Executive Summary: Department of Mathematics Mission The department of mathematics is committed to excellence in its mission of research, teaching and service. It trains the next generation of researchers and future teachers of mathematics, and helps to fill the need for mathematicians in both the private and public sectors. The department provides quality instruction in mathematics to a large and varied undergraduate student population. The department offers BA and BS degrees at the undergraduate level and MA and PhD degrees at the graduate level, all in mathematics. Faculty We currently have 37 tenure-track faculty. With three faculty on phased retirement and one on a joint appointment, our FTE is 35, essentially the average over the last 10 years. In the recent NRC survey we ranked 1 st within our “peer group” and 5 th within the “AAU-16” in publications per faculty member and we ranked 2 nd within our “peer group” and 7 th within the “AAU-16” in citations. We are the smallest mathematics department in the “peer group” and the second smallest in the “AAU-16”. The mathematics department currently has 29 active grants from NSF, U.S. Army, Air Force, and Simons Foundation totaling $4.58 million as well as faculty with Co- PI/Investigator status on multidisciplinary grants that total in the millions. We have hosted several conferences in a variety of research areas and this year will host a regional meeting of the American Mathematical Society. We provide mathematics workshops at the local and national levels and sponsor statewide mathematics competitions. The mathematics department teaches the largest number of student credit hours among all departments of the university (in FY11 this was 6.5% of the KU total). We provide general education courses, technical service courses, and upper division and graduate courses for students in many fields. Mathematics enrollment increased 16% from FY02 to FY10 (with further increases this year) while there was no overall enrollment increase at KU. Recent enrollment increases have been most marked in upper division courses. Bachelor’s Degrees (BA, BS) The mathematics department offers two undergraduate degrees, a B.A. and a B.S., either of which can be obtained with honors, and a minor in mathematics. Math majors can obtain licensure for secondary teaching through the UKanTeach program. The mean number of mathematics majors per year over the past ten years is 153, with yearly totals ranging from 120 to 192. On average, 11.3% of these are minority students, and 34.4% are women. The number of mathematics Bachelor’s degrees awarded in academic year 2010-11 was 33, which is 5 more than the yearly average in the last 10 years. Based on current enrollments in courses required for our undergraduate degrees, we project a significant increase in the number of students completing Bachelor’s degrees in the next two years. Mathematics majors have won prestigious Goldwater scholarships and NSF doctoral fellowships, many have graduated with distinction or highest distinction, and our majors have the highest average ACT score on campus. Our graduates typically go on to graduate school in mathematics, statistics, or related fields, or find employment in teaching, government, and industry including actuarial science, finance, and telecommunications. Master’s Degrees (MA) Graduate students can complete a Master’s degree along the way to a PhD; other students pursue the Master’s degree as their final degree. The program includes coursework in a broad spectrum of
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Executive Summary: Department of Mathematics Mission The department of mathematics is committed to excellence in its mission of research, teaching and service. It trains the next generation of researchers and future teachers of mathematics, and helps to fill the need for mathematicians in both the private and public sectors. The department provides quality instruction in mathematics to a large and varied undergraduate student population. The department offers BA and BS degrees at the undergraduate level and MA and PhD degrees at the graduate level, all in mathematics. Faculty We currently have 37 tenure-track faculty. With three faculty on phased retirement and one on a joint appointment, our FTE is 35, essentially the average over the last 10 years. In the recent NRC survey we ranked 1st within our “peer group” and 5th within the “AAU-16” in publications per faculty member and we ranked 2nd within our “peer group” and 7th within the “AAU-16” in citations. We are the smallest mathematics department in the “peer group” and the second smallest in the “AAU-16”. The mathematics department currently has 29 active grants from NSF, U.S. Army, Air Force, and Simons Foundation totaling $4.58 million as well as faculty with Co-PI/Investigator status on multidisciplinary grants that total in the millions. We have hosted several conferences in a variety of research areas and this year will host a regional meeting of the American Mathematical Society. We provide mathematics workshops at the local and national levels and sponsor statewide mathematics competitions. The mathematics department teaches the largest number of student credit hours among all departments of the university (in FY11 this was 6.5% of the KU total). We provide general education courses, technical service courses, and upper division and graduate courses for students in many fields. Mathematics enrollment increased 16% from FY02 to FY10 (with further increases this year) while there was no overall enrollment increase at KU. Recent enrollment increases have been most marked in upper division courses. Bachelor’s Degrees (BA, BS) The mathematics department offers two undergraduate degrees, a B.A. and a B.S., either of which can be obtained with honors, and a minor in mathematics. Math majors can obtain licensure for secondary teaching through the UKanTeach program. The mean number of mathematics majors per year over the past ten years is 153, with yearly totals ranging from 120 to 192. On average, 11.3% of these are minority students, and 34.4% are women. The number of mathematics Bachelor’s degrees awarded in academic year 2010-11 was 33, which is 5 more than the yearly average in the last 10 years. Based on current enrollments in courses required for our undergraduate degrees, we project a significant increase in the number of students completing Bachelor’s degrees in the next two years. Mathematics majors have won prestigious Goldwater scholarships and NSF doctoral fellowships, many have graduated with distinction or highest distinction, and our majors have the highest average ACT score on campus. Our graduates typically go on to graduate school in mathematics, statistics, or related fields, or find employment in teaching, government, and industry including actuarial science, finance, and telecommunications. Master’s Degrees (MA) Graduate students can complete a Master’s degree along the way to a PhD; other students pursue the Master’s degree as their final degree. The program includes coursework in a broad spectrum of
pure and applied mathematics and statistics, and requires a research project or thesis. For 67 of the 98 students who completed terminal Master’s degrees since 2000, we have information on current or recent job status: 17 are in graduate school, either in a different department at KU or at another university, 23 are teaching at institutions including high schools, adult education centers, community colleges, and universities, 8 are in software development, 7 are in actuarial or insurance jobs, 4 are financial analysts, 8 are in other business, university research or government jobs. Doctoral Degrees (PhD) The PhD program is thriving and growing. In academic years 2001-02 through 2009-10, the department averaged about 27 enrolled PhD students per year with an average of three PhD degrees completed per year. In Fall 2011, 45 students are enrolled in the mathematics PhD program. In the academic year 2010-11, seven students completed the PhD degree; for 2011-12 one has already completed the degree, and at least five more are expecting to finish this academic year. The quality of graduate students has also increased; this is reflected in higher success rates in the qualifying examinations. Our graduates obtain prestigious post-doctoral positions, tenure-track academic jobs, and jobs in the financial, insurance, telecommunications and scientific industries. Changes as a Result of the Review Process The External Review Committee found a high quality of programs in the Mathematics Department. They cited our recent NRC rankings; our recent strong faculty hires; our dedication to cutting-edge scholarship; and our success in obtaining external funding. They praised us for strong mentoring of graduate students, and success in job placement for our graduates. In undergraduate studies they commended our success in the Kansas Algebra Program; the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity; increasing enrollment in upper division courses; and our service for other majors. A main concern of the External Review Committee was the climate in the department; they encouraged the department to create a more open and transparent academic environment. In spite of some areas of conflict within the mathematics department, we have been successful on many fronts as indicated above. To continue to improve our department, following some specific suggestions by the external review committee, we plan to improve communication, to provide better mentoring for junior faculty, and to develop better models for long range planning. We are working to develop more effective ways to deliver calculus instruction, exposing more first year students to senior faculty, while making the best use of graduate teaching assistants. In reviewing the undergraduate program, we are identifying ways to increase the number of majors. We are improving our graduate curriculum and have recently streamlined our graduate qualifying exam requirements. We will pursue enhanced funding for graduate students to increase the number and quality of PhD students and of women and underrepresented minorities. Overall Evaluation The KU Mathematics Department has a strong research profile and provides excellent teaching at all levels. The climate issues in the department must be effectively addressed if we are to reach our full potential. Our degree programs are strong and meet important needs at both the state and national level. An increase in faculty hiring in the next few years is needed to continue to meet and exceed our goals. We are extremely effective in carrying out our research, teaching, and service missions and make important contributions to the university, local community, state, and at the national level.
