Statistics Program

The Five College Statistics Program was created in 2011 to enable statistics faculty members at the five campuses to coordinate and integrate resources to better serve our statistics and data science students.

“The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard.”
- John Tukey, Statistician

"Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it well, the Samurai."
- Jonathan Rosenberg (former Google Inc. Senior Vice President)

The time to become statistically literate is now. The Five College Statistics Program was created in 2011 to enable statistics faculty members at the five campuses to coordinate and integrate resources to better serve our statistics and data science students.

Whether you want to take an introductory statistics or data science class or pursue elective course offerings, the Five Colleges has courses and programs of study just waiting for you.  Statistics and data science are present through multiple programs in the Valley:

  • Undergraduate majors/minors at Amherst, Mt Holyoke, Smith, and UMass Mathematics and Statistics
  • Graduate programs in Statistics and Biostatistics at UMass
  • A data analytics and society nexus at Mt Holyoke

All campuses have a rotation of statistics and data science courses that may be of interest to students.

On this page, you can find resources, including links to statistics courses at each school, statistics faculty on each campus, news and events, announcements and more.

The Five College Statistics Program is committed to fostering closer ties between the faculty members teaching statistics and facilitating additional curricular and research cooperation to continue the strong statistics and data science presence in the Valley. The Five College Statisticians meet on a regular basis to coordinate activities and curricular offerings.

On This Page

News

Congratulations to the Mt. Holyoke Yokies team (Members: Fannie Fouron, Jade Pham, Kate Khe Hoang, and Linh Nguyen) which took Best in Show at the 2025 Five College DataFest!



(More information can be found here: https://www.science.smith.edu/datafest/

Over 190 students pre-registered for the event which took place over the weekend of April 4-6th. After a weekend of working with the data, a total of 33 teams presented their findings to the panels of judges on Sunday. Prizes were awarded to multiple teams (see full list on the website). This was the first year that Mt. Holyoke won the overall Best in Show award, and they will host the DataFest trophy on their campus until next year’s competition!

Every year, the Five College Statistics prize (a book prize) is awarded to students from our various campuses for a range of achievements. This year (2025), the prize was awarded to:

  • Amherst College: Lucas Bernstein ‘25, Wendy Espinosa ’25, and Oren Tirschwell ’25
  • Hampshire College: Zach Fischer
  • Mt. Holyoke College: Giovanna Giuliano, ‘25
  • Smith College: Sarah Susnea ’25
  • UMass Statistics: Enobong Umoren
  • UMass Biostatistics: Jordyn Sullivan `25 

Last year’s award recipients (2024) should also be congratulated. These students were: 

  • Amherst College: Bridget Cassata '24 and Selena Hong '24 
  • Mt. Holyoke College: Willow Kelleigh, ‘24
  • Smith College: Christy Yang ‘25J and Vicky Xu ‘26
  • UMass Statistics: Patrick Serio and Gabrielle (Gabby) Walczak

(Names reported from records. All institutions had awards.)

Nicholas J. Horton, the Beitzel Professor in Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science) at Amherst College, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Mosteller Statistician of the Year award by the Boston Chapter of the American Statistical Association. The award honors individuals from academia, industry, and government who have made exceptional contributions to the field of statistics and who have shown outstanding service to the statistical community, including the Boston Chapter.

Winners of the Five College Statistics award for 2023 are: 

  • Amherst: Elizabeth Williamson and Alex Brandfonbrener
  • Hampshire: Sabina Iftikhar
  • Mt Holyoke: Emily Rosaci
  • Smith: Clara Li  and Aushanae Haller
  • UMass/Biostatistics: Benjamin Goldberg
  • UMass/Statistics: Adira Cohen

Congratulations to all of these students for their excellent work!

