Online Program

Preparing Future Applied Statisticians: Enhancing Graduate Education through Consulting

Keywords: consulting, graduate education, career development

The Applied Statistics Laboratory (ASL) at the University of Kentucky was recently launched. While consulting centers are not unusual at large land-grant universities, this one is somewhat different. The primary purpose of the lab is to build collaborative bridges between statisticians and other investigators, allowing graduate students to engage in the practice of statistics. Students are partnered with faculty who mentor the students through each project. Collective mentoring is achieved through biweekly meetings with ASL staff and students. Tracking requests and project documentation is a requirement of each student, providing experiences students would not normally encounter. Also, students are expected to work within industry standards for the planning and reporting of statistical analyses. Finally, ASL students offer statistical methodology and programming workshops, giving them additional opportunities to communicate statistical concepts to evidence-based decision makers. Challenges and strategies for exposing students to a variety of statistical applications while enhancing their ability to communicate statistical information will be described within the context of the ASL.