Mastery of the principles and methods in epidemiology and biostatistics is fundamental for the investigation of and the response to challenging public health issues globally. Through this DeCal, we hope to expose undergraduates to the foundational concepts of biostatistics and epidemiology. Our goal is to broaden the perspectives of incoming freshmen and current undergraduates by exploring various public health tools and techniques. This DeCal will prepare students to undertake independent research projects, participate in formal research inquiries at UC Berkeley, and become scientifically literate public health information consumers.

In this course, we have the following outcomes:
• Describe the role epidemiology and biostatistics play in addressing public health problems.
• Describe types of variables.
• Describe commonly used epidemiologic study designs.
• Identify study designs from published studies.
• Identify and describe public health problems in terms of population, magnitude, and duration.
• Calculate measures of disease and association.
• Calculate and interpret distribution, confidence intervals, p-value.
• State hypotheses and assumptions for statistical tests.
• Perform one sample proportion z-test, chi-squared test.

We encourage all students to consider demonstrating interest and applying, especially students with little public health experience. We also welcome students from all majors who are interested in rudimentary research skills, noting that most information will be geared toward applying concepts from epidemiology and biostatistics toward public health projects. Students who have already taken PH 142 and/or PH 150A may find this DeCal preparatory and redundant, so we advise such students to evaluate their reasons for applying. However, students who intend to take these courses in the future may benefit greatly from this course. While we hope to offer this DeCal to all motivated students, we are administratively capped at 22 students. We will remain in communication with all prospective students about the status of their admittance, and we will coordinate all logistics as timely as possible. The following application form is non-binding, but we assume an intent to register in this course by those who submit a form.