Highlights: Department of Mathematics
• Faculty members in the mathematics department have strong international reputations. This is reflected in research productivity measures in the recent NRC survey, where we ranked 1st within our “peer group” and 5th within the “AAU-16” in publications per faculty member, and 2nd within our “peer group” and 7th within the “AAU-16” in citations. The mathematics department currently has 29 active research grants from NSF and other federal and private agencies, totaling over $4.5 million.
• Mathematics faculty members have been recognized for excellence in research, teaching, and service with three having been awarded Higuchi Research Awards, five having won Kemper Teaching Awards, as well as several other university level awards. KU Math faculty members have won national awards for research, exposition or educational contributions, have been honored as fellows of professional societies, and have been elected as officers of national professional societies.
• Both the quality and the quantity of graduate students have increased in recent years; our PhD program is thriving. KU math PhD graduates have obtained prestigious post-doctoral positions, tenure-track academic jobs, and jobs in the financial, insurance, telecommunications and scientific industries.
• The Master’s program trains students for teaching jobs at high schools, adult education centers, and community colleges, software development jobs, actuarial and finance jobs, and other business, university, research and government jobs.
• Undergraduate mathematics majors have won prestigious Goldwater scholarships and NSF doctoral fellowships. Our graduates typically go on to graduate school, or take jobs in teaching, actuarial science, finance or telecommunications.
• The mathematics department teaches the largest number of student credit hours among all departments of the university. We provide general education courses, technical service courses, and upper division and graduate courses for students in many fields. While overall enrollment at KU decreased this fall, enrollment in mathematics courses increased, particularly in upper division courses.
Self-Study of the Mathematics Department
of the University of Kansas
Spring 2011
December 8, 2011
Executive summary
The department of mathematics is committed to excellence in its mission of research, teaching andservice. It trains the next generation of researchers and future teachers of mathematics, and helpsto fill the need for mathematicians in both the private and public sectors. The department providesquality instruction in mathematics to a large and varied undergraduate student body (in 2009-10,we taught over 38,000 undergraduate credit hours). The department faces a number of criticalchallenges. Perhaps the largest challenge is that its faculty is aging: of its current 36 faculty (butnote only 34 FTE), six are over 65 years of age, and another three are over 60.
The last external review of the department, in 1995-96, was so long ago that the report isconsiderably out-of-date. In this self-study, we focus on the last ten years. However, it is worthnoting some comparisons between the state of the department then and now. At that time we hadbeen left out of the latest NRC review, because not enough Ph.D.s had been given during the threeyear period of the review. This was viewed as a critical blow to the department, and steps weretaken to rectify it. That our efforts were successful can be seen by our data in the latest NRCreview, which can be viewed in Section 3 below. In 1996, the Henry J. Bischoff chair was empty;it was filled in 1999. When the Bischoff chair was filled, the department was promised 39.25 FTEas a target for the steady-state of the department, along with 4 postdoctoral positions (then calledTAP, “term assistant professor”, and now called VAP, “visiting assistant professor”). This promisehas been reiterated in writing to our department heads. Nonetheless, the closest we have come is34.5 FTE. Two long range plans were made, first in 2000, then updated in 2004, which describedin some detail the plans for growth of the department. Both are found in the appendices. We arestill trying to complete these plans.
The last ten years have been a period of significant accomplishments for the department. Ourendowment has grown to over five million dollars, allowing us to support many students and faculty.Our Ph.D. production has increased and our students are getting high quality jobs. Of our facultymembers, 25 have had outside research support over the last ten years. During the same period,many faculty in the department have won University-wide teaching or research awards.
Our long range plan of 2000 listed a set of goals for the department, namely:
• To repair the damage done by our omission from the last NRC ranking of departments. Inparticular to affirm our position among the top seventy mathematics departments in the country.
• To address the problem of retention of good faculty.
• To raise our national visibility and research profile.
• To continue to support our program in applied mathematics, while at the same time preservingour traditional strength in pure mathematics.
• To build strong research groups within the department.
• To enhance our graduate program significantly.
• To recruit faculty who are committed to our educational mission at all levels within theUniversity.
• To promote diversity in our department.
Most of these goals have not only been met, but exceeded. By virtually every yardstick, thedepartment has been significantly enhanced in the last ten years. But many challenges remain tosimply maintain what has been gained, let alone to continue building on our successes.
The principal mission of the mathematics department is to create and teach mathematics and todevelop in both mathematics students and students from other departments the capacity to useand create mathematics. This is a wide-ranging enterprise that involves:
• fostering a climate conducive to active faculty research and interaction with other departments
• enabling students to experience the value and power of mathematical reasoning
• providing for the specific mathematical needs of users of mathematics, e.g., in engineering,computer science, economics, physics, finance, education and other physical and social sciences
• developing interdisciplinary research with other units which make extensive use of mathemat-ics
• providing statewide leadership in the mathematics education of all Kansans from K-12 throughgraduate school
1.2 Chair, associate chair
The department chair (Satya Mandal) is appointed by the dean, after receiving a recommendationfrom the department based on a vote of all tenure-track and tenured faculty. The department’spolicy is that a chair will serve for at most two consecutive three-year terms, unless three-quartersof the faculty vote to approve an extension. The chair appoints the associate chair (MargaretBayer), who also serves as director of undergraduate studies. The department chair also appointscommittee chairs, assigns faculty to committees, and delegates responsibilities to individual facultymembers.
