MS in Biostatistics Requirements & Courses

Open to graduate students in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics or approval of the department.

Requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Biostatistics

The program is available under either Plan A (with thesis) or Plan B (without thesis). A total of 33 credits is required for both Plan A or Plan B, with no more than 6 credits at the 400-level. The student's program of study must be approved by the student's academic advisor and guidance committee with the approval of the Dean of the College of Human Medicine.

Additional Requirements

EPI 828 and the year-long series (Graduate School Workshops) are REQUIRED for all PhD and MS students. (Biostatistics and Epidemiology)

Courses


1.	All of the following courses required (11 credits):
	EPI	808B	Advanced Biostatistics	3
	EPI	810	Introductory Epidemiology	3
	EPI	826B	Categorical Data Analysis	3
	EPI	828	Seminar in Responsible Conduct of Research	1
	EPI	856	Statistical Consulting in Public Health	1
2.	One of the following courses required (3 credits):
	EPI	853B	Statistical Computing	3
	STT	802	Statistical Computation	3
3.	Complete 12 credits (Plan A) or 15 credits (Plan B) of additional credits in biostatistics electives required from the following:
	EC	821A	Cross Section and Panel Data Econometrics I	3
	EC	821B	Cross Section and Panel Data Econometrics II	3
	EPI	851	SAS Programming I: Essentials	1
	EPI	852	SAS Programming II: Data Management and Analysis	1
	EPI	855	Biostatistical Modeling in Genomic Data Analysis	3
	EPI	858	Clinical Trials	3
	EPI	951	Latent Variable Modeling	3
	EPI	952	Duration and Severity Analysis	3
	EPI	953	Analytical Strategies for Observational Studies	3
	FOR	875	R Programming for Data Sciences	3
	STT	464	Statistics for Biologists	3
	STT	465	Bayesian Statistical Methods	3
	STT	801	Design of Experiments	3
	STT	814	Advanced Statistics for Biologists	4
	STT	825	Sample Surveys	3
	STT	847	Analysis of Survival Data	3
	STT	861	Theory of Probability and Statistics I	3
	STT	862	Theory of Probability and Statistics II	3
	Additional elective courses may be chosen with advisor approval.
4.	Complete 3 additional required credits of epidemiology electives from the following:
	EPI	805	Readings in the Historical Roots of Epidemiological Thought	3
	EPI	812	Causal Inference in Epidemiology	3
	EPI	815	Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease	3
	EPI	816	Perinatal Epidemiology	3
	EPI	817	Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases	3
	EPI	819	Spatial Epidemiology and Medical Geography	3
	EPI	823	Cancer Epidemiology	3
	EPI	829	Principles and Methods of Epidemiologic Study Design	3
	EPI	835	Neuroepidemiology	3
	EPI	890	Independent Study in Epidemiology and Biostatistics	1 to 3
	EPI	910	Themes in Contemporary Epidemiology	3
	EPI	977	Social Epidemiology	3
	EPI	979	Advanced Topics of Infectious Disease Epidemiology	3
5.	Attend all MSU Graduate School Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Workshops (Human).

Additional Requirements for Plan A
1.	The following course (4 credits):
	EPI	899	Master’s Thesis Research	4
2.	Pass an oral defense of the thesis.

Additional Requirements for Plan B
1.	Complete a capstone project through enrollment in 1 credit of EPI 890 Independent Study in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
2.	Pass a final oral examination or evaluation of the capstone project.