Industrial Math and Statistics
An Interdepartmental Bachelor of Science offered by The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
Not Just Another Degree
This degree has been designed for those students with a strong interest in applying a wide range of skills in mathematics, statistics and computer science to problems encountered in "real world" settings. In addition to course work in these areas, students will also obtain expertise in an area of application in which they are interested. They will be able to seek employment in a wide range of fields including statistics, computer science, and applied mathematics. According to a 1993 survey of recent graduates performed by the National Science Foundation, while only 12% of the graduates in the mathematical sciences obtained degrees with a concentration in applied math or statistics (82% had degrees in general math), 63% of those employed in nonacademic jobs reported that the two jobs they spent the majority of their time on were computer applications and applied research. This degree is designed to enhance a student’s marketability by giving them expertise in mathematics, statistics, and computer science.
What Kind of Job can an IMS Student Get?
IMS students can select jobs from many opportunities. Those more interested in the statistics side of the degree will be able to seek jobs as statisticians. About one-fourth of those employed as statisticians work in the federal government in such organizations as the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services. Outside of the government, most statisticians are employed in private industry, especially in the insurance, pharmaceutical, health, manufacturing, research and testing services, and computer and data processing industries.
Those more interested in the applied mathematics side of the degree who want to work outside of academics are usually part of interdisciplinary teams that are often divided evenly among mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers with a smaller proportion of physical scientists. Applied mathematicians and statisticians have found employment in organizations such as:
* Government labs and agencies:
Oak Ridge National Lab, Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos, National Security Agency, the Center for Communications Research, the Supercomputing Research Center, NASA;
* Engineering research organizations:
AT&T Laboratories-Research, Bell Laboratories, Bell Communications Research, Exxon Research and Engineering, GTE Laboratories, the NEC Research Institute, Boeing, General Motors, Aerospace Corporation, Ford, and United Technologies;
* Computer service firms:
EDS, MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation, The Mathworks, Wolfram Research, Xerox, Silicon Graphics, Adobe, and Microsoft;
* Computer, Communication and Electronics providers:
IBM, Cray, Honeywell, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Intel, AT&T, GTE, and US West Communications;
* Financial and Consulting firms:
David Wagner Associates, Arther Anderson, Solomon Brothers, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, and Prudential;
* Other manufacturers:
Kodak, DuPont, SmithKline Beecham, Syntex, Amoco, Exxon, Kellogg’s, Calloway Golf Clubs.
(Source: Society for Industrial and Applied Math., "Careers Bulletin")
What Kind of Problems do IMS Professionals Work On?
The problems that applied mathematicians work on are very diverse. Some of the problems that applied mathematicians and statisticians in industry have faced and solved include:
* An automobile production plant is falling far short of the capacity for which it was designed. Why?
* How should an airline set ticket prices to ensure maximum revenue while allowing for no-shows and the aggravation and expense of overbooking?
* Which credit card collection strategies produce the most revenue in the long term?
* Computer chips are "printed" much like photographs from a negative. But manufacturing the "negative" is too expensive to permit cut-and-try testing of proposed layouts and the corresponding "print." Are there accurate mathematical models of the exposure process? Can they be coupled with efficient computational implementations to obtain practical, low-cost simulations to guide chip design and manufacture?
* A chemical manufacturer must shift one of its product lines to a new family of compounds that will not harm the ozone layer. Since it cannot test possible new products by releasing them into the atmosphere, it must develop models of atmospheric chemistry that simulate the complex chemical reactions in the atmosphere, the action of the sun, etc. Cancomputational simulations show sufficient detail to capture the effects of the chemicals but still be fast enough to permit studies of many different chemicals?
What about IMS Research at WVU?