1.3 Bylaws
The mathematics department had, for a long time, a single bylaw:
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Personnel decisions (hiring, termination, promotion, and tenure) regarding professorialfaculty are to be made by a three-fourths majority of the appropriate body of votingtenure-track faculty.
We have a set of written policies, including a faculty evaluation plan approved by the mathematicsfaculty in 2005 and approved by the University provost in 2006. In May 2010, the departmentvoted to establish bylaws, including the annual faculty evaluation plan, the department grievanceprocedure, and duties and election procedure for the executive committee. These bylaws are pend-ing acceptance by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, as our faculty evaluation plan and ourguidelines for promotion and tenure are currently being revised to conform with new universitypolicies. Because they are pending, we have not included them in an appendix.
1.4 Executive committee
The executive committee consists of four elected faculty members and the department chair, who isalso the chair of the committee. Besides the chair, the current members are Purnaprajna Bangere,Tyrone Duncan, Atanas Stefanov, and Hongguo Xu. Election is by weighted voting. Membersserve two-year terms. The executive committee’s mission is to advise the chair on all issues relatingto the governance of the department and to bring matters of faculty concern to the chair’s atten-tion. In particular, the executive committee conducts faculty evaluation and makes merit raiserecommendations, and does the initial review on faculty ready to begin the promotion process.
1.5 Hiring decisions
Hiring committees are appointed by the chair for each faculty search. Interviews with candidatesfor tenure-track positions include a research lecture open to all faculty and students, and oppor-tunities for any member to meet individually with the candidate. The committee brings a hiringrecommendation to the tenure-track faculty. A decision to hire requires a three-quarters vote ofthe faculty at the meeting.
1.6 Graduate and Undergraduate Committees
The associate chair serves as director of undergraduate studies, and oversees subcommittees onelementary algebra courses, lower division courses, upper division courses and the major, honors,and mathematics education.
The chair appoints director(s) of Graduate Studies. Currently, one faculty member, MilenaStanislavova, serves as admissions director of graduate studies, and another, Dan Katz, as academicdirector of graduate studies. The academic director serves as advisor to students who have notchosen research advisors, implements the graduate studies and department procedures, and chairsthe department graduate studies committee.
1.7 Long-range planning
Long-range planning has traditionally been interpreted as hiring plans. Our last hiring plan tookeffect six years ago; all of our hiring since then has reflected its priorities. This semester we made
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offers in PDE’s and analysis. These offers were accepted. The remaining positions from the previouslong-range hiring plans are one position in algebraic geometry and two in differential geometry. Adepartmental long-range planning committee is preparing our next plan. There is no commitmentto abide by the remainder of our previous plans as we consider questions about strategic goals, thefuture of statistics, and whether or not we should establish a new area.
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Chapter 2
NRC data
In the recent NRC ranking the KU mathematics department did well overall. In Table 2.1 we com-pare the KU mathematics department with the mathematics departments at 23 “peer institutions”in different categories. In the most recent NRC survey a range of rankings was provided in severalcategories, including the regression-based overall ranking, the survey-based overall ranking, andresearch activities. In these categories we list the middle of the range of values. The following isthe list of institutions that we employed for comparisons. We first compared the schools in GroupA, then the schools from Groups A & B, and then the schools from Groups A, B, & C. KU mathranked near the middle of the pack for the regression based rankings, the survey based rankings,and research activities as compared with Groups A & B. Publications and citations are areas wherethe department fared well and the department also performed well as compared with Group C inpublications per year. In percentage of faculty with grants the KU mathematics department didnot do as well as we wished. This appears to be due to the lack of group grants and the lack ofother grants that are not sole-investigator research grants such as equipment, infrastructure, REU,etc. type grants. To some extent this appears to be due to a relative lack of proposal submissionsfor non-sole investigator/non-traditional grants. The strength in publications and citations appearsto be something that will continue to improve.
• Group A: University of Kansas, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Oklahoma, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University ofOregon, Michigan State University, Texas A & M.
• Group B: Texas Tech University, Iowa State University, University of Colorado-Boulder(math), University of Kentucky, University of Iowa, North Carolina State University, LouisianaState University, University of Pittsburgh.
• Group C: Indiana University, Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, University of Wiscon-sin, University of Texas.
From the NRC data, other notable aspects of our research profile include the following:
• Our rate of publications per faculty per year is 1.3, which is high as compared to our overallranking.
• Our average citations per publication at 0.93 is also good.
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Table 2.1: KU-math rank in NRC as compared with “peer” institutions
Category Group A (8) Groups A & B (16) Groups A & B & C (24)
Middle of regression-based Rankings 4 7 15
Middle of survey-based Rankings 5 8 15
Middle of research activities 5 6 13
Publications per faculty (2000-2006) 3 3 5
Citations 2 4 10
Percentage of faculty with grants 8 14 22
• We are perhaps the top rated public mathematics department in our program size (lowestquartile).
• Approximately 20 faculty members averaged 1 or more publications per year in the last 10years; of these, 12 averaged 2 or more publications per year in the same time period.
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Chapter 3
Faculty
3.1 Demographics and hiring
We currently have 36 tenure-track1 faculty, three of whom are on phased retirement; one facultymember has a joint appointment with the School of Education (.5 position with math department).So our tenure-track FTE is 34. This is the median FTE over the last 10 years. The three peopleon phased retirement are mandated to retire in the next five years or earlier. Table 3.1 gives thenumber of FTE each year since 2000-01.
Currently we have 23 full professors (21.5 FTE), one of whom is a distinguished professor,7 associate professors (6.5 FTE), and 6 assistant professors.
Eight tenure-track faculty members are female. Seven faculty members are originally fromChina, two from India, two from Argentina, two from Bulgaria, and one each from Taiwan, VietNam, Korea, Spain, Poland, Iran, Israel, Japan and Hungary.
For 2011-12, we hired two assistant professors (both male, one from the U.S. and one fromChina). No tenure-track professor has indicated plans to leave, giving us an anticipated FTEin 2011-12 of 36 tenure-track positions. In addition, one assistant professor will be promoted totenured associate professor.
A significant percentage of our tenure-track faculty are sixty or older. Six members are 65 orolder; another three are over 60. Thus 25% of our faculty are over 60, including 17% who are over65. More details are in Table 3.2.
