Poisson regression is used when the output variable is a count that follows a Poisson distribution and the variance equals the mean. It can be used to model phenomena like the number of occurrences per time period, people in lines, or awards earned. Examples include modeling the number of military deaths by kicks per year, people in grocery store lines based on sales and events, and number of awards earned by students based on their program and math scores. The data described is a sample where the number of awards earned by students is the outcome variable, their math scores and program type are predictor variables.