Vision:  VIGRE strives to create a model training program for statisticians that puts problem-solving, research, consulting, and the communication of scientific results at the center of the learning process through the participation of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in faculty-mentored teams. Our training program is designed to enhance the quality of statistics education and the quality and quantity of statistical scientists inthe workforce as well as in the academy.

Scope:  VIGRE entails undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty with interests in statistical sciences. The program is designed to encourage participation by quantitatively-oriented students with diverse backgrounds and diverse prior training, thus resulting in a net gain of students trained in the mathematical sciences from both traditional andunderrepresented student groups.

Goals and Objectives

Enhance, expand and formalize mentoring at all levels.

• Objective:  Increase the quantity and quality of mentoring throughout the academic program from undergraduate through postdoctoral students, with formal instruction in mentoring,attention to mentoring at .critical transition points,. and a hierarchical system in which studentsmentor their junior peers.
• Objective:  Institutionalize mentoring through a system of rewards and accountability by
  requiring faculty to report mentoring activities on their yearly activity reports.

Continue to provide state-of-the-art interdisciplinary and vertically integrated research and education, through existing and new courses and practica as well as through emphasis on career skills courses and workshops.

• Objective:  Prepare graduates to adapt to changing job markets by providing broad-based education tools, industrial Traineeships, and interdisciplinary research experiences; and for students whose career path includes teaching, provide focused teaching instruction through participation in NC State.s Preparing the Professoriate program.
• Objective:  Provide additional training in communication skills through workshops and courses on presentation skills, writing project reports, giving technical talks to mixed audiences, and submitting articles for publication, and through the addition of new practica courses to the curriculum.

Broaden and increase participation in VIGRE to include highly qualified persons, particularly those from underrepresented groups, with backgrounds in other mathematical and non-mathematical disciplines.

• Objective:  Strengthen existing departmental partnerships with industry, government, and university research centers, and recruit new partners with the goal of increasing extra-curricular opportunities for Trainees.
• Objective:  Increase recruitment of undergraduate and graduate students to statistics from nonmathematical as well as mathematical backgrounds and from groups typically
  underrepresented in the mathematical sciences.

VIGRE-II will continue and expand upon VIGRE-I by shaping the preparation of the statistical scientists we teach and, in the long run, the way mathematical scientists are taught elsewhere. VIGRE-II will increase the number of trained statistical scientists as well as the quality of their training.  Specifically, we anticipate that:

• Impact:  The quality of statistical education in the Department will increase as a result of greater emphasis on mentoring, early emphasis on research, and the experiences gained  from participation in VIGRE activities such as internships and research clusters.
• Impact:  The program will promote relationships with industry and government sponsors that in turn will result in expanded sponsorship of collaborative research that is required for sustained
  continuation of the program after VIGRE funding ends.
• Impact:  Graduates of the program who remain in academe will perpetuate the VIGRE paradigm of educating statistical scientists.
• Impact:  The success of VIGRE-II will encourage its emulation by other statistics and mathematics departments by adopting those components of the program that fit their particular needs.

The NCSU VIGRE program is supported through a training grant from the National Science Foundation and by the University.