Currently we have 4 three-year visiting assistant professors (VAPs), i.e., post-doc positionspartially paid for by the University, and partially by a donation. One is female; countries of originare the U.S., India, China, and Poland. The number of VAPs by year is in Table 3.3.
As can be seen in Table 3.3, the number of VAPs has fluctuated somewhat over the last ten
1Throughout this document the term “tenure-track” refers to tenured faculty, as well as to assistant professorsworking towards tenure.
years. We regard VAPs as essential to our research program, and consider four to be a minimum.
In the last ten years we have had VAPs in commutative algebra, combinatorics, dynamicalsystems, numerical methods, PDE, probability, quantum groups, set theory, and stochastic control.
In 2011-12, three of our VAPs will be leaving, and three more will be arriving, leaving the totalnumber of VAPs at 4.
3.2 Faculty distinctions
The mathematics department at Kansas has many distinguished faculty members. Two of ourfaculty have given invited talks at the International Congress of Mathematics, three have giveninvited hour addresses at American Mathematical Society (AMS) meetings, two are Fellows ofthe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), one a Fellow of the InternationalFederation of Automatic Control, and one is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.We have two former NSF postdocs among our faculty, a former Humboldt Fellow, Fulbright FacultyScholar, and one former Sloan Fellow. Three faculty have been awarded the highest State award forresearch, a Higuchi Research award, and one received a University Scholarly Achievements award, ahighly competitive university-wide award in its first year. One of our faculty won a major researchprize given by the Real Academia de Ciencia de Madrid, another won the Householder Award.Our faculty has two researchers on the ISI Web of Knowledge list of highly cited researchers; theLawrence campus has only three total on this list.
Our faculty also has distinguished itself in teaching. Among University-wide prizes for mentoringand teaching, our faculty has won five Kemper Teaching Awards, one HOPE award, two Chan-cellor Club Teaching Awards, two Graduate Mentoring awards, one ING Excellence in Teachingaward, and the Louise Byrd Graduate Educator Award. One of our faculty was twice awarded theMathematical Association of America (MAA) Allendorfer Award for outstanding exposition, andtwo have won the Louise Hay Award given by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)to an outstanding woman educator.
Several faculty have done national service at a high level: among our faculty are past presidents ofboth the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators and AWM. One faculty member currentlyserves on the executive committee of the AMS.
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3.3 Faculty research
A snapshot of the research profile by faculty member (number of publications, number of citations,etc.) can be found in appendices A through C, together with full vitae and brief descriptions offaculty research.
For decades, we thought of the department as roughly divided into the following groups: algebra,analysis, combinatorics, applied mathematics, probability and statistics, and set theory and topol-ogy. Over time some of these fields extended their focus, and as they did so developed more definedsubgroups; while, on the other hand, some of the work being done in one group might overlap withwork done in other groups. In preparing this report it became clear that new classifications wouldmore usefully chart the research interests of the department. In Table 3.4, MR categories are usedto better reflect our actual research activities.2
Some of these groups cohere (often across fields) as active research groups; others reflect commoninterests from diverse viewpoints where there is not much collaboration. A number of seminars (seebelow) both reflect and cut across these interests.
The newly hired tenure-track professors are not in this table; their respective fields are: harmonicanalysis and PDE; differential equations and dynamical systems.
The department has a regular schedule of seminars and colloquia. Although there is some yearlyvariation, the list of present seminars is representative. Currently we have seminars in algebra,analysis, combinatorics, computational and applied mathematics, probability and statistics, settheory and topology, stochastic adaptive control, and algebraic geometry and analytic numbertheory. There are also student run seminars weekly in algebra and in probability, and a facultyseminar twice a semester, in which faculty members give an overview of their research to facultyand graduate students outside their specialty.
The department also has a colloquium series. We have many visitors throughout the year,mostly short-term, with a few for longer terms. The main funding for visitors and colloquia comefrom our unrestricted endowment accounts, as well as individual grants. The endowment budgetfor colloquia has ranged from a high in 2002-03 of $16,724 to a low in 2008-09 of $6,358. Theaverage budget for colloquia over the last ten years is approximately $11,000.
The number of funded visitors (from endowment) has ranged from a high in 2004-05 of 19, toa low in several years of 11. We average about 16 visitors per year funded in this way. Individualinvestigators also bring in many visitors on their grants.
In total, over the last ten years we have spent approximately $185,000 from our endowmentaccounts for colloquium speakers and visitors.
Faculty have also run two major annual conferences during the last ten years; both are fundedby NSF: the Prairie Analysis Seminar was begun in 2001, is held annually, and alternates betweenKU and Kansas State University; KUMUNU, an algebra conference (short for Kansas University,
2There are a few exceptions to this: when a field that used to be at a top level became subsumed under anotherthat did not accurately reflect the direction of research (set theory), when two or more categories that could besubsumed into a broader category shared the same unique person (mathematical physics), and when none of theperson’s publications appeared in Math Reviews (education). Because we were looking for major interests, we onlyincluded categories in which at least 20% of a person’s publications appeared.
Systems theory, control Duncan, Pasik-Duncan, Xu 3
Information and communicationcircuits Talata 1
Education Gay 1
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Missouri University, and Nebraska University), was begun here in 2000. The first seven annualmeetings were held at KU; it is currently held in Nebraska. In March 2011 we will host a conferencein honor of David Nualart; in June 2011 we will host the BLAST conference (an annual conferencein fields related to mathematical logic), and in the spring of 2012 an AMS Regional Meeting andthe Seminar on Stochastic Processes (a major annual conference).
3.5 Interdisciplinary research
Over one third of our faculty have engaged in collaborative interdisciplinary research in the lastfew years. The disciplines represented include aerospace engineering, biology, chemical engineering,civil and environmental engineering, computer science, geology, geophysics, electrical engineering,mechanical engineering, materials science, neurology, ornithology, phylogenetics, physics, physiol-ogy, and speech and hearing. Details concerning the nature of the mathematics can be found in anappendix, in the capsule descriptions of our faculty’s research.
Several of our faculty are co-PIs on collaborative grants with researchers in the fields mentionedabove; the funding agencies include the NSF, NIH, and the University of Kansas TransportationResearch Institute. Some members of our faculty have a number of patents. Our faculty havepublished interdisciplinary research in journals outside mathematics that include Acta Materi-alia, ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, IEEE Transactions on ComputerGraphics and Applications, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Trans-actions on Networking, ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, Industrial& Engineering Chemistry Research, International Journal of Communication Systems, Integrativeand Comparative Biology, International Journal of Numerical Methods in Engineering, Journal ofthe Acoustical Society of America, Journal of Computational Physics, Journal of Electromyographyand Kinesiology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal of Physics A, Nature, Physical ReviewB, Physics Letters A, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences.