Researchers in the Departments of Mathematics and Statistics here at WVU are working on a wide range of problems that are of interest on both a local and national scale. A few examples of these are:
| Gypsy Moths & the Timber Industry: Gypsy moth caterpillars are voracious eaters. During one year (1981) they ate the leaves from 6 million hectares of oak forest in PA alone, causing a loss to their timber industry of $72 million. Accurate prediction of when such large outbreaks of this forest pest will occur has proven difficult. Research done at WVU may have a partial answer as to why this difficulty exists. This research has demonstrated that the response of these populations to how much food is available and how many caterpillars are present per hectare is fractal in nature (see the figure at the right). This means that any small error in estimating the number of caterpillars present this year can lead to huge errors in the prediction for next year, and completely unreliable ones thereafter. |
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Using Coal Efficiently: |
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| Predicting Lung Disease: Lung diseases such as emphysema and fibrosis affect the efficiency of the lungs. One way to measure this effect is being studied by researchers at WVU. In an aerosol bolus dispersion test, the patient inhales a known quantity of particulate matter. When exhaled, the concentration of particles coming out of the lungs is measured as a function of time. It is believed that certain concentration profiles can be ascribed to abnormalities in lung function. Examples of the concentration profiles for a smoker (red circles) and a non-smoker (black circles) are shown in the figure at the right, where the concentration is shown as a function of time. Researchers are developing models to study such profiles as a diagnostic tool for catching lung disease in its earliest stages. |
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| Molecular Entropy: The interactions between cells in the body, as well as the actions of drugs on these cells, are governed by the interplay between molecules such as proteins and DNA, and the particular shapes they assume. Statistical models of the various shapes that these molecules are capable of assuming are important for understanding how normal biological and biochemical processes occur, how environmental toxins affect mammals, and aid in the design of new therapeutic agents. Entropy is one measure of the ability of molecules to change their configuration. In a joint effort with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, researchers in the Statistics Department are developing probabilistic models which will enable more accurate prediction of these important conformational changes in biological molecules. |
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| Biometrics Identification Systems: Increasingly, personal identification numbers and passwords are being replaced by fingerprints and retinal scans. The reason for this change is the need for heightened security in some environments such as the Internet. Researchers in the Department of Statistics, in collaboration with faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, are developing methodology for assessing the overall performance of such systems. The goal of this research is to estimate the probability that such a device will misclassify a user. Modern hierarchical statistical methods with heavy computational aspects are being employed to carry out this work. |
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Degree Requirements
A total of 128 hours is required for graduation. The Industrial Mathematics and Statistics curriculum includes the following required background courses (19 hours): MATH 155, 156, 251, 261, and STAT 215. The IMS program has the following core courses (12 hours) that all students must take: MATH 441 and Mathematical Modeling (the proposed MATH 463); STAT 312 and 461.
The student then has the option of selecting a mathematics or a statistics emphasis (9 hours):
* Mathematics emphasis: MATH 420 plus one mathematics and one mathematics or statistics course from the list of recommended
electives below, or other department-approved courses.
* Statistics emphasis: STAT 313 and STAT 445 or STAT 462 plus one mathematics or statistics course from the list of recommended electives
below, or another department-approved course.
The required Capstone Experience for the IMS program requires the following courses:
1 hour of STAT 482 or MATH/STAT 491 or MATH/STAT 495; 1 hour of MATH/STAT 494; 1 hour of MATH/STAT 496. These courses should be taken during the student’s senior year.
Students must also satisfy all requirements of the ECAS Bachelor of Science. For IMS students interested in computer science, the following normally restricted courses are available to IMS majors: CS 110, 111, 210, 220, 250, 320, and 330.
Recommended Electives: The recommended electives in Mathematics and Statistics are: MATH 283, 364, 420, 456, and 465; MATH/STAT 222; STAT 217, 313, 316, 331, 421, 445, and 462.
Performance Requirements
To maintain Industrial Mathematics and Statistics major status and to graduate, students must maintain at least a 2.0 overall GPA and a 2.0 cumulative GPA in coursework in mathematics and statistics.
MORE INFORMATION
Please contact:
Eddie Fuller, Chair Dept. of Mathematics, West Virginia University,Morgantown, WV 26506
Phone: (304) 293-2011; Email: ef@math.wvu.edu
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James Harner, Chair Dept. of Statistics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
Phone: (304) 293-3607; Email: jharner@stat.wvu.edu