Nearly a year after its launch, the new Department of Statistics Data Analysis and Applied Statistics master of arts program in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area has 11 students that include mid-career professionals looking to gain new skills and advance their careers. Among the new students are an engineer who graduated from Virginia Tech and a professor from Emory & Henry College.
Heading the program is three-time Hokie alumnus Tom Woteki, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Mathematics in, respectively, 1968 and 1972, and a Ph.D. in statistics in 1974.
The new program is based at the Virginia Tech Research Center building in Arlington. It will provide working professionals in the Washington, D.C., region with advanced skills in analytics, statistics, and data science. Classes in computational modeling and data analytics are already underway, with classes on cybersecurity and economics in development.
Woteki said he hopes to grow the program to 20 students within the next year, with an eventual goal of 30 students. Faculty members already include one full-time member and two adjunct professors. The program likely will become part of the 1-million-square-foot Innovation Campus in Alexandria.
Woteki was most recently was chief data scientist and senior vice president of MAXIMUS Inc., and has held senior analytically-related positions with Cisco Systems Inc., Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, the American Red Cross, and Merck & Co. He also held a leadership position in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.
For further reading, visit Tom Woteki to direct Northern Virginia data analysis and applied statistics master’s program