The development of new biostatistical methodology is part of the foundation of the activity of the Department of Biostatistics. Many faculty work on application-oriented methodological research related to the design and implementation of public health studies, including clinical trials, observational and retrospective epidemiologic investigations, intervention studies, and sample surveys. Many other faculty members work in general statistical methodological research areas; in fact, the ties between the Department of Biostatistics and the Department of Statistics (in the College of Arts and Sciences) have always been strong, with several faculty holding joint (or adjunct) appointments in both departments. Research areas of the faculty include general linear models, longitudinal data models, categorical data models, nonparametric methods in biometric and bioenvironmental studies, survival analysis, stochastic modeling of biometric events, Bayesian methods, spatio-temporal models, bioinformatics, missing data, computationally intensive statistical techniques, and quantitative genetics. Students interested in the particular research areas of specific faculty members should visit the faculty web pages and the list of previous doctoral dissertations, where the department's role in providing statistical methodology for biomedical research has been clearly demonstrated.