Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Statistics at Stanford University. Statistics has been taught at Stanford since 1924 when Harold Hotelling joined the university. The program became a full department at Stanford in 1948 and we moved into our new building in February 1998, our 50th anniversary. During this time the department has evolved into a preeminent center for statistical research, top-ranked in the United States,  and our doctoral program is ranked number one by the latest US National Research Council rankings.

The department's goal is research and student training in statistical methodology and in probability, and the department has historically also been very active in the development of these methodologies to advance other fields in the sciences and in medicine. There are currently 20 faculty in the department that train about 50 PhD students and 40 Master students. The department also administers an interdepartmental undergraduate major in Mathematical and Computational Science. This program has been ahead of its time by recognizing the importance of computing in the coming age of big data. Starting in Autumn of 2013, the program is complemented at the graduate level with a Data Science track in our master program.

Guenther Walther
Department Chair