The program offers maximum flexibility by allowing students, in consultation with their graduate committees, to design a course of study that will best develop competence in those areas most relevant to their scholarly and professional objectives. This program consists of a minimum of 30 semester credits of which at least 15 must be at the 600 level.

Students may obtain a designation on their transcripts indicating that their graduate study has emphasized one of the following graduate concentrations by completing the requirements that are listed here for that concentration. A student who has not satisfied the requirements for one of these concentrations, but who has otherwise fulfilled all the requirements for a master’s degree, will be awarded a degree of Master of Science in Mathematical Sciences without any specialization.

applied mathematics
mathematics
operations research
statistics

Note that the following courses cannot be applied to the credit requirements for the M.S. in Mathematical Sciences: STAT/SOCY 508, STAT/BIOS/EPID 543 and STAT/SOCY 608.

Curricula

Mathematics and applied mathematics concentrations
Each student will select either the thesis or non-thesis option. If a student chooses the non-thesis option, they must complete a directed research project and a comprehensive examination. If a student elects to write a thesis, the student’s adviser determines the number of credits completed in MATH 698.

Non-thesis option
Mathematical sciences (including both semesters of a 600-level sequence)	21
Mathematical sciences or allied field*	6-9
Research Seminar credits**	2-5
Directed research credits**	0-3
	______ 30

Thesis option
Mathematical sciences (including both semesters of a 600-level sequence)	18
Mathematical sciences or allied field*	6-9
Thesis credits	3 or 6
Research seminar credits**	1-3
Directed research credits**	0-3
	______ 30

* Courses selected from an allied field must be approved by the department’s Graduate Affairs Committee.
** The student who chooses the non-thesis option may receive a maximum total of four credits for MATH 690 Research Seminar and MATH 697 Directed Research. The student who chooses the thesis option usually will not take directed research, but he or she is not prohibited from doing so. In the thesis option, a total of seven credits for thesis, research seminar and directed research is the maximum credit permitted.

Statistics and operations research concentrations
Each student will complete either a thesis or an applied project. A student who chooses the thesis option has a choice of writing a research thesis or an expository thesis. A research thesis is one that, in the opinion of the student’s thesis adviser and thesis committee, contains significant original research. For this thesis, the student may count six credits of STAT 698 or OPER 698. Otherwise, a student may write an expository thesis. For this type of thesis, the student may count three credits of STAT 698 or OPER 698.

The student who elects the applied project must prepare a written report of the project and make an oral presentation; these students may count three credits of STAT 696 or OPER 696. Students cannot receive credit for both STAT/OPER 696 and STAT/OPER 698.


Mathematical sciences (including both semesters of a 600-level sequence)	18
Mathematical sciences or allied field*	6-9
Thesis or applied project credits	3 or 6
Directed research credits**	0-3
	______ 30

* Courses selected from an allied field must be approved by the department’s Graduate Affairs Committee.
** A student can receive a maximum of six credits in thesis/applied project and directed research. Hence a student who writes a six-credit thesis cannot receive any directed research credits. A student who completes a three-credit thesis or the applied project, however, may receive up to three directed research credits.