Message from the Department Chair
Message from the Department Chair
The Statistical Science Program
Hironori Fujisawa,Chair of the Statistical
Science Progam
The Statistical Science Program at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM) is one of the Departments of Multidisciplinary Sciences at SOKENDAI (Graduate University for Advanced Studies). It conducts educational and research activities related to statistical mathematics. It was established in 1988 concurrently with the establishment of SOKENDAI. This Department originally offered only a three-year doctoral course for those who have completed their Master’s degree. Since 2005, it has additionally offered a five-year integrated doctoral program for those who have completed their undergraduate degree.
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM)
The Statistical Science Program was established at the ISM. The ISM itself was established in 1944 as a research institute directly under the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture for conducting academic research in statistical science. It has subsequently undergone various changes and is now under the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation. The ISM has contributed to academic developments as a leading research institute in statistical science both in Japan and worldwide. Its achievements include the Akaike Information Criterion, Quantification Theory, and Monte Carlo Filter (Particle Filter). It has three departments (Statistical Modeling, Statistical Data Science, and Statistical Inference and Mathematics) and four centers (Risk Analysis Research Center, Research Center for Statistical Machine Learning, Data Science Center for Creative Design and Manufacturing, and Research Center for Medical and Health Data Science) under it. Further, it is involved in extensive interdisciplinary research in fields ranging from the humanities and social sciences to science and technology.
Program's Basic Policy and Ideal Students
The Program's aim is to facilitate the extraction of information from real-world data; conduct education and research on data collection design, modeling, inference, and prediction as well as their fundamentals in mathematics and practical application; and develop human resources with the ability to conduct creative research that will contribute to the solution of a variety of complex and important intertwined issues. Toward this end, the Department seeks students who are highly interested in statistical science and are motivated to solve ongoing problems and explore new fields. In particular, it welcomes those with high aspirations to participate in the development of the field of statistical science in the broad sense of reasoning and acting on uncertain phenomena based on data by using insights in various related fields to create a new academic framework regardless of existing disciplines.
What you can learn
Statistical Mathematics Seminars are held every week to present research by researchers from the ISM. Research meetings, including international ones, are also held frequently with many visiting researchers from Japan and other countries participating. This environment allows students to easily come into contact with cutting-edge research. Various research projects are in progress, and graduate students can participate in any that interest them. The graduate students are guided by primary supervisors as well as sub-supervisors, and various courses are offered to help them acquire basic skills. The Department of Statistical Science is considered the best environment for studying and researching statistical science in Japan.