3.6 Grant Information
Obtaining external funding is an area in which the department has mixed results. In the recentNRC survey the percent of faculty with grants, the data from 2006 listed us at 41.4%. However, ofthe 35 current department faculty whose research is in mathematics, at least 25 faculty membershave obtained external funding in the last ten years. We obtained historical data from KUCR onexpenditures by year and on the number of PI/co-PIs. This is tabulated in table 3.5. F& A refersto facilities and administration funds (overhead). More detailed information on external fundingthat includes expenditures by year for individual grants is contained in an appendix.
Internal summer research grants are also available. New faculty automatically receive twomonth’s summer salary or $8000 (whichever is smaller) from the university’s General ResearchFund (GRF) in their first summer. In 2001 we had one new faculty member, in 2003 we had three,in 2006 we had three, in 2007 we had one, in 2008 we had one, and in 2009 we had two receivingsuch funding. In addition, the GRF grants summer research awards by university-wide competition.The math department’s record in the last ten years can be found in table 3.6.
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Table 3.5: Mathematics department research expendituresFiscal year Total F & A Number of faculty
The department makes a strong effort to stay connected to the rest of the university, and our facultyis active within the greater community of the university in many ways. Numerous faculty serve onmasters and Ph.D. committees for students around the university. We are active within the Centerfor Teaching Excellence.
Since 2000, our faculty have served on over 45 University committees. These include suchimportant committees as the University Tenure and Promotion Committee, CUSA (Committee onUndergraduate Studies and Advising), a Chancellor’s Science Education Task Force, the currentStrategic Planning Committee for the University, numerous University Senate committees, searchcommittees for both an assistant and associate dean, search committee for a provost, the SabbaticalCommittee, a Bioscience Initiative Course Committee, and the Faculty Senate (current president-elect, Rodolfo Torres). Many of these committees have their members elected campus-wide.
We are also well-represented in terms of committees that award undergraduates, graduates andfaculty. Our faculty have served on the Goldwater Scholarship committee, the University-wideundergraduate research award committee, graduate school committees for GTA awards and MAthesis awards, as well as dissertation fellowships, and on the Higuchi panel to select outstandingresearchers state-wide.
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3.8 Service outside the University
Department faculty members have a strong service presence both nationally and internationally.We are and have been on numerous committees of national organizations, including AWM, AMS,MAA, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the Society for Industrialand Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Both nationally and internationally we are on numerous journaleditorial boards, organize and chair conferences, are members of conference program committees,referee papers, and review papers. We are on NSF review panels and panels for other grantingagencies both within and outside the United States. A few of us are involved in Project NExT(one as a fellow; the others as mentors); one of us has been an NSF program director; one of ushas been on all of the following major committees: The AMS Executive Committee, the AMSCouncil, the committee to select the Steele Prize, and the committee to select the Cole Prize;one of us is a past president of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators; another is apast president of AWM; and one of us was a coordinator of the 48th International MathematicalOlympiad (Vietnam).
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Chapter 4
Teaching and evaluation of teaching
Currently, the mathematics department has 36 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with a count of34 FTE due to phased retirements and one joint position. Also teaching are four visiting assistantprofessors, 55 graduate students (some as teaching assistants; some who have run out the GTAclock and are hired as lecturers), and 9 lecturers who are not graduate students.
Most of our courses are 3 hours; some of the lower-division courses are 5 hours; some are 2 hours,and one (history of mathematics) is one hour.
The standard teaching load for tenured faculty is in a two-year cycle: three semesters of 4 to 6credit hours (two courses of two or three credits each; or one five credit course), and one semester of2 or 3 credit hours. Non-tenured tenure-track faculty are on a one-year cycle: 4 to 6 hours in the falland 2 or 3 in the spring. The distinguished professor has a reduced teaching load. Visiting assistantprofessors generally teach 9 hours over two semesters. Graduate teaching assistants generally teach5 or 6 hours per semester. Certain teaching duties which involve only 3 hours of classroom contactcount as full loads: very large lectures with between 500 and 750 students, and coordinating thethree-hour (“non-engineering”) first semester calculus course (this includes teaching one section).
Courses have required minimum enrollments in order to count towards the teaching load: twelvestudents for an undergraduate course, and six students for a graduate course. Occasionally thereare exceptions, for example, when a graduate course required for the PhD has only five studentsenrolled.
In addition, faculty members are expected to supervise graduate student research, organizeseminars, and give reading courses to graduate and undergraduate students. These do not counttowards their teaching load. They are expected to teach a variety of courses: lower division, upperdivision, and graduate, and are expected to teach at least some undergraduate courses outside theirspecialty.
Certain teaching duties are assigned on a rotation basis: very large lecture classes (the lowerdivision topics course that counts for the College second-level mathematics requirement; 500 - 750students); coordinating calculus classes that have many sections and common exams (this includesteaching one section); and teaching the large lecture class (180 students) of first semester non-engineering calculus.
All instructors, from lecturers to tenured professors, are required to use student surveys in all oftheir courses. Peer evaluation of faculty occurs before application for promotion and sabbaticals,and otherwise as initiated by the department or faculty member. Beginning this academic year, itis university policy that graduate teaching assistants be observed every year.
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The department recognizes excellence in teaching with awards for both students and faculty.Student teaching awards are the Florence Black Award for Excellent in Teaching, and the KAPOutstanding Assistant Award. Faculty teaching awards are the G. Baley Price Award for Excellencein Teaching, and the Max Wells Teaching Award.
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Chapter 5
Graduate studies
5.1 Outline of the program
We have an MA program and a PhD program. The PhD program has two tracks, pure and applied.
There are three methods to complete the MA degree: 1. Pass the three qualifying examinationsrequired for the PhD and complete a sufficient number of advanced courses; 2. complete 30 hoursof courses (some of them specified) and complete a research component; 3. complete 36 hours ofcourses (some of them specified) and complete a research component. Details can be found in anappendix.
To complete the PhD program, a student must pass three written qualifying examinations,3
pass a written preliminary examination, an oral comprehensive examination, and, of course, writea thesis and defend it. In addition, certain courses are required, with one list for the pure trackand another for the applied track. The University adds a research skills requirement. Details onthese requirements can be found in an appendix.
There is some interest in changing the PhD program, especially the qualifying exam system andthe research skills requirement. Last year an ad hoc committee wrote a fairly detailed report, andthis year the graduate committee is considering what changes, if any, to recommend to the faculty.A change in the research skills requirement, with a University-mandated responsible scholarshipcomponent, was approved by the department and has been forwarded to the Dean. The ad hoccommittee’s report can be found in an appendix.
