The mission of the Department of Management Science and Statistics is to offer both undergraduate and graduate educational programs that are of high quality and meet the changing needs of the global community; to provide a supportive learning environment for students; to foster the success of our students in their professional careers; and to create an academic environment that stresses excellence in teaching, intellectual contributions, and service. The Department contributes to the field of knowledge through research and education in the quantitative sciences. Theory and analysis are applied to a variety of interdisciplinary problems to discover new approaches for meeting the challenges of decision making in a global arena of expanding technology and information.
This concentration is designed to offer the opportunity for qualified graduate students to develop expertise in the field of management science while studying business administration. Students are provided the opportunity to learn quantitative methods and to apply these methods to organizational processes to improve the quality of managerial decision making, to improve operational efficiencies, to increase productivity, and to facilitate the timely flow of goods, services, and information. To achieve this end, students can focus their elective courses on the use of modern methodologies and techniques in the analysis and support of managerial decision-making activities, including the application of computer hardware and software.
Students choosing to concentrate in management science must complete the 21 semester credit hours of courses containing the foundations of knowledge and 12 semester credit hours of electives from the following:
MS 5303 Decision Support Systems
MS 5323 Statistical Methods for Business Analysis
MS 5343 Logistics Systems Management
MS 5373 Simulation Analysis of Business Systems
MS 5393 Production Operations Management
MS 5423 Service Management and Operations
MS 5453 Management and Control of Quality
MS 5463 Lean Operations and Six Sigma
MS 5473 Logistics System Analysis
MS 5483 Operations Research Methods in Statistics
MS 6943 Management Science Internship
MS 6953 Independent Study
MS 6973 Special Problems
Additionally, a student may request the management science coordinator or chair to substitute other appropriate College of Business graduate electives for one or two of the above courses.
The Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Statistics includes instruction in a broad range of statistical methods and computational tools to equip students to pursue careers as government, industrial, or academic statisticians, or to continue to doctoral study in statistics.
Program Admission Requirements. In addition to satisfying the University-wide graduate admission requirements, a B.A. or B.S. in mathematics, statistics, or a closely related field is highly recommended as preparation. In particular, the completion of STA 3523 Mathematical Statistics or its equivalent is required for unconditional admission. Those students who do not qualify for unconditional admission should anticipate that additional undergraduate and/or graduate coursework may be required to complete the degree. All applicants are required to submit scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) aptitude test.
Degree Requirements. Candidates for this degree are required to successfully complete 36 semester credit hours as specified below:
MAT 5203 Theory of Functions of a Real Variable I (or its equivalent)
MAT 5283 Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory (or its equivalent)
STA 5103 Applied Statistics
STA 5133 Data Analysis with Statistical Software
STA 5503 Mathematical Statistics I
STA 5513 Mathematical Statistics II
STA 5713 Linear Models
In this age of advanced technology, there is an increasing demand for individuals with the expertise in designing experiments and analyzing large complex data sets via the latest advances in computing. In particular, there is a real need for professionals with a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics. Statisticians are in very high demand in the growing biomedical field to develop methods for evaluating the efficacy and safety of new medications/drugs, surgeries, and other treatments and in the cutting edge research of Bioinformatics to assess such topics or protocols as gene therapy, genomics research, aging and many other newly developed issues. The Ph.D. in Applied Statistics combines theory with applications to prepare students to pursue careers in academia, research organizations, government, and private industry.
Program Admissions Requirement. In addition to satisfying the University-wide graduate admission requirements, an M.S. or M.A. in mathematics, statistics, or a closely related field is required. Students who have not earned a qualifying master’s degree may be required to complete the equivalent courses in the appropriate background areas before taking doctoral coursework. The admissions requirements consist of:
Degree Requirements. Candidates for this degree are required to successfully complete a minimum of 60 semester credit hours beyond the master’s degree as specified below:
STA 6133 Simulation and Statistical Computing
STA 6991 Statistical Consulting (to be taken three semesters)
STA 7503 Advanced Inference I
STA 7513 Advance Inference II
STA 7723 Advanced Linear Models
All students in the program will be required to complete a degree plan specifying the courses they will complete within the specialty or track areas selected by the student. This degree plan must be approved by the Doctoral Studies Committee before the end of the second semester of enrollment.
Advancement to Candidacy. Advancement to candidacy requires a student to complete University and Applied Statistics program requirements. After completing the required coursework, students seeking candidacy must also pass written and oral qualifying examinations before being admitted to candidacy for the degree. The written examination is administered by the graduate faculty in the specialization area. Written examinations are scheduled once a year, whereas the oral examination is administered at the discretion of the student’s dissertation committee. The oral examination is for the purpose of eliminating any questions of competency related to substantive written exams and serves as a hearing for the student’s dissertation proposal. Students will be provided no more than two attempts to pass written qualifying examinations and two attempts to pass the oral qualifying examination. Majority approval of the dissertation examination committee is required to pass the oral examination. The oral examination must be completed within one year of completion of the written examination. Results of the written and oral qualifying examinations must be reported to the Dean of the Graduate School.
Dissertation. Candidates must demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research by completing and defending an original dissertation. The research topic is determined by the student in consultation with his or her supervising professor. A dissertation committee, selected by the student and supervising professor, guides and critiques the candidate’s research. The completed dissertation must be formally presented to and approved by the Dissertation Committee.
Following an open presentation of the dissertation findings, the Dissertation Committee conducts a closed meeting to determine the adequacy of the research and any further requirements for completion of the dissertation. Results of the meeting must be reported to the Dean of the College and to the Dean of the Graduate School.
Awarding of the degree is based on the approval of the Dissertation Committee, approved by the Dean of the College. The UTSA Dean of the Graduate School certifies the completion of all University-wide requirements.
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5. Master's Degree Regulations
6. Doctoral Degree Regulations
7. Graduate Program Requirements
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