SUNY at Buffalo Department of Statistics

Abstract

Statistics at the University at Buffalo (UB), The State University of New York, has a long and interesting history dating to 1925 when the University was a private institution and known as the University of Buffalo. The first two formal statistics organizational structures to form at UB were the Bureau of Business and Social Research founded in 1926 and the Department of Statistics and Insurance founded in 1930. Over the course of several decades the Department moved across multiple schools and has had several interesting turning points in its history, including a well-known and acrimonious split in 1973. We chronicle the key points in the Department's history to date. The current Department of Biostatistics, housed in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, which is a direct descendent of the original Department of Statistics and Insurance, is stronger than ever and currently offers a Minor in Statistics, an MA and PhD in Biostatistics, an MPH with an Emphasis in Biostatistics, and an MS in Bioinformatics and Biometrics. The Department currently has 55 graduate students and continues to teach over 1000 students yearly in terms of statistics service teaching.