5.2 Profile
Currently, 73 graduate students are enrolled.
Of these 73 students, 64 are men and 9 are women. 38 are from the U.S. and, of the remaining35, 21 are from China, 3 from Turkey, 2 from India, and one each from Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,Poland, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, and Cyprus.
Of these 73 students, 26 have passed the qualifying exam: 8 students have completed quals,another 13 have also completed prelims, and another 5 have also completed orals. 22 of thesestudents have firm commitments to advisors, and there are 15 faculty advising these students.
3one in analysis, one in algebra, and one either in numerical analysis or in probability and statistics
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Of these 73 students, 11 were admitted for an MA, 24 for a PhD, one is non-degree-seeking, and37 were admitted under M/P status: M/P means that a student can get either an MA or a PhDor both without bureaucratic hurdles. The M/P status makes it difficult to know which enteringstudents are serious about getting a PhD, so we can’t really track attrition from the PhD program.4
For example, of the 99 students who completed applications for graduate admission in Fall 2010,87 said they wanted a PhD; only three of the students admitted said that their goal was an MA.Of those 99 applicants, 6 withdrew their applications; we admitted 34; and 18 enrolled.
The institutions these students attended previously are quite varied, from small colleges to largeresearch institutions; many of the international students have degrees from their home countries;and two of our graduate students have PhDs in other fields.
5.3 Support
The standard graduate student teaching assistant (GTA) stipend has increased from roughly$12, 000 in 2000 to over $18, 000 in 2010. In recent years we have had 3 to 8 graduate researchassistantships (GRAs) per year in the department that are funded by faculty members’ externalgrants. We have had a limited number of graduate students supported by internally and exter-nally funded fellowships. These are detailed in graduate student accomplishments, section 6.9. Wecurrently have one NSF GK-12 Fellow.
5.4 Enrollment in graduate courses
Enrollment in graduate courses has doubled in the past ten years. Table 5.1 shows enrollmentin graduate courses (numbered 700 and above) from Fall 2000 to the present. Not included areenrollments in reading courses and thesis credits. Some of the enrollments in these courses are byundergraduates; some graduate student enrollments are in 600-level courses, not included here.
Table 5.1: Fall 2000–10 enrollment in graduate mathematics courses
The department has been able to provide summer support essentially to every graduate studentwho has passed the quals. Most of the students have received a summer scholarship from thedepartment using endowment funds (see Table 5.2). Some faculty members supported post-qualstudents during the summer using their NSF grants (see Table 5.3). And in 2010 one of our studentsreceived a KU Summer Fellowship.
4or, for that matter, from the masters program.
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Table 5.2: 2000-01 department graduate summer scholarships
Table 5.3: Summer scholarships funded by faculty grants
Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Number of Scholarships 2 2 4 2 2 4
5.6 Recruitment
Efforts to recruit graduate students in the last ten years include
• Participation in graduate recruiting fairs at the national level (joint AMS/MAA meetings,Kansas MAA meetings, SACNAS meetings, MSRI meetings, workshops,...). Since 2008, KUhas set up a graduate recruiting table at the AMS/MAA joint meetings.
• Personal connections. These include contact with KU graduates, and contact with colleagues(for instance, the topology connection has resulted in a number of students from Miami Uni-versity). Our successful senior graduate students constitute an excellent channel to advertiseour program.
• Mailing letters to successful undergraduate students encouraging them to apply to our pro-gram.
• Disseminating information (poster, web page,...).
University policies on graduate teaching assistantships hamper our recruiting efforts.
Current policy is that a graduate student can have an appointment as a graduate teaching assis-tant (GTA) for at most ten semesters. This limit is in effect even if a student changes departments,or leaves with a master’s degree and later returns for a PhD. The offices of graduate studies andof human resources have changed this as of fall 2011 to extend the number of semesters for GTAsupport to twelve for PhD students who enter without a master’s degree, and to restrict master’sstudents to six semesters GTA support, whether or not they are continuing for a PhD. The newpolicy will benefit many of our students.
Some policies pose particular difficulties for recruiting international graduate students. GTApositions cannot be used solely for grading work; GTAs must teach in the classroom. Beyond theEnglish language requirements for admission to the university, in order to be assigned as a GTA, an
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international graduate student must get a score of 24 on the Test of English as a Foreign LanguageInternet Based Test (TOEFL iBT), spoken English component, or a score of 50 on the SpeakingProficiency English Assessment Kit (SPEAK) administered at KU. The student must also pass aninterview with three faculty and students.
No university funds for research assistantships or other nonteaching support for graduate stu-dents are available. Thus, a prospective graduate student who has not achieved the test scoresabove can come to KU only with external support.
5.7 Masters data
The number of masters degrees awarded since 2000 is shown in Table 5.4. These 107 studentsinclude both those getting terminal masters degrees and those getting masters degrees on the wayto the Ph.D. (generally by passing the qualifying exams). Approximately 80% of the mastersdegrees counted are terminal masters.
Table 5.4: 2000–09 Masters degrees awarded
Year 00–01 01–02 02–03 03–04 04–05 05–06 06–07 07–08 08–09
Number of MAs 12 7 10 12 17 9 12 17 11
The average time to degree for those who are getting a terminal masters degree ranges from 2to 7 years with a mean of 3.2. The outliers (5 or more years) were generally students who werepursuing degrees in other departments at the same time, or students who took some time off on theway to the masters degree. Table 5.5 shows the distribution of time to degree for students receivingmasters degrees from the 1999–2000 academic year to the 2009-2010 academic year.
Table 5.5: Time to Masters degrees
Years to degree 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5–7
Number of MAs 20 6 38 7 12 5 3 4
Table 28 (in the appendices) contains information on the number of MA students for each facultymember.
Twenty-four students left the mathematics graduate program without completing the mastersdegree. Of these 13 were enrolled for only one or two semesters. The remaining 11 were enrolledfor 4 to 15 semesters. Of this group of 11, 7 completed all the course requirements for the mastersdegree (with qualifying GPA), but did not complete the masters research component. Of thoseseven, 5 received a graduate degree in another department. Another three left with GPAs toolow to receive a degree. One student in good standing moved to a different department after foursemesters in mathematics, without completing the course requirements for the masters in math.
For 67 of the 98 students who completed terminal masters degrees since 2000, we have informa-tion on current or recent job status.
