Applied Mathematics, Ph.D.

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Requirements of the Ph.D. degree are:

Degree Requirements

Completing the course work.
Passing the written Master’s comprehensive examination.
Passing the written Ph.D. qualifying examination.
Passing the oral Ph.D. qualifying examination.
Admission to candidacy.
Completing residency requirements of the university.
Completing and successfully defending a doctoral dissertation.

The course work consists of passing MATH 600 and MATH 603 (exempted if able to pass the master’s comprehensive exam), MATH 611 , 4 courses listed below with at least one from each area/category:

Differential Equations: MATH 612 , MATH 614
Optimization: MATH 650 , MATH 651
Numerical Analysis: MATH 620 , MATH 630 .
Additionally, each student is required to complete a 3 credit MATH 699 (Independent Study) course in the first two years and make a presentation.

The written Master’s comprehensive examination is based on the material from MATH 600 and MATH 603 ; The written Ph.D. qualifying examination is based on two courses in one of the areas of Differential Equations, Optimization, or Numerical Analysis (see the course work description above).

The Oral Ph.D. qualifying examination:

Upon successful completion of written master’s comprehensive and PhD qualifying examinations, a student will commence advanced study under close supervision of a faculty advisor.

An oral Ph.D. qualifying examination committee of at least four members will be appointed by the graduate program director on nomination by the students advisor. Two members, besides the student’s advisor, must be from the graduate faculty, but additional members who are knowledgeable in the area of intended research may be included. The student, the advisor and the graduate program director will agree on the scope of the oral Ph.D. qualifying examination to be administered by the committee. The scope of the examination may include topics from the courses taken, research papers read, and preliminary results obtained by the student. The committee must be notified, at least two weeks in advance, of the date, time and place of the oral Ph.D. qualifying examination.

Admission to Candidacy

On receiving recommendation of the doctoral qualifying oral examination committee for admission to candidacy, the student must obtain the written consent of a graduate faculty member to act as the doctoral dissertation advisor and apply to the Graduate School for admission to doctoral candidacy. The application for admission to candidacy is made through the graduate program director, who certifies that all requirements for the doctorate except the doctoral dissertation, have been met and that the student has a doctoral dissertation advisor.

Residency Requirements

The residency requirements shall be those imposed by the university at the time of the student’s entrance to the doctoral program.

Doctoral Dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is the heart of the Ph.D. program. An acceptable dissertation will contain a significant advance in the current knowledge of applied mathematics or statistics. On completion of the dissertation in its final form, the dissertation advisor will recommend to the Graduate School, through the graduate program director, to appoint a final doctoral examining committee. The final oral defense of the dissertation will be conducted in accordance with the general Graduate School requirements.