Statistical Consulting Opportunities

The Mathematics and Statistics Department is pleased to announce that for 2023-24 Professors Horton and Wagaman, and the Statistics and Data Science Fellows (with faculty supervision) are available for statistical consulting for both faculty and students (especially thesis writers). Consulting can involve help in designing an experiment or study, analyzing or interpreting results, or help in understanding a statistical technique in a journal article, and much more.  Please contact a faculty member to set up an appointment.

Information for Thesis Writers and Faculty Mentors

We would like to encourage thesis writers with longer term consulting needs to contact us early in their thesis process, as well as to involve their faculty mentors in the consulting. This can aid the statisticians in better understanding the problem, and hence, improve the consulting experience and may provide new insights for faculty mentors as well.

Excel Support Offered by SDS Fellows

This semester, Spring 2024, our SDS Fellows are pleased to announce that we are piloting a program to offer Excel support to students across Amherst College. Our focus is on empowering you with Excel tools for your specific needs—be it for a course, project, or thesis. While we're here to guide you through the technical steps of Excel, including analysis and graph creation, our service does not extend to statistical consulting.

We're excited to kick off this semester by offering 6 weekly appointment slots (20 minutes each), which are now available for booking. This is just the start, and we're looking forward to potentially expanding our offerings if there is sufficient interest.

In advance of your session:

  • Make sure getting a helping hand from us fits the requirement for your project or assignment, especially if there are specific guidelines from your professor about working solo. It’s important to ensure that we’re a good match for what you need, before booking your appointment.
  • Let us know, through the booking form, what you aim to do in Excel that you want assistance with. The clearer this is, the better our chances of being able to assist you.
  • Be sure you are able to open your data in Excel (unless this is your question). And be sure your data is properly anonymized so we can look at your screen while assisting you. 

To sign up for a slot, please visit: https://calendly.com/excel-tutoring/20min

Appointments can be held in person, in SCCE room E202, or on Zoom. Please choose whichever is best for you in the scheduling tool.

We expect to solicit (anonymous) feedback on this service later this semester.

Value of Statistical Consulting

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics of Amherst College recognizes the value of statistical consulting as a legitimate and important form of scholarship and professional development. This can involve:

  • consulting on projects that may lead to joint authorship on peer-reviewed publications
  • consulting on scholarly projects even if joint authorship is not attained
  • consulting on student research projects
  • consulting on commercial projects that may involve proprietary information that precludes peer-reviewed publication