Professor Brittney Bailey (Amherst College) was named the recipient of the 2023 Mu Sigma Rho Early Career Undergraduate Impact Award for her dedicated and innovative approaches to support and empower students through her teaching, her leadership of StatFest and The STEM Incubator, and her efforts on behalf of the profession. More information about the award can be found at: https://www.stat.purdue.edu/msr/

 

Professor Nick Horton, Beitzel Professor of Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Amherst College, has been elected as vice president of the American Statistical Association (ASA). Professor Horton's term begins in January 2021; he will serve with ASA president-elect Dionne Price, who will become the first African-American president of the ASA.

Professor Miles Ott, Assistant Professor of Statistical and Data Sciences is the 2021 LGBTQ+ Educator of the Year. This award is given an educator for significant impact on STEM students "through teaching, advocacy, and role modeling."

Congratulations to Professor Ott on this honor!

The Five Colleges had a strong showing in the Fall 2020 Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition, with winners in the Electronic Undergraduate Statistics Research Conference (eUSR), the Undergraduate Statistics Class Project (USCLAP), and the Undergraduate Statistics Research Project (USRESP).

Congratulations to our Fall 2020 competition winners:

Nicholas Reich, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, recently delivered a series of keynote talks on the topic of COVID-19 forecasting

Thank you, Professor Reich, for your continuing contributions to the field of Biostatistics!

Courses

Note that if you don't see classes from all campuses currently listed, they will appear as the campuses release their course schedules for the semester. The five campuses release their schedules on different dates. Visit this page for specific dates.