• 17 are in graduate school, either in a different department at KU or at another university
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• 23 are teaching at institutions including high schools, adult education centers, communitycolleges, and universities, with titles ranging from high school teacher to adjunct instructorto associate professor
• 8 are in software or other computer jobs
• 7 are in actuarial or other insurance jobs
• 4 are financial analysts
• 8 are in other business, university research or government jobs
5.8 Ph.D. data
Since the academic year 2000-2001 a total of 33 students have received the PhD degree from thedepartment of mathematics.5 Table 5.6 provides the number of students that have graduated eachyear. The average number of students per year in the last 10 years is 3.3 and the distribution ofthese PhDs among research areas is as follows: algebra: 12, analysis: 7, topology: 4, stochasticcontrol: 4, statistics: 2, probability: 1, numerical analysis: 3.
The average time to degree ranges from 1.5 year to 13.5 years, with a mean of 6.9 years. Therewere two outliers who finished in 1.5 and 2 years, respectively, because they were transferred fromPurdue University, and there were 3 students who required 10 or more years to complete the PhDdegree. Table 5.7 shows the distribution of the time to degree for students receiving the PhD degreefrom 2001 until 2010.
Table 5.7: Time to PhD degrees
Years to degree 1-2 2.5-3 3.5-4 4.5-5 5.5-6 6.5-7 7.5-8 8.5-9 ≥ 9.5
No. of PhD 1 2 3 5 4 8 1 2 7
Table 28 (in the appendices) contains information on the number of PhD students for eachfaculty member.
After graduation most of our students obtained jobs in academic institutions. Table 5.8 givesthe distribution of the first and current jobs for all the 34 students that graduated during the lastten years.
The detailed description of these jobs is as follows:
• First job after graduation:
5The data in this section is from academic years 2000/01 to 2009/10. We are not including PhD’s from 2010/11.
– Tenure-track assistant professor: Dayton (OH), D’Youville College, Benedictine College(KS) (2), Universidad del Este (Puerto Rico), Elon (NC), South Dakota School of Minesand Technology. Total: 7.
– Teaching position: Lecturer at KU, New York City Dept. of Education. Total: 2
– Research assistant KU: 1
– Research grant coordinator KU: 1
– Companies: Bank of America, KBC Financial Products, Abbott Laboratories, Sprin).Total: 4.
– Tenure-track assistant professor: Virginia Commonwealth, California Lutheran, Day-ton (OH), Benedictine College (KS), Universidad del Este (Puerto Rico), Elon (NC),Missouri Western State, Fairfield, Purdue, Baker, Georgia State, U. Illinois at UrbanaChampagne, North Dakota State, West Chester University. Total: 14.
– Associate professor: Kansas State, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, West-ern Washington, Nebraska. Total: 4.
– Teaching position (Lecturer at KU, New York City Dept. of Education. Total: 3
– Research assistant KU: 1
– Companies: Bank of America, KBC Financial Products, Abbott Laboratories, WilshireAssociates, Sprint. Total: 5.
– Actuarial sciences student. Total: 1.
5.9 Accomplishments
The department internally recognizes outstanding graduate research with three awards: the JohnBunce Memorial Award, the Ralph Byers Student Award, and the Paul F. Conrad GraduateScholarship. In addition, a number of our students have received prestigious research awardsfrom the University: one University Summer Research Fellowship, one Self Fellowship, and one
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University Dissertation Fellowship. And one of our graduates received national recognition as anNSF Postdoctoral Fellow.
Our advanced graduate students regularly publish papers and attend conferences. A MathSciNetsearch found that 25 KU math graduate students published 42 papers between 2002 and 2010,broken down by year in Table 5.9
Table 5.9: Graduate student publications
year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
number 5 2 3 5 4 4 5 8 6
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Chapter 6
Undergraduate studies
6.1 Descriptions of degrees
The mathematics department offers two undergraduate degrees, a B.A. and a B.S., either of whichcan be obtained with honors. The general education requirements for the B.A. are set by the Collegeof Liberal Arts and Sciences. The general education requirements for the B.S. are determined bythe mathematics department. Both degrees require a 10 credit calculus sequence, vector calculus,and elementary linear algebra.
The B.A. requires an additional 15 credits (5 courses), including one analysis course, one linearalgebra course, and one two-semester sequence from an approved list. Many students in thisprogram are double majors or are pursuing teaching licensure through the UKanTeach program.
The B.S. requires a course in differential equations, plus 24 credits of upper division mathematicscourses, including a course each in analysis, linear algebra, abstract algebra, and statistics, and twotwo-semester sequences from approved lists. Students are also required to complete three upper-division courses in applied mathematics and related fields from an approved list, which often requiresprerequisites in these fields. These courses are most often in statistics, business and economics,engineering and physics.
Students in the College, the School of Engineering and the School of Business can also earn aminor in mathematics by taking the calculus sequence, elementary linear algebra, and four upperdivision mathematics courses.
Complete degree requirements can be found in an appendix.
6.2 Advising
The College employs an advising specialist, Lindsey Deaver, assigned full-time to the mathematicsdepartment. This person divides her time between work with the Kansas Algebra Program (KAP)and advising for lower division students enrolling in mathematics courses. She is the primarymathematics advisor for new student orientation, and deals with most enrollment problems. Shealso helps the associate chair evaluate transfer courses. A subcommittee of six faculty members isresponsible for advising undergraduate mathematics majors, although students are encouraged toconsult any member of the faculty. A web-based advising sign-up system for enrollment advisingaccommodates about 50 math majors per semester, but many students make advising appointments
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outside this system. These advisors also meet throughout the year with high school students andtheir parents visiting campus.
6.3 Math major demographics
The mean number of mathematics majors per year over the past ten years is 153, with yearly totalsranging from 120 to 1925. On average, 11.3% of these are minority students, and 34.4% are women.The mean number of mathematics bachelor’s degrees awarded per year over the nine years from2000 - 01 through 2008 - 09 is 28.3. On average, 9.5% of these are awarded to minority students,and 34.4% to women. The mean time to degree is 5.0 years.
6.4 Honors program
Undergraduate mathematics students can earn honors in three different ways. The Universityawards graduation with distinction to the top 10% of the students, determined by grade pointaverage; the top third of this group is awarded graduation with highest distinction. Studentsgraduate from the University Honors Program if they maintain at least a 3.25 GPA and completeprogram requirements, including designated honors courses. Departmental honors are awarded tostudents who have taken a set of 700-level (graduate) courses, meet grade requirements, and do anoral presentation of an honors project.
In the past three years, 14 mathematics students graduated with distinction or highest dis-tinction, 10 graduated from the University Honors Program, and 3 were awarded departmentalhonors in mathematics. Most of these honors graduates are currently pursuing graduate studies inmathematics and science.
We offer the following honors classes on a regular basis: Math 141 (Calculus I), Math 142(Calculus II), Math 221 (Ordinary differential equations), Math 243 (Calculus III), Math 291(Linear algebra). These courses both challenge our best students and provide a way to help fulfillthe KU Honors program requirements.
