operations Research Analyst
Physical Science Statistician
Professor/Lecturer/Instructor
Psychometrist
Quality Assurance/Quality Control Specialist
Statistician
Sports Statistician
Statistical Consultant
Statistical Software Engineer
Theoretical Statistician

Nature of the Work

Statisticians plan and conduct surveys, questionnaires and experiments to collect information in an unbiased manner. They evaluate, organize and analyze the data and then present their conclusions and forecasts based on what they found.

Places of Employment

Accounting firms
Actuarial consulting firms
Aerospace industry
Banks
Computer development companies
Federal agencies including:

Bureau of Economic Analysis
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of the Interior
Department of Health and Human Service
Energy Information Administration
Environmental Protection Agency
National Bureau of Standards
National Center for Education Statistics
National Institutes of Health

Insurance companies
Manufacturing companies
Medical research centers
Public utilities
State and county departments of public health
Universities and colleges

Training

A bachelor's degree in statistics is the minimum qualification for an entry-level position.

Background in engineering or the physical sciences is desirable for some positions like quality control. If you are interested in medical research, some courses in life sciences and/or biostatistics are a good idea. And, courses in computer programming are highly recommended.

For further information and/or career counseling contact the UCR Career Center, (951) 827-3631.