Honors Program

In the College of Letters and Sciences there are three different levels of honors at graduation.  They are honors, high honors, and highest honors.  Regular honors at graduation is awarded to students who have a grade point average in the top percent of their college.  Students who meet the grade point requirement for graduation with regular honors, and who complete the Honors Program in their department, may be recommended by their departments for graduation with high honors or highest honors on the basis of an evaluation of their academic achievements in the major and in the honors program.  Below is additional information about regular honors and the Statistics Department's Honors Program.

Honors 

Regular honors at graduation is awarded to students who have a grade point average in the top percent of their college. The minimum GPA requirement changes year to year.  Please consult the General Catalog for more information about how the GPA is calculated.  Graduating students will not be awarded honors with the bachelor's degree if more than eight units of grade I (Incomplete) appear on their transcripts.

Statistics Department Honors Program (High and Highest Honors)

The Honors Program for majors in the Department of Statistics permits students to pursue their major study at a level significantly beyond what is defined by the normal curriculum. It represents an opportunity for qualified students to experience aspects of the discipline that are representative of advanced study in the statistics and data science fields. Students in the honors program must take STA/DSC 194HA and STA/DSC 194HB, the Special Studies for Honors Students courses, distributed over two quarters (fall and winter quarter recommended) and successfully complete a research project, a scholarly paper, a senior thesis, or some comparable assignment under direction of a faculty advisor. 

All qualified Statistics and Data Science majors are encouraged to discuss their interest in the Honors Program with the major advisor as early as possible. Students should make plans no later than Spring Quarter if they plan to take 194H Fall and Winter Quarter of the following year. Students should be thoughtful about their academic and research interest in the Statistics and Data Science disciplines and seek a faculty mentor whose expertise aligns with the student's interest. Students should also take into consideration the significant scholarly commitment required by the Honors Program when planning their senior year.  

STA/DSC 194HA and STA/DSC 194HB are each four units.  This means that students are expected to spend an average of 12 hours of independent study on their projects every week.  This sequence has deferred grading which means that students will only be graded once the sequence is complete. These courses are also only graded for a letter grade.  Students are not allowed to take these courses on a Pass/Not Passed basis.  

Admission Requirements

  • students must have completed at least 135 units
  • the major GPA must be at least 3.500
  • students must complete a contract with a faculty advisor in order to sign up for the STA/DSC 194HA-HB sequence.  

Eligibility for High Honors

High honors will only be awarded after a review of the honors project and the student's overall performance in the major.  Eligibility for high and highest honors will be evaluated on a case by case basis, but it is unlikely that high honors will be awarded if the GPA is below a 3.7 and the student received a B- or lower in the 194H sequence. If students are not eligible for high honors, they may still be eligible for regular honors.  The minimum honors GPA requirement must also be met. 

Eligibility for Highest Honors

Highest honors will only be awarded after a review of the honors project and the student's overall performance in the major.  Eligibility for high and highest honors will be evaluated on a case by case basis, but it is unlikely that highest honors will be awarded if the GPA is below a 3.7 and the student received a A- or lower in the 194H sequence.  If students are not eligible for highest honors, they may still be eligible for high honors or regular honors.  The minimum honors GPA requirement must also be met. 

Honors Project Archive

Spring 2024

Gantawar, Aditya 
Modeling and Analyzing NFL Play Data Using Hawkes Processes
(Faculty Mentor-Professor Shizhe Chen)

Spring 2020

Krishnachandran, Aravind
Bethe-Hessian R Optimization
(Facutly Mentor-Professor Can Le)

Xu, Hainiu (Johnny)
Application of Curve Registration Methods on Analyzing Wearable Device Data
(Faculty Mentor-Professor Jane-Ling Wang)

Summer 2017

Park, Soo Yeon
Estimating indirect and direct effects of a Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) diagnosis on survival for a 6 month period after diagnosis 
(Faculty Mentor-Professor Christiana Drake)

Spring 2017

Iong, Daniel
Predicting Missing Observations in Pesticide Data 
(Faculty Mentor-Professor Alexander Aue)