MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
CORVALLIS OR 97331-4605
Revised by Juha Pohjanpelto, September 2004
CHECKLIST OF
SOME REQUIREMENTS FOR GTAS AND GRAS
DEPARTMENTAL
AND INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE MASTER'S DEGREE
A. Acceptance into the Master's Program.
B. Selection of a Major Professor and Degree Committee.
D. Institutional and Departmental Course Requirements.
E. Thesis, Paper, or Examination.
HOW A MASTER'S
STUDENT ENTERS THE Ph.D. PROGRAM
REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE
A. Acceptance into the Ph.D. Program
B. Departmental Course Requirements
D. Selection of a Major Professor.
E. Formation of a Degree Committee.
H. The Oral Preliminary Examination.
K. Graduate Council Representative (G.C.R.)
GRADUATE
TEACHING ASSISTANTS AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
A. Qualifying examinations and continued support
B. Guidelines for expected academic progress:
A SYNOPSIS OF
INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
GRADUATE PERSONAL
INFORMATION SHEET
This pamphlet describes the graduate programs of the Mathematics Department at Oregon State University and provides students with a road map of the steps necessary to earn a Master's degree or Doctorate. The Mathematics Department is of moderate size with about 24 graduate faculty and 40-50 graduate students. About 40 graduate students are supported by teaching assistantships or research assistantships. The fields of the faculty are diverse but special areas of strength are algebra, analysis, applied mathematics, differential geometry, mathematics education, number theory, numerical analysis, probability, and topology. Under the Master's program one also has an option for study in financial math and in actuarial science. Areas of expertise of the faculty can be found at the end of this pamphlet, in the OSU Graduate Catalog, and in more detail on the department's web site at:
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/math/research/faculty.html
General information about Oregon State University and about the Mathematics Department is available via the home pages:
http://oregonstate.edu http://oregonstate.edu/dept/math
Specific requirements for the Master’s Degree,
the Ph.D. Degree and additional requirements for GTAs and GRAs are listed in
this pamphlet. It is the student’s responsibility to read this pamphlet and be
aware of all requirements. The following is a checklist intended to remind GTAs
and GRAs of some of the requirements.
Fall Term:
Each Term:
General Requirements:
A list of current members of the Graduate Committee is posted in the graduate student/faculty room and is available from Ellen Copeland, the department’s graduate contact person. The Graduate Committee has general oversight responsibility for the academic aspects of the graduate program. In particular, it is responsible for approving or denying petitions for changes to the normal departmental requirements for advanced degrees. The committee advises students throughout the year on any aspects of the graduate program. The Graduate Committee is responsible for advising and approving the study plans, including course work taken each year, of all graduate students in mathematics until they find major professors and file official degree programs with the graduate school. At that time, major professors and degree committees assume primary advising and approval responsibility for their students.
It is recommended that those students interested in a particular area of mathematics meet with the faculty in that area upon entering the graduate program.
Students with questions are encouraged to meet directly with individual members of the Graduate Committee or to contact the full committee via e-mail. The e-mail address gradcomm@math.orst.edu sends e-mail to members of the graduate committee. In particular, petitions to the graduate committee should be sent to this e-mail address. However, before submitting a petition, a student may wish to discuss the situation with their major professor and a member of the committee. This procedure will expedite action on the petition.
Graduate students must satisfy both departmental and institutional (general university) requirements for a particular degree program. This pamphlet describes the departmental requirements. Institutional requirements are given in the Graduate Catalog and the Graduate Student Survival Guide, both available from the Graduate School. Specific information may be obtained by calling the Graduate School at (541) 737-4881 or by visiting the web page http://oregonstate.edu/dept/grad_school/. Some of the institutional requirements are mentioned in this pamphlet. However, students are responsible for obtaining complete and up-to-date information on the current institutional requirements from the Graduate School.
In what follows some course requirements distinguish between "blanket" and "non-blanket" numbered courses. See “A Synopsis of Institutional Requirements” later in this pamphlet for the meaning of these terms.
The mathematics department faculty have designated 15 courses as core graduate courses. Core courses typically have midterm and final examinations and problem assignments. The first course of each sequence is intended to be accessible to a beginning graduate student with a standard undergraduate mathematics degree. The table below lists the core courses and the terms when they are typically offered.
|
CORE GRADUATE
COURSES |
||
|
FALL |
WINTER |
SPRING |
|
Algebra 1 |
Algebra 2 |
|
|
Applied Mathematics
1 |
Applied Mathematics
2 |
|
|
Numerical Analysis
1 |
Numerical Analysis
2 |
|
|
Topology 1 |
Topology 2 |
Geometry |
|
|
Probability 1 |
Probability 2 |
Note: Numerical Analysis III (Mth 553) may be substituted for Numerical Analysis I in requirements listed below.
All graduate students must take the 4 courses listed in boldface above, (Mth 511, 512, 611, and 543). Master’s students must take at least 4 additional courses from the core, including at least one additional two-term sequence. Ph.D. students must take at least 8 additional courses from the core, including at least 3 additional two-term sequences. More details on the requirements for the various degrees are given in the sections below.
Oregon State University offers both an MA and an MS degree in Mathematics. The essential difference between the two is that the MA has the additional requirement of second-year proficiency in a foreign language, as determined by the Graduate School. A student must complete the following steps in order to earn a Master's degree. (Check with the Graduate School directly to verify the institutional requirements and time frames for some of the steps outlined below.)
A. Acceptance into the Master's Program.
A notice of admission to the Master's Program in Mathematics comes from the University Office of Admissions. Subject to the institutional time limits, a student remains in the program as long as satisfactory progress is made toward the degree, with completion expected in two years. Occasionally, additional time may be granted upon petition to the Graduate Committee, particularly in those cases where additional undergraduate background is required.
B. Selection of a Major Professor and Degree Committee.
By the end of Spring term of the first year in residence, a student must choose a major professor from the graduate mathematics faculty. This is done by mutual agreement. The Degree Committee consists of the major professor, minor professor, and another member of the mathematics faculty. For the thesis option, a fourth (non-mathematics) faculty member is chosen from a list provided by the Graduate School.
A student and major professor develop an official degree program, subject to the institutional and departmental requirements in D below. The degree program should include one of the following:
(i) a Master's Thesis,
(ii) the non-thesis option with a Master's Expository Paper,
(iii) the non-thesis option without a Master’s Expository Paper.
A student who chooses the non-thesis option (iii) is required to earn the grade of "pass" on the Ph.D. qualifying examination and is required to take three additional core courses. The student records the chosen program on a Master's Program Form obtained from the Graduate School. The program must be approved and signed by both the major and minor professors, initialed by the Graduate Committee Chair, and finally approved and signed by the Department Chair. The Graduate School requires that a Master's program be filed before completing 18 hours of graduate credit. A student who does not file a program by the specified deadline will not be allowed to register for the following term.
D. Institutional and Departmental Course Requirements.
The Graduate School requires that a Master's degree program include at least 45 credit hours of course work of which approximately 15 hours is in a minor, which may be in mathematics. If an outside minor is chosen, a representative from the minor field must approve that portion of the Master's program.
The Department re