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

    Faculty

    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!

    Events

    Recurring Events

    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.

    Fall 2026 Statistics Courses

    Subject Course # Sect # Course Title Instructor(s) Institution Meeting Times
    STEM 2265 1 Introduction to Statistics Jeff Barton Hampshire College 02:30PM-03:50PM M,W
    DATA 113 01 Intro to Data Science Arie Shaus Mount Holyoke College MWF 10:30AM-11:45AM
    DATA 113 02 Intro to Data Science Instructor To Be Announced,Gary Gillis Mount Holyoke College MWF 12:00PM-01:15PM
    DATA 390 01 Data Science Capstone Arie Shaus Mount Holyoke College MW 01:45PM-03:00PM
    DATA 390 02 Data Science Capstone Instructor To Be Announced,Gary Gillis Mount Holyoke College MW 10:30AM-11:45AM
    STAT 140 01 Intro Ideas/Applic Statistics Ishfaaq Mohammed Imtiyas Mount Holyoke College MWF 10:30AM-11:45AM
    STAT 140 02 Intro Ideas/Applic Statistics Laura Lyman Mount Holyoke College MWF 01:45PM-03:00PM
    STAT 140 03 Intro Ideas/Applic Statistics Laura Lyman Mount Holyoke College MWF 03:15PM-04:30PM
    STAT 242 01 Intermediate Statistics Marie Ozanne Mount Holyoke College MWF 12:00PM-01:15PM
    STAT 242 02 Intermediate Statistics Ben Pittman-Polletta Mount Holyoke College MWF 01:45PM-03:00PM
    STAT 340 01 Applied Regression Methods Isabelle Beaudry Mount Holyoke College MWF 01:45PM-03:00PM
    SDS 100 01 Lab: Computing w/Data William Hopper Smith College TU 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
    SDS 100 02 Lab: Computing w/Data William Hopper Smith College TU 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
    SDS 100 03 Lab: Computing w/Data William Hopper Smith College TU 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
    SDS 109 01 Communicating With Data Ab Mosca Smith College M W 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
    SDS 109 02 Communicating With Data Ab Mosca Smith College M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
    SDS 192 01 Intro to Data Sciences Shiya Cao Smith College M W F 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
    SDS 192 02 Intro to Data Sciences Lindsay Poirier Smith College W F 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM; M 1:40 PM - 2:55 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 William Hopper Smith College M W F 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM
    SDS 210 04 Intro to Statistics William Hopper Smith College M W F 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
    SDS 231 01 Colq: AI & Data Ethics Nikko Stevens Smith College W 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM; M 3:05 PM - 4:20 PM
    SDS 237 01 Data Ethnography Lindsay Poirier Smith College M W 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
    SDS 270 01 Programming Data Science: R Shiya Cao Smith College W F 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
    SDS 271 01 Program/Data Science: Python Gillian Beltz-Mohrmann Smith College M W 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
    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 Kaitlyn Cook Smith College TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
    SDS 291 02 Multiple Regression Gillian Beltz-Mohrmann Smith College M 1:40 PM - 2:55 PM; W 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
    SDS 293 01 Modeling for Machine Learning Albert Y. Kim Smith College TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
    SDS 316 01 Sem:Data&USCriminalLegalSystem Nikko Stevens Smith College M W 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
    SDS 410 01 Capstone in SDS Ben Baumer Smith College TU TH 1:20 PM - 2:35 PM
    BIOSTATS 683 01 Intro to Causal Inference Aaron Sarvet UMass Amherst M W 1:00PM 2:15PM
    BIOSTATS 690E 01 Biostatistics in Action Alexander Knee UMass Amherst TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
    PUBHLTH 223 01 Intro/Biostats for PUBHLTH Sofija Zagarins UMass Amherst M W F 10:10AM 11:00AM
    PUBHLTH 460 01 TellingStories/DataStatModelVi Nicholas Reich UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
    PUBHLTH 494CI 01 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst M W 4:00PM 5:15PM
    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 8:30AM 9:45AM
    PUBHLTH 494CI 04 Public Health Sciences Capston UMass Amherst TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
    STATISTC 111 01 Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
    STATISTC 111 01AA Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 4:00PM 4:50PM
    STATISTC 111 01AB Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 4:00PM 4:50PM
    STATISTC 111 01AC Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 9:05AM 9:55AM
    STATISTC 111 01AD Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 9:05AM 9:55AM
    STATISTC 111 01AE Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 12:20PM 1:10PM
    STATISTC 111 01AF Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 4:00PM 4:50PM
    STATISTC 111 01AG Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 5:30PM 6:20PM
    STATISTC 111 01AJ Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 5:30PM 6:20PM
    STATISTC 111 01AK Elementary Statistics UMass Amherst W 11:15AM 12:05PM
    STATISTC 240 01 Intro To Statistics Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
    STATISTC 240 02 Intro To Statistics Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
    STATISTC 310 01 Fundamental Concepts/Stats Troy Wixson UMass Amherst M W F 9:05AM 9:55AM
    STATISTC 310 02 Fundamental Concepts/Stats Qian Zhao UMass Amherst TU TH 8:30AM 9:45AM
    STATISTC 315 01 Statistics I Carlos Soto UMass Amherst M W 2:30PM 3:45PM
    STATISTC 315 02 Statistics I Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
    STATISTC 315 03 Statistics I Abhisek Saha UMass Amherst TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
    STATISTC 315 04 Statistics I Carlos Soto UMass Amherst M W 4:00PM 5:15PM
    STATISTC 315 05 Statistics I Theodore Westling UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
    STATISTC 315 06 Statistics I Theodore Westling UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
    STATISTC 501 01 Meth Applied Stats Joanna Jeneralczuk UMass Amherst TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
    STATISTC 525 01 Regression&Analysis/Variance Jialin Li UMass Amherst TU TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
    STATISTC 525 02 Regression&Analysis/Variance Jialin Li UMass Amherst TU TH 5:30PM 6:45PM
    STATISTC 530 01 Analysis of Discrete Data John Staudenmayer UMass Amherst M W F 10:10AM 11:00AM
    STATISTC 535 01 Statistical Computing Maryclare Griffin UMass Amherst TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
    STATISTC 535 02 Statistical Computing Shai Gorsky UMass Amherst TH 6:00PM 8:30PM
    STATISTC 598C 01 StatisticalConsultingPracticum Krista Gile,Daeyoung Kim UMass Amherst TU 10:00AM 11:15AM
    STATISTC 607 01 Math Statistics I Daeyoung Kim UMass Amherst TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
    Course Lists From Previous Semesters
    Statistics Regularly Offered Course List

    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

    Amherst College (Major)
    Hampshire College (Academic Philosophy)
    Mount Holyoke College (Major and Minor)
    Smith College (Major and Minor)
    UMass Amherst (Undergraduate Program)

    Other Resources

    American Statistical Association (ASA)
    This Is Statistics
    UMass Amherst Statistics
    UMass Amherst Department of Biostatistics
    DSC-WAV (Wrangle-Analyze-Visualize) Project
    CAUSEweb

    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