Spring 2026 Statistics Courses

Subject Course # Sect # Course Title Instructor(s) Institution Meeting Times
ASTR 200 01 Intro to Data Science Kate Follette Amherst College M/F | 1:05 PM - 2:20 PM
ASTR 200L 01 Intro Data Science Lab Kate Follette Amherst College W | 1:05 PM - 4:05 PM
STAT 135 01 Intro to Stats Modeling Pamela Matheson Amherst College M/W/F | 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
STAT 135 02 Intro to Stats Modeling Pamela Matheson Amherst College M/W/F | 10:05 AM - 10:55 AM
STAT 135 03 Intro to Stats Modeling Pamela Matheson Amherst College M/W/F | 1:30 PM - 2:20 PM
STAT 135 04 Intro to Stats Modeling Nicholas Horton Amherst College TU/TH | 10:05 AM - 11:20 AM
STAT 135 05 Intro to Stats Modeling Nicholas Horton Amherst College TU/TH | 11:35 AM - 12:50 PM
STAT 230 01 Intermediate Stats Brittney Bailey Amherst College TU/TH | 1:05 PM - 2:20 PM
STAT 230 02 Intermediate Stats Brittney Bailey Amherst College TU/TH | 2:35 PM - 3:50 PM
STAT 231 01 Data Science Amy Wagaman Amherst College M/W | 11:35 AM - 12:50 PM
STAT 350 01 Survival Analysis Nicholas Horton Amherst College M/F | 1:05 PM - 2:20 PM
STAT 370 01 Theoretical Statistics Amy Wagaman Amherst College M/W/F | 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
NS 0284 1 Adv. Statistical Modeling Kenneth Mulder Hampshire College 09:00AM-10:20AM TU;09:00AM-10:20AM TH
DATA 113 01 Intro to Data Science Arie Shaus Mount Holyoke College MWF 11:30AM-12:45PM
STAT 140 01 Intro Ideas/Applic Statistics Ben Pittman-Polletta Mount Holyoke College MWF 08:30AM-09:45AM;MWF 08:30AM-09:45AM
STAT 140 02 Intro Ideas/Applic Statistics Ben Pittman-Polletta Mount Holyoke College MWF 01:45PM-03:00PM
STAT 242 01 Intermediate Statistics Ben Pittman-Polletta Mount Holyoke College MWF 10:00AM-11:15AM
STAT 242 02 Intermediate Statistics Laura Lyman Mount Holyoke College MWF 01:45PM-03:00PM
STAT 340 01 Applied Regression Methods Ishfaaq Mohammed Imtiyas Mount Holyoke College MWF 10:00AM-11:15AM
STAT 340 02 Applied Regression Methods Ishfaaq Mohammed Imtiyas Mount Holyoke College MWF 08:30AM-09:45AM
STAT 343 01 Mathematical Statistics Laura Lyman Mount Holyoke College MWF 03:15PM-04:30PM;MWF 03:15PM-04:30PM
BIO 372 01 Colq:Quantitativ Ecology Mariana Abarca Smith College M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 100 01 Lab: Computing w/Data Albert Y. Kim Smith College TU 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
SDS 100 02 Lab: Computing w/Data Albert Y. Kim Smith College TU 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
SDS 100 03 Lab: Computing w/Data Albert Y. Kim Smith College TU 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 192 01 Intro to Data Sciences Shiya Cao Smith College M W F 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
SDS 192 02 Intro to Data Sciences Jericho Lawson Smith College M 1:40 PM - 2:55 PM; W F 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
SDS 210 01 Intro to Statistics Kementari Whitcher Smith College M W F 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
SDS 210 02 Intro to Statistics Kementari Whitcher Smith College M W F 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 210 03 Intro to Statistics Ben Baumer Smith College M W F 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 210 04 Intro to Statistics Randi L Garcia Smith College M 3:05 PM - 4:20 PM; W F 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
SDS 235 01 Visual Analytics Ab Mosca Smith College TU TH 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
SDS 235 02 Visual Analytics Ab Mosca Smith College TU TH 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
SDS 236 01 Data Journalism Ben Baumer,Naila F. Moreira Smith College TU TH 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
SDS 239 01 Colq:Data Science, Movies Nikko Stevens Smith College TU TH 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
SDS 270 01 Programming Data Science: R Jericho Lawson Smith College M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 271 01 Program/Data Science: Python Javier Burroni Smith College TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 290 01 Research Design & Analysis Kementari Whitcher Smith College W 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM; M 3:05 PM - 4:20 PM
SDS 291 01 Multiple Regression William Hopper Smith College TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
SDS 291 02 Multiple Regression William Hopper Smith College M W 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
SDS 293 01 Modeling for Machine Learning Katherine M. Kinnaird Smith College M W F 9:25 AM - 10:15 AM
SDS 300di 01 Sem:T-Disability,Inclusn&Data Shiya Cao Smith College W F 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
SDS 320 01 Mathematical Statistics Rebecca Kurtz-Garcia Smith College TU TH 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
SDS 391 01 Sem: Time Series Rebecca Kurtz-Garcia Smith College TU TH 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
SDS 410 01 Capstone in SDS Nikko Stevens Smith College TU TH 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
BIOSTATS 530 01 Intro/Stat Computing with R Leontine Alkema UMass Amherst F 10:10AM 11:00AM
BIOSTATS 640 01 Intrmd Biostatistics Alexander Knee UMass Amherst TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
