Below are a few resources to help students with starting the Ph.D. program, research, courses, and preparing for the first year exam. If you would like to add to the resources listed here, contact us at gcc@stat.duke.edu and we will be happy to add those resources for you.

Resources for Incoming Students

For general questions regarding registration, moving to Durham, preparing for the first year of the Ph.D. program, etc. please read the frequently asked questions for incoming students document posted below. If you still have questions contact either your first year faculty advisor or student advisor who would be happy to help you transition to life at Duke.

First Year Exam

The following is copied from the Duke statistics website, "The Ph.D. First Year Examination consists of two parts: a 3 hour closed book in-class portion and a take-home component. The in-class portion is typically slated for 9am-12n early in the week after Spring Semester Final exams. The Take-home is distributed at the exam and is typically due back 48 hours later. Students in the MS program are not responsible for the material in STA 205 and will be graded accordingly. These problems may not be identified on the exam, so use your judgement. Exams from previous years are available. Since the first year curriculum has been revised over time, exams from earlier years may cover material not in the current curriculum." The first year exam covers topics in Stat 213, 215, 205, 290, and 244.

Computing Resources

Students in the Department of Statistical Science (DSS) should be comfortable with using various software and operating systems. Specifically, students should be familiar with Linux/Unix, Latex, R, MATLAB as well basic Microsoft software such as Powerpoint, Word, and Excel. Below are a few resources to introduce students to this software and computing at Duke. These resources are intended as introductions only. More thorough documentation of how to use this software is available either from the DSS computing website or through traditional Internet search engines.

Resources for Linux/Unix

All department desktops run CentOS 5, a freely available Linux distribution. Information on how to set up a student account on the department machines, basic Linux commands, printing from a Linux terminal, etc. is available in the Linux Tutorial . Within the Linux Environment, Emacs is the most commonly used editor. Emacs is used as an editor for Latex, R, C, C++, and many other programs. Thus you will also need to be familiar with how to use Emacs. Below are a few links to help students become familiar with both Linux/Unix and Emacs:
  • Linux Tutorial - brief introduction to the operating system including the most commonly used commands, printing, and running processes.
  • Emacs Tutorial - a brief emacs tutorial given in STA 290.
  • Emacs Quick Reference Card - a quick summary of hot keys you can use in emacs.
  • ESS - information and manuals about how to run R from Emacs.

Resources for Latex

Latex is a document preparation system which students will use to write scholarly articles, write their dissertation, prepare presentations, and many other documents. Latex is mandatory for submitting papers to journals. The uses of Latex are vast and the following resources are only sufficient to introduce students to the language.
  • Latex Tutorial - a short document introducing students to the basic uses and layout of Latex documents.
  • Latex Primer - a book on using Latex.
  • Latex Symbols - a comprehensive list of Latex symbols taken from the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network
  • Online Tutorial - an online tutorial of Latex containing tips about bibliographies, type setting math equations, and theorems.
  • Example Code - a zipped folder containing an example latex document, figures, bibliography, and compiled pdf document.
  • Beamer User Guide - a complete guide to the Beamer document class as well as an easy to follow tutorial.
  • MikTex and WinEdt - If you are using your own Windows laptop, you can install MikTex (a Latex compiler) and WinEdt (a Latex editor) to use Latex on your laptop.
  • TeXShop - if you are using your own Mac laptop, you can install TeXShop and use Latex through either your X11 or terminal window.
  • TexPoint - TexPoint is an add-in for Powerpoint and Word which allows the easy use of Latex symbols and formulas.

Resources for R

R is a statistical programming language which has built in functions for performing basic statistical analysis. Students will use R in many classes as well as frequently in research. Below are a few resources to introduce students to the R environment and programming language as well as some example code. Within R, using the help(functionname) or ?functionname commands will load the R documentation for functionname.
  • R Tutorial - provides a brief introduction to R for students unfamiliar with R.
  • The R Primer - a book by Chris Green taken from his website.
  • Example Code - Example R code of a very basic Gibbs sampler. Provides examples of how to read data from a file, write data to a file, and plotting figures. See the code explanation for more background information about the code.

Resources for MATLAB

MATLAB is the preferred statistical programming language of the majority of the faculty in the Department of Statistical Science because MATLAB is a great deal faster than R at looping. Thus for complicated algorithms such as Metropolis-Hastings or Gibbs sampling, MATLAB is preferred to R. Students will need to know MATLAB in order to complete the second year courses and dissertation research. Within MATLAB, students can use the helpwin command which will load the MATLAB help window containing complete documentation of all MATLAB functions.
  • Basic Online Tutorial - a simple online tutorial to acquaint students with the basic functions of MATLAB.
  • Mathworks Tutorial - official MATLAB tutorial put out by Mathworks.
  • Example Code - Example MATLAB code of a very basic Gibbs sampler. Provides examples of how to read data from a file, write data to a file, and plotting figures. See the code explanation for more background information about the code.

Other Computing Resources

Students will often be required to learn other programming languagues to assist them in their research. Below is a list of resources to help students in learning or using other programs and programming languages. Research Resources
  • Links to past Duke student theses can be found on the Alumni Page