Recommendations for PhD in Stats/Biostats with research in Biology and/or Agriculture

[alemao]

I have seen lots recommendations here for different areas, but I don't think I saw specifically about biology and agriculture.

When looking to Biostats departments, I think most (if not all) programs focus more in biomedical research (e.g. public health), but I am mostly interested in working with agriculture (plants, crops, animals, and environment), not humans or medicine. I already have one first-author paper in a plant genetics journal and three co-author papers in agriculture (crops). I love to collaborate within the agricultural research! I guess in some places people call it agricultural statistics (agstats) or biometry? (Not sure though)

Just to give a context, usually people in this area use a LOT linear mixed models, variance components estimation, experimental design, and quantitative genetics (in some cases where genetic/genomic data is used). People are also using machine learning for prediction of plant/animal traits.

 

From my search, I have found those places where Stats department have research in agriculture:

Kansas State

Nebraska

Iowa State

UC Davis (I saw at least two faculty within biostats; not sure if in Stats they have such faculty).

Cornell

 

Well, Cornell and UC Davis are in the top, so I am not sure if I could make it. I am not from well-known schools, although I have good grades (master's 4.0 GPA) and considerable research experience.

Could someone give me good recommendations of Stats/Biostats departments with faculty working with biology and/or agriculture? I like the idea to try K-state or Nebraska, but those programs are in the lower half of the USNews ranking, and I wonder if this could decrease my chances of finding good positions in academia later. Iowa State is within top-20, and I know they are VERY strong in agriculture. Can you think of more departments that would be a good fit? The thing is I don't want to go to a place where just few (like two) faculty are working with this.

Note: my background is a bachelor's in Statistics and I am about to finish a master's in Applied Statistics.

Thanks!

 

 

 

Edited July 1 by alemao
add background and comments

[bayessays]

What's your career goal?  You mention wanting to be a faculty member - if it's in a statistics department, you're in for an uphill battle: public health/medicine is a big field because there's a lot of funding for it, so not a lot of programs will be looking to hire statisticians researching agriculture.  Iowa State was my first thought, so I think you're on the right track with these schools.

Agricultural statistics was one of the big fields that started statistics, which is why some of these older departments like Iowa State still have some people doing it.  Are you open to researching other related fields and pursuing these on the side?

For example, there are many programs with people doing spatial statistics - check out Colorado State University, which has a huge range of spatial statistics researchers, some of whom do work in ecology, but there's a lot of climate/public health research too.  These skills are broadly transferrable - would you be satisfied doing something like this, and then maybe some internships at companies like John Deere/Monsanto/etc who hire PhD statisticians?

You could also research human statistical genetics, and then find a post-doc where they specialize in plant genetics.  I know there's differences, but I wrote some papers in both human and bacterial genetics and moved between the fields pretty easily since they're collaborative projects anyways.

[alemao]

35 minutes ago, bayessays said:

What's your career goal?  You mention wanting to be a faculty member - if it's in a statistics department, you're in for an uphill battle: public health/medicine is a big field because there's a lot of funding for it, so not a lot of programs will be looking to hire statisticians researching agriculture.  Iowa State was my first thought, so I think you're on the right track with these schools.

Agricultural statistics was one of the big fields that started statistics, which is why some of these older departments like Iowa State still have some people doing it.  Are you open to researching other related fields and pursuing these on the side?

For example, there are many programs with people doing spatial statistics - check out Colorado State University, which has a huge range of spatial statistics researchers, some of whom do work in ecology, but there's a lot of climate/public health research too.  These skills are broadly transferrable - would you be satisfied doing something like this, and then maybe some internships at companies like John Deere/Monsanto/etc who hire PhD statisticians?

You could also research human statistical genetics, and then find a post-doc where they specialize in plant genetics.  I know there's differences, but I wrote some papers in both human and bacterial genetics and moved between the fields pretty easily since they're collaborative projects anyways.

Thanks for the information @bayessays. I was not aware that the funding for ag was going down compared to health. 

I like the idea to work with spatial, ecology, etc. because they are often applied to environmental issues in different aspects. Regarding being a faculty, I "think" I like the idea, but I have not taught any course or been a TA, so I am not sure if this would be for me. However, I do think about getting into a "good" (well-ranked) department because of the chances later if I want to become a faculty.

Regarding internship, in fact I am doing a summer internship at one big ag company, and I have met two people here with a PhD in Stats from Iowa State, but like 10+ years ago.

1) What are your thoughts about K-state, Nebraska and Iowa State for PhD in Stats?

More on the genetics side of things, my first goal was to continue in plants/crops, but it seems most of the faculty doing this type of research are in the crop science or horticulture departments. Said that, I think is a good idea to go to a Stats/Biostats department and do research in human statistical genetics (I know people "borrow" this knowledge among human/crops/animals). In fact, animal science is strong in linear mixed models and genetics (Henderson and Searle worked with this); that is why I mentioned Cornell. 

About some departments, I checked SMU and I liked the department as whole. I also liked Ohio State, Georgetown and George Washington University. I think UT Dallas also has some people doing research on this.

 2) What Stat/Biostats departments would you recommend for human statistical genetics research?

 

Edited July 1 by alemao
add more departments on question 1