• Lecture: Tu/Th 8-9:20, 1428 Molecular Biology
• Instructor: Dr. Philip Dixon, pdixon@iastate.edu, 1436 Wilson, 3405 Agronomy, 4-2142, 4-6828
• Office Hours: M 2-3, F 3-4
  
• Questions?: Please feel free to e-mail me anytime (pdixon@iastate.edu) with questions or comments.
• Class Web site: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pdixon/stat505
  Copies of the syllabus, homework assignments, data sets and example programs will be available here.
• Text: None
  
• Reading materials: Various assigned readings will be available for you to copy. In the past I've kept the master in the Statistics Reading room, but that's now in 3455 Wilson and not convenient for most folks. We'll talk about alternatives in class.
• Goals:
  • Learn methods used to analyze environmental data. Extend your repertoire of methods.
  • Understand the statistical theory underlying those methods.
  • Illustrate classical and modern statistical inference using some non-standard problems.
  • Apply statistical methods and theory to nontraditional problems.
• Grading:
  4 Homework sets: 100 points each.
  Project: 100 points.
  No tests.

  Homeworks are due at 5pm on the assigned date. Late homework will be penalized 5 points per day late.

  The project will be a chance to do something interesting, then talk about it. You may work on a data analysis or a theoretical question. You may work individually or in groups. An ideal group is a combination of statistician and non-statistician working on a data analysis or a question motivated by a real problem. The project will be discussed in more detail later.

• Computing:
  This course emphasizes data analysis to answer questions. This will require using statistical computing packages. Unfortunately, no one package does everything well. You may use whatever tools are appropriate to do the necessary computations. I expect that most of you will use R and some may use SAS; I can help with those packages. In particular, I will distribute examples of R and SAS code on the class web site. Some of you may be familiar with other programs available for certain parts of the course. You are free to use those program, but I will not lecture about them, and I can't promise help with them.

Weeks  Dates            Topic

 1-4   Jan 15 - Feb  7    Analysis of data with below detection limit values 
 5-7   Feb 12 - Feb 28    Estimating toxicity, bioassay
 8-10  Mar  4 - Mar 27    Trend assessment
       Mar 17 - Mar 21    Spring break
11-12  Apr  1 - Apr 10    Assessing compliance to standard,
                          demonstrating equality,
                          validating models
13-14  Apr 15 - Apr 24    Catch up / To be determined by class interest
  15   Apr 29 - May  1    Project presentations

Possible topics for the last two weeks: 

 Your suggestions, especially methods or problems specific to your research
 Toxicokinetics, i.e. fitting models defined by differential equations
 Probabilistic risk assessment
 Environmental Sampling
 Locating hot spots
 Study designs to assess environmental impact (BACI and
relatives)

Readings: Assigned readings will provide background, additional details, or another presentation of the lecture material. Citations will be distributed in lecture. Norma in the Statistics Reading Room, 3455 Wilson, will have a master copy that you can borrow. I will try to have another copy somewhere on campus. It will help if you read the assigned material soon after the appropriate lectures.

Homework: Statistics is best learnt by doing. The homework problems are chosen to give you practice in using the methods, interpreting the results, and understanding the theory. The intent is to understand and be able to apply lecture concepts. Discussion with friends and classmates is encouraged. However, you must write up your own solutions. Copying papers is not a good way to learn and will not be tolerated.

More details on the homework policy and guidelines are on the Homework Guidelines page.

Disability accomodation:
Iowa State University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Sect 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you have a disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please contact Philip Dixon within the first two weeks of the semester. Retroactive requests for accommodations will not be honored. Before meeting with me, you need to obtain a SAAR form with recommendations for accommodations from the Disability Resources Office, Room 1076, Student Services Building. Their telephone number is 515-294-6624.