The purpose of the Statistics Career Day event is to inform students about various career opportunities that use statistical methods. The focus is on a career fair, rather than a job fair, in order to attract high school students and entry level undergraduate students. Many attendees ask questions about the types of jobs that are available for a student that graduates with a statistics degree. The event helps answer such questions.

The 2019 Statistics Career Day Keynote speaker is Karen Kafadar. She is Commonwealth Professor of Statistics at the University of Virginia, and chair of the statistics department there. She was editor-in-chief of Technometrics from 1999–2001, and was president of the International Association for Statistical Computing for 2011–2013. She is the current President of the American Statistical Association.

Click  Statistics Career Day 2019 Flyer  to view/print.

5th Statistics Career Day on Friday, November 15th, 2019

The Department of Statistics at GVSU is teaming up with the Southwest Michigan Chapter of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and GVSU Career Services to host their fifth Statistics Career Day on Friday, November 15, 2019 in Kirkhof Center.

This event will provide interested high school and college students an opportunity to learn about the many career options available in statistics and data analytics.  This event is designed to attract promising students to the field of statistics and to give students a chance to meet with corporate representatives to discuss job opportunities. Students are often surprised to learn about the great variety of careers made possible through the study of statistics.

Participants will hear presentations from, and be able to speak informally with, representatives from the government, health care, insurance, marketing, pharmaceutical, data analytics and other industries.  Some organizations may have job openings or internships available.  Anyone with an interest in statistics or data analytics is welcome.

Scheduled Events

• Career Fair:  9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Industries (such as insurance and health care), government (EPA, FDA, Census, etc.), and academic units are invited to host an exhibition table.  The emphasis will be for exhibitors to describe careers at their organization and within their field, with the hope of attracting students to pursue an education in statistics. Although it’s not the primary mission of this event, it is expected that some job recruiting will also occur. Advanced student attendees are encouraged to come prepared to speak with potential employers.

• Lunch: 11:30 – 12:30 p.m.

During lunch there will also be a Lightning Round with the featured afternoon speakers.  Each speaker will give a 5-minute teaser about their upcoming talk.

• Keynote Speaker: 12:30 - 1:15 p.m.

Karen Kafadar, President of the American Statistical Association.

• Break-out Sessions: 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.

Speakers will describe key aspects of their jobs in such fields as Actuarial Science, Biostatistics, Marketing, and Quality Assurance. Career Services will offer sessions on writing resumes and preparing for job interviews.  Sessions will run simultaneously, so students will have a chance to attend the topic of their choice.

• Statistician and Alumni Mixers: 3:00 – 3:30

A time to reflect and meet others that attended the Career Day, as well as an opportunity for students to talk to alumni.  Everyone is invited.

Our previous four Statistics Career Days (in 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2015) have been very successful!  We hope you will help make this event another great success by joining us on November 15^th.

Registration is required so that we may plan accordingly.  To register click on Register for Statistics Career Day 2019.

The Department of Statistics Faculty and the Statistics Career Day Committee encourage you to attend and find out more about career opportunities in statistics! The committee consists of Phyllis Curtiss, Dan Adrian, Bob Downer, Bob Pearson, and Paul Stephenson from the Department of Statistics and Chris Babbitt from Career Services. 

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact the Statistics Department office at (616) 331-3355 or e-mail Phyllis Curtiss (committee chair) at [email protected].