1. Background

Statistics has ushered in great development since it became a first-level discipline in 2011. In recent years, the rise of data science, artificial intelligence, and financial technology has brought new challenges and opportunities to statistics. Statistics plays an increasingly prominent role in the development of the national economy and in the field of science and technology. For example, Mr. Ren Zhengfei of Huawei believes that statistics is the key to the core technologies of data science and artificial intelligence.

The Department of Probability and Statistics of Peking University was founded by famous mathematicians such as Pao-Lu Hsu and Jiang Zepei. The discipline of statistics occupies a leading position in China and enjoys a high reputation in the world. However, we also clearly realize that the current statistics undergraduate training system of Peking University cannot fully meet the needs of modern statistics, data science, artificial intelligence and other disciplines, and especially cannot effectively serve the cultivation of innovative and interdisciplinary talents.

2. Cultivating ideas

This program encourages outstanding students to take basic frontier courses in probability and statistics through the mechanism of honors courses or experimental classes, so as to better prepare for the fourth year of undergraduates to connect to basic graduate courses. With the tenet of "deep foundation, wide field, and high vision", the program emphasizes the basic theory of courses such as probability theory and mathematical statistics, emphasizes the modeling and analysis capabilities of courses such as statistical models and machine learning, and emphasizes on data science and artificial intelligence. technical application capabilities in other fields.

3. Training requirements

1) Course selection

The curriculum system includes two categories: required courses and limited courses. Students participating in the program must take at least 3 required courses and 3 limited courses. The students should also meet the following two requirements: GPA not lower than 3.65, and a good grade of graduation dissertation. The curriculum system can be dynamically adjusted as needed.

Required courses: probability theory (experimental class), mathematical statistics (experimental class), applied random processes (experimental class).

Limited courses: Statistical Learning, Statistical Models and Computational Methods, Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Nonparametric Statistics, High-Dimensional Probability Theory, Convex Optimization, Applied Stochastic Analysis.

Note 1: Students participating in this program still need to meet the training program requirements of their majors.

Note 2: For students who have completed the regular classes of probability theory or mathematical statistics before applying for this program, some of the experimental class selection requirements may be exempted depending on the specific circumstances.

2) Scientific research training

The program encourages students to participate in research groups or seminars of teachers in statistics and probability. Encouraging students to study literature in depth under the guidance of tutors, lay a solid foundation, get to know cutting-edge areas, improve scientific research level and cultivate innovation ability. Publication-oriented research is discouraged.

4. Selection

The " Honors Program for Statistics Undergraduate " talk will be held at the beginning of the second semester of the sophomore year. The specific time will be notified separately. Admission is based on the application situation.

5. Contact

Zhang Yuanxin, Tel: 010-62760736, Email: stat-center@pku.edu.cn.