Programs Offered

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers graduate programs leading to the degrees Master of Science (M. S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Specialization can be in any of the areas of analysis, statistics, or numerical analysis.

The aim of the master's degree program is to provide a balanced foundational education in mathematical and statistical analysis, an understanding of appropriate applications of the theory, and some depth in an area of specialization. The program is designed for students who have completed an undergraduate major in mathematics or statistics. However, students with a strong record in mathematics from any other area of study will usually find their preparation to be adequate. The department believes that the applied nature of the program is enhanced by interaction with at least one other department in the Graduate School of Engineering and Management. Therefore, an application sequence taken from another department is required, and serves to help the future applied mathematician gain an appreciation for communicating with other scientists and engineers. In addition, the thesis project is invariably linked to an Air Force or defense department organization, further enhancing the student's appreciation for and experience in working with the non mathematician.

The aim of the doctoral program is to provide comprehensive knowledge of existing theory and how it applies to problems in science and engineering along with the opportunity to extend the world's knowledge significantly beyond those bounds. Being an applied program, particular emphasis is placed on educating students to recognize the relevance of analytical and numerical methods to the solution of specific problems and to enable them to develop new methods when they are needed. The education aims to produce an applied mathematician with the ability to develop new theoretical results and apply them as the need arises. Central to this goal is the research part of the program. Both the ability to conduct the research successfully and to report it in a coherent and fully documented dissertation is essential to the program. The program is kept sufficiently flexible, however, to permit students to develop their own specific interests.