Math/Stat 750
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Consulting

Students

• Rupa Bhensdadia
• Steve Clark
• Jonathan Desi
• Zorayr Manukyan
• Justin Newcomer
• Ronny O. Vallejos

Consulting Projects and Class Presentations

Basic Information

• Co-Facilitators:
  • For Mathematics projects: Matthias K. Gobbert, Associate Professor of Mathematics,
    Math/Psyc 416, (410) 455-2404, gobbert@math.umbc.edu,
    office hours: MW 03:00-03:50 or by appointment
  • For Statistics projects: Nagaraj K. Neerchal, Professor of Statistics,
    Math/Psyc 437, (410) 455-2437, nagaraj@math.umbc.edu,
    office hours: MW 11:00-11:45 or by appointment
• Time and Room: MP 401; please note that the class meetings have been moved to Mondays 08:45-09:55 a.m. and Thursdays (!) 09:30-10:45 a.m.; see the detailed schedule for more information.
• Prerequisites:
  • for Math 750: Math 620, Math 630, Math 650, familiarity with Matlab, or instructor approval.
  • for Stat 750: Stat 601, Stat 602, Stat 651, Stat 653, familiarity with SAS and Splus, or instructor approval.
• The following books are recommended references on various topics:
  • Recommended books on the techniques of consulting, both mathematical and statistical:
    • James R. Boen and Douglas A. Zahn, The Human Side of Statistical Consulting, Lifetime Learning Publications, 1982.
      A newer edition of this book may be available.
    • Javier Cabrera and Andrew McDougall, Statistical Consulting, Springer-Verlag, 2002. Associated webpage: http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~mcdougal/zBook/book.html
    • D.J. Hand and B.S. Everitt, Editors, The Statistical Consultant in Action, Cambridge University Press, 1987.
    We will discuss selected parts of Cabrera and McDougall in class.
  • Recommended book on Matlab:
    • Desmond J. Higham and Nicholas J. Higham, Matlab Guide, SIAM, 2000. Associated webpage: http://www.ma.man.ac.uk/~higham/mg
  • Recommended books on SAS:
    • Lora D. Delwiche and Susan J. Slaughter, The Little SAS Book: A Primer, second edition, SAS Publishing, 1998.
    • Art Carpenter, Carpenter's Complete Guide to the SAS Macro Language, SAS Publishing, 1998.
  • Recommended book on Splus:
    • William N. Venables and Brian D. Ripley, S Programming, Springer-Verlag, 2000.
  For additional recommendations on various topics including Unix/Linux and parallel programming, see http://www.math.umbc.edu/~gobbert/literature.html
• Grading policy:
  
  • First Quarter of the Semester: Small Team Project
    Learning Goals: Effective Team Work and Written Communication Skills
    Total score for the first quarter of the semester: 25%
    • Deliverables including written report (formal and content): 20%
      Teams of two or three students will be assigned a small project with concrete deliverables that need to be submitted along with a written report. Strategies for effective team work will be discussed in class to back up your experience. This project will provide invaluable experience for working effectively in a team. Demonstrated experience of team work is a useful marketable skill.
    • Peer review of other team's written report: 5%
      Each student will review in writing another team's report for content, clarity, and presentation. Again, it is important to learn how to give appropriate, critical, candid feedback. In turn, every team will be able to learn from the two or more reviews it will receive.
  • Second Quarter of the Semester: Small Individual Project
    Learning Goals: Effective Independent Research and Oral Communication Skills
    Total score for the second quarter of the semester: 25%
    • Oral presentation (formal and content): 15%
      The assignment consists of learning a significant useful tool in Mathematics or Statistics within one week and introducing it to the other students in class in a 30-minute demonstration. The other students should be able to use and apply that tool as the outcome of the presentation.
    • Submit feedback to every presenter: 5%
      Each member of the audience will provide written feedback to the presenter about the presentation both with respect to form and content. Being able to give useful, critical, but also encouraging feedback is an important skill to learn. The facilitators will collect and review the audience feedback before giving it to the presenter.
    • Creation of a homepage and resume: 5%
      Every student will create a professional homepage that can be used throughout the semester and beyond for communication. Among the items posted will be a resume.
  • Second Half of the Semester: Major Consulting Project
    Learning Goals: Putting all Skills Together!
    Total score for the second half of the semester: 50%
    • Client-focused activities and content:
      • Background research: 15%
      • Quality of the deliverables: 15%
      The consulting project in the second half of the semester will provide the opportunity to put all skills together by working with a client from outside the department. Your responsibility will be to interview the client about his/her needs, maintain regular contacts with the client, and to deliver the agreed-upon deliverables; these might include a written report, computer code, graphics, and/or presentations to the client's organization. The background research includes learning the client's language, learning about the problem, and stating the problem yourself. If the size of a project warrants it, a team of students may be assigned to it. All aspects of the consulting will be supervised by one of the instructors of this course as facilitator.
    • Class-related efforts:
      • Professional behavior: 5%
        This includes timeliness in client contact, appropriateness of updates to the client, etc.
      • A chronological journal: 5%
        You are required to maintain a detailed and dated journal of all consulting-related activities.
      • Regular updates to the facilitator: 5%
        Each student will give regular updates to the facilitator in class on the progress of the project. These progress reports are an excellent opportunity to ask the audience for feedback on your approach!
      • Oral presentation: 5%
        At the end of the semester, every student will present the results of his or her consulting project to the class along with a review of the experience.
    At the end of the consulting project, the facilitator will solicit feedback from the client on the experience. The grade will be assigned solely by the facilitator.

Course Description

• Get information on the project from the client and help to formulate the problem in the client's language.
• Translate the problem into the language of mathematics or statistics.
• Solve the problem efficiently and appropriately using any tools at your disposal.
• Deliver the product to the client, which may consist of a written report, an oral presentation, computer code, and/or training services.

Students will gain experience in approaching application problems and gain confidence in their ability to apply their mathematical and statistical tools. Through the regular reports to the class, students will greatly improve their oral presentation and writing skills. The course is designed with non-academic consulting in mind, but the same skills are invaluable also for students desiring academic employment. One of the many other benefits of the class include contact with clients for possible research or internship opportunities.

The course will begin with small projects assigned to teams of students by the facilitators that culminate in written reports. In the second phase, students will give individual oral presentations on various tools and techniques, For instance, advanced features of software tools or analytical techniques may be presented to the class. The second half of the semester will feature a larger consulting project working with a client from outside of the department. The deliverables of the consulting projects will be determined by the client and might consist of a written report, computer code, associated documentation, and/or training in its use. In addition to the product delivered to the client, each team will document its consulting activities to the class in an oral presentation and a brief written report that outlines and explains the methods and tools used in the project.

Mathematics students should register for Math 750, Statistics students for Stat 750. The students in this class should have background in the relevant first-year graduate courses in mathematics or statistics, respectively. The ability to use one or more professional software package effectively is essential. Students should be ready to learn more in their own fields as well as be exposed to new tools and methods by interacting with their classmates.

If you are interested in this course as a student or if you have a project to present as a potential client, please contact any of the facilitators.

Other Information

• Detailed schedule of the activities planned in class

• A brief introduction to Unix/Linux at UMBC
• An introduction to Matlab at UMBC
• An introduction to LaTeX including a sample file and a template file for project reports.
• Introduction to using MPI under Linux

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