Advanced Biostatistics Topics Seminar
Course Description
The purpose of this course is to accelerate the transition of Biostatistics PhD students into statistical/data science professionals with a joy for learning, teaching, and statistical practice and with the requisite skills to: (1) understand and think critically about statistical science principles, theory, and methods; (2) design, execute, and interpret the evidence from scientific studies within a collaborative team; and (3) communicate in writing and orally about statistical/data science to diverse audiences.
The course consists of rotating topics from a variety of theory and application areas. Topics are arranged into 4-week or 8-week long modules. Each academic term consists of one or two modules. Students register for the course on a term-basis. If a term contains two modules, registered students are required to take both modules. Students earn 2 credits for each term. The teaching format may vary depending on the topic and instructor.
Learning Objectives
A student who successfully completes this seminar course will be able to:
- Identify key papers that address a question in statistical theory, methods or practice related to the discussed topic
- Write and present a coherent summary of these papers for a technical or non-technical audience.
- Identify questions that remain unanswered that might be worthy of further inquiry
- Formulate and articulate questions about this topic
- Identify key papers that provide background about a substantive research question
- Develop sufficient understanding of the topic to write or present about it to a non-technical audience and to formulate and ask questions to a technical expert.
- Formulate the substantive question in statistical terms so that quantitative evidence can be used to address it.
- Conduct appropriate statistical analyses to address the question.
- Communicate in writing and orally the question, the design of the analysis used to address it, the findings, and their meaning.
Course Topics
For a list of topics and instructors please click here.