Menu

Department

Statistics and Data Science

Shaping Future Talent

Shaping Future Solutions

Shaping Future Society

Prof Chan Hock Peng

Head of Department (Previous)

Prof Chan Hock Peng

Head of Department (Previous)

Prof Adrian Roellin

Head of Department
w.e.f. 1 July 2021

Prof Adrian Roellin

Head of Department
w.e.f. 1 July 2021

Menu

Statistics and Data Science

Prof Adrian Roellin

W.E.F. 1 JULY 2021

Prof Chan Hock Peng

(Previous)

Shaping Future Talent

The Department of Statistics and Data Science is committed to furthering education and research in statistics and data analytics to support industry development and the growing manpower needs in these sectors. For instance, our existing undergraduate programmes in Statistics and Data Science and Analytics are continuously adapted in line with developments in science and industry. These two programmes were also redesigned to reflect the new College of Humanities and Sciences’ enhanced focus on quantitative reasoning in an interdisciplinary context by exposing students to real-world projects throughout their studies.

Learning across disciplines

Cross-Disciplinary Programme

Data Science and Economics
More Information

From this year onwards and together with the Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, we will also offer the new Cross-Disciplinary Programme in Data Science and Economics. Apart from strong foundations in data science and economics, we place emphasis on students gaining experience in analysing economic data from financial markets, labour markets, education, health, housing and other areas. This will also help create awareness of the increasing impact data has on individuals, organisations, society and the global economic ecosystem.

Our talent of the future

Our successful Master of Science in Statistics programme has been enhanced with new applied components. This programme drew a record number of applicants, reflecting the recognition that a solid education in statistics, one of the foundational pillars of data science, remains key to the successful long-term integration of data into decision-making processes. The new cohort will have a capstone project as part of the programme to strengthen the practical aspects of data analysis.

In April 2021, we started to offer Continuing Education and Training courses under the SkillsFuture initiative. These full-day courses are available to the public as well as corporations to train their employees on the use of modern data analysis and visualisation techniques, and help enterprises unlock the potential of their otherwise overlooked data.

Shaping Future Solutions

Canonical Correlation Analysis has been one of the workhorses of statistics for many decades. The basic problem is to find relevant relations between two sets of variables, such as gene activation and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation levels, which are involved in ageing and carcinogenesis. While traditionally, it is assumed that the amount of data surpasses the number of variables considered, this is often not the case in modern applications, where the expression levels of thousands of genes can be monitored simultaneously.

Prof ZHOU Wang has made important contributions to this field in the past years by using random matrix theory to understand the statistical behaviour of the empirical correlations in the data. His results help practitioners decide whether detected relationships between variables are real or spurious. For his significant contributions to probability theory and mathematical statistics, Prof Zhou was named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2021).

Destigmatising mental health
Prof Zhou Wang

Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2021)
Department of Statistics and Data Science

Shaping Future Society

We continue to engage with existing and new government and industry partners through our Data Analytics Consulting Centre (DACC) and our sense-making modules, where students work in small teams on case studies provided by our partners.

For instance, DACC collaborates with Kantar Group through datathons, allowing us to explore new combinations of data, algorithms and solutions for transformational ideas. The development of recommendation systems is one example, where we look forward to create human-centric solutions that combine massive amounts of data and process it through new analytical engines. This enables us to provide meaningful advice to people on everyday challenges.

Using data insights to promote financial inclusion

Two of our alumnae, Charmain TAN (Statistics, 2012) and CHUA Hui Xiang (Statistics and Management, 2012) were included in the inaugural list of SG100 Women in Tech (2020) awarded by the Singapore Computer Society. This accolade celebrates women who have made important contributions to technology in Singapore.

Charmain Tan
Co-Founder and CEO
QuickDesk Pte Ltd
Chua Hui Xiang
Senior Data Scientist
Dataiku

Physics

Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

Navigate chapters
CloseMenu

Menu

CloseMenu

Box Story

Learning across disciplines

“My statistical and problem-solving skills were honed through my course of study in data science and my participation in NUS’ experiential internship programme. As data analysis is largely impacted by global events and their impact on the world economy, my decision to study economics has enhanced my skillset as a data scientist, allowing me to make meaningful inferences that refine my data solutions.”

Clarence ONG, Year 4, is reading a Major in Data Science and Analytics and a Minor in Economics. He plans to pursue a career at DSO National Laboratories.
CloseMenu

Box Story

Our talent of the future

Joel TAN (Data Science and Analytics, 2021) (left), received the NUSS Medal for Outstanding Achievement (2021) and the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal (2021) for well-rounded accomplishments in academics and leadership in co-curricular activities. He also won the Tan Siak Kew Gold Medal (2019) and SIS Sugar Award (2018).

CHENG Yifan (Statistics, 2021) (right), received the Saw Swee Hock Gold Medal (2021) which recognises outstanding students.

CloseMenu

Box Story

Destigmatising mental health

“We would like to conscientiously help students gain the courage to share their own struggles. This empowers them to build a resilient student community.”

Many students do not seek help for their mental health struggles out of a mental health stigma. Fresh Statistics graduate Wellace LEONG and his teammates from NUS Psychology sought to address this issue by co-founding a student-led initiative, SPECTRUM. This initiative seeks to boost students’ help-seeking and help-giving behaviours with a data-driven and evidence-based approach.

Students are encouraged to join SPECTRUM with their friends, and this creates “resilience groups”, a safe space for individuals to share openly about mental health to normalise such conversations. SPECTRUM won the top prize at the NUS Public Health Challenge (2020).

CloseMenu

Box Story

Credit: SG100 WIT 2021 List

Using data insights to promote financial inclusion

“I am proud to lead the consortium’s efforts in leveraging data to identify new opportunities, generate new revenue streams and offer our customers innovative products and services at the right time.”

Our alumna Dr Geraldine WONG (Statistics, 2004) enjoys interpreting patterns from data and sees herself as “part scientist, part artist who paints a story out of data.” She was recently appointed Chief Data Officer at the Grab-Singtel consortium, where she drives the bank’s data strategy and promotes data-driven financial inclusion.  

Her work is an important part of the journey to establish Singapore’s next-generation online bank, which is timely with the widespread shift to digitalisation during the pandemic. She uses artificial intelligence/machine learning technologies to unlock insights from data. This enables the bank to reach out to underserved consumers, enhance customer experiences and maintain digital trust.

Dr Wong has a keen interest to impart knowledge to the next generation. She is actively involved in mentoring programmes to encourage females to venture into technology-related fields.

Close

Shaping Future Talent

Shaping Future Solutions

Shaping Future Society

Previous
Next
CloseMenu

Box Story

New bent-toed gecko species in Timor-Leste

“We have barely scratched the surface of Timor-Leste’s biodiversity. New discoveries can have profound impacts on conservation and policy-making.”

In August 2022, we led an expedition to Timor-Leste in collaboration with Conservation International and the government of Timor-Leste. The Museum’s herpetologist, Dr CHAN Kin Onn, discovered a new species of bent-toed gecko which was named Cyrtodactylus santana, in reference to the Nino Konis Santana National Park, in which the gecko was discovered.