BIOSTATS 680 01 Topics in Health Data Science Aaron Sarvet UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
BIOSTATS 690E 01 Biostatistics in Action Alexander Knee UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
BIOSTATS 748 01 Applied Survival Analysis Raji Balasubramanian UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
BIOSTATS 749 01 Stat Methods/Clinical Trials UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
PUBHLTH 223 01 Intro/Biostats for PUBHLTH Sofija Zagarins UMass Amherst M W F 10:10AM 11:00AM
PUBHLTH 390K 01 Decoding PubHealth Research Ken Kleinman UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
PUBHLTH 494CI 01 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
PUBHLTH 494CI 02 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
PUBHLTH 494CI 03 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
PUBHLTH 494CI 04 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst M W 4:00PM 5:15PM
SPHHS 616 01 Epidemiology & Biostatistics B Elizabeth Cook UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 111 01 Elementary Statistics Kien Nguyen UMass Amherst TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
STATISTC 111 01AA Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 8:00AM 8:50AM
STATISTC 111 01AB Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 9:05AM 9:55AM
STATISTC 111 01AC Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 5:30PM 6:20PM
STATISTC 111 01AD Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 4:00PM 4:50PM
STATISTC 111 01AE Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 12:20PM 1:10PM
STATISTC 111 01AF Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 10:10AM 11:00AM
STATISTC 111 01AG Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 2:30PM 3:20PM
STATISTC 111 01AJ Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 11:15AM 12:05PM
STATISTC 190SM 01 Intro/Stat with Impact Mindset Krista Gile,Joshua Kaiser,Meghan MacLean UMass Amherst TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
STATISTC 240 01 Intro To Statistics Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 240 02 Intro To Statistics Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
STATISTC 310 01 Fundamental Concepts/Stats Nathan Wycoff UMass Amherst M W 5:30PM 6:45PM
STATISTC 310 02 Fundamental Concepts/Stats Troy Wixson UMass Amherst M W F 9:05AM 9:55AM
STATISTC 315 01 Statistics I Kien Nguyen UMass Amherst TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
STATISTC 315 02 Statistics I Carlos Soto UMass Amherst TU TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
STATISTC 315 03 Statistics I Jialin Li UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
STATISTC 315 04 Statistics I Kien Nguyen UMass Amherst TU TH 8:30AM 9:45AM
STATISTC 315 05 Statistics I Carlos Soto UMass Amherst TU TH 5:30PM 6:45PM
STATISTC 315 06 Statistics I Theodore Westling UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 490S 01 Math Foundatns/Stat & Data Sci Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst M W F 12:20PM 1:10PM
STATISTC 490S 02 Math Foundatns/Stat & Data Sci Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst M W F 11:15AM 12:05PM
STATISTC 501 01 Meth Applied Stats Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
STATISTC 525 01 Regression&Analysis/Variance Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst M W F 9:05AM 9:55AM
STATISTC 525 02 Regression&Analysis/Variance Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 525 03 Regression&Analysis/Variance Jialin Li UMass Amherst TU TH 8:30AM 9:45AM
STATISTC 526 01 Design Of Experiments Zijing Zhang UMass Amherst TH 6:00PM 8:30PM
STATISTC 535 01 Statistical Computing Nathan Wycoff UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 590SM 01 Adv. Stats w/Impact Mindset Krista Gile,Joshua Kaiser,Meghan MacLean UMass Amherst TH 4:00PM 5:15PM; TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 598C 01 StatisticalConsultingPracticum Krista Gile,Daeyoung Kim UMass Amherst TU 1:00PM 2:15PM
STATISTC 608 01 Math Statistics II Daeyoung Kim UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
STATISTC 608 02 Math Statistics II Hyunsun Lee UMass Amherst M 6:00PM 8:30PM
STATISTC 610 01 Bayesian Statistics Erin Conlon UMass Amherst W 6:00PM 8:30PM
STATISTC 631 01 Categorical Data Analysis John Staudenmayer UMass Amherst M W F 1:25PM 2:15PM
STATISTC 633 01 Data Visualization Shai Gorsky UMass Amherst TU 6:00PM 8:30PM

Resources

The Lorna M. Peterson Award supports scholarly and creative work by undergraduate students taking part in Five College programs. The prize is awarded annually based on nominations from Five College programs.

Campus Curricula

Contact Us

Five College Statistics Program Representatives:

Ben Baumer, Professor of Statistical & Data Sciences, Smith College (Chair)

Nicholas Horton, Beitzel Professor of Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science), Amherst College (Secretary/Treasurer)

Kenneth Mulder, Associate Professor of Data Analysis and Modeling, Hampshire College 

Laura Lyman, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Statistics, Mount Holyoke College

Carlos Soto, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, UMass Amherst

Ken Kleinman, Professor of Biostatistics, UMass Amherst

Five College Staff Liaison:

Ray Rennard, Director of Academic Programs