6.5 Undergraduate accomplishments
Several faculty have had many REU students or have worked closely with undergraduates duringthe summer. This commitment by our faculty perhaps can be measured best by the success ofour undergraduates in the number of Goldwater Scholarships and NSF Doctoral Fellowships wonby them. Since 2000, departmental majors have won 12 Goldwater Scholarships. Even moreremarkable is our success in undergraduates obtaining coveted NSF Doctoral Fellowships. Since2002, three of our students have received NSF Doctoral Fellowships in Mathematics. To put thisin perspective, among all large public universities, since 2002, only five have received more awards:UC Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, UCLA, and Georgia Tech. Noother university has received more than two, except for Kansas. Three more of our majors wereawarded NSF Graduate Fellowships in areas other than mathematics.
5Thanks to KU Institutional Research & Planning for this data.
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Table 6.1: Fall 2006–10 undergraduate mathematics enrollments
Course Level KAP Gen ed, Calculus Sophomore Upper TotalNoncalc Division
Fall 06 2200 1390 2326 519 264 6699
Fall 07 2178 1408 2176 583 275 6620
Fall 08 2241 1526 2588 539 289 7183
Fall 09 2052 1517 2433 565 306 6873
Fall 10 1987 1514 2372 663 392 6928
6.6 Undergraduate enrollment
Total undergraduate enrollment in mathematics courses has increased over the last ten years;undergraduate credit hours in the two academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10 is 10.8% higher thanin the two academic years, 2001-02 and 2002-03. For academic year 2009-10, the mathematicsdepartment had 38,261 undergraduate credit hours, of which 34,898 were in lower division coursesand 3363 in upper division courses (including Elementary Statistics).
Table 6.1 gives a more detailed breakdown of enrollments. To explain its terminology: KAPrefers to the Kansas Algebra Program, including the courses Math 002 Intermediate Mathematics(credit does not count towards degrees) and Math 101 College Algebra. Gen Ed, Noncalc refersto trigonometry, precalculus, mathematics for elementary school teachers, Topics in Mathematics(which fulfills a College general education requirement), and Elementary Statistics (not calculus-based). Calculus includes the 3-hour and the 5-hour calculus courses and their honors sections.Sophomore refers to vector calculus, elementary linear algebra, and differential equations. Upperdivision is all courses numbered 300 and above except Elementary Statistics. Table 6.1 shows hownumber of enrollments has varied over the past five fall semesters. Sophomore and upper divisionenrollments have increased significantly. Table 6.2 shows enrollments and credit hour productionin the 2009–10 academic year.
In the KAP program, class sizes are generally kept to 24 and under. Most other 100-level courseshave classes of 30 to 40 students. The exceptions are one lecture (180 students) each semester ofMath 115 (3-credit calculus) and one very large lecture each semester of the liberal arts Math 105Topics in Mathematics (up to 750 students). Elementary statistics, applied differential equations,and elementary linear algebra have class sizes ranging from 40 to 70, and they are likely to getlarger in the future. Upper division courses generally have class sizes below 40, but recent demandfrom other departments for analysis, linear algebra and statistics courses has pushed on that upperbound. We have been told to expect marked increases in the courses for future high school teachers(Math 409 Geometry and 410 History) in the next year or so.
6.7 KAP
Almost all students at the University must take mathematics at least through college algebra. (Theexceptions are some Fine Arts and Music degrees.) In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,all students (except BFA students) must take a course beyond college algebra. In recent years1100–1200 students per year have taken intermediate algebra in preparation for college algebra.
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Table 6.2: 2009–10 Undergraduate mathematics enrollments and credit hours
Course Level KAP Gen ed, Calculus Sophomore Upper TotalNoncalc Division
Fall 09Enrollments 2052 1517 2433 565 306 6873
Fall 09Credit Hours 6156 5237 8959 1438 918 22708
Spring 10Enrollments 996 991 1893 479 416 4775
Spring 10Credit hours 2988 3229 6989 1195 1152 15553
Total 2009–10Enrollments 3048 2508 4326 1044 722 11648
Total 2009–10Credit hours 9144 8466 15948 2633 2070 38261
Credit for intermediate algebra does not count towards any degree. Students are placed in collegealgebra with an ACT score of 22–25, and in intermediate algebra with an ACT score below 22.
Over 3000 students per year take Math 002 Intermediate Mathematics and Math 101 CollegeAlgebra. Together these make up KAP: the Kansas Algebra Program. The courses are tightlycoordinated by KAP’s professional director, Dr. Ingrid Peterson. The director and assistant di-rector train a staff of 80 to 90 lecturers, graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate teachingassistants. These employees run class meetings, staff a tutoring room open 64 hours per week,grade homework and grade exams. The classes meet in sections of about 22 students.
Exams are administered outside of class in a testing center; they are individually computergenerated. A small portion of each test is in multiple choice format; most of the problems requirestudents to show complete solutions. Exams are graded by hand by the staff, using detailed gradingguides. There is some opportunity for students to retake exams to improve their scores; this is morelimited in college algebra.
The University allows students to enroll in a course if they have a D in the prerequisite course.Students are encouraged to repeat a course in which they have earned a D, however, and forlower division courses the second grade replaces the first in the computation of the GPA. Studentscan withdraw from a course during the first two-thirds of the semester; a W does not figure intothe GPA. The following table shows the distribution of grades in KAP courses last year. Thesepercentages vary from year to year, of course, but these are fairly typical, and there is no significantchange over the last ten years.
6.8 Scholarships
The department offers two type of scholarships every year - for new students and for returningstudents. On average, we distribute 15 new student scholarships and 15 for returning students.The amount (over the last 10 years) ranges between $300 and $500 for the new students (mean of$400) and between $700 and $1300 for returning students. Over the last ten years we have awarded
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Table 6.3: Grades in Math 002 and Math 101, 2009–2010
002 Fall 002 Spring 101 Fall 101 Spring
A/B/C 57% 44% 61% 60%
D 11% 19% 16% 12%
F/W 32% 37% 23% 28%
Enrollment 878 224 1176 774
nearly $200,000 dollars in scholarship money. The source of this money is typically from those KUendowment funds which are specifically designated for undergraduate scholarships. See table 6.4.
The mathematics department supports a number of activities for motivated students - both majorsand non-majors.
Every fall, we organize informal preparation sessions for the Putnam math competition. Theseare taught by faculty members, with various areas of specializations. In the past ten years, we havebeen ranked three times in the top 50 teams (with a peak ranking of 27th in 2004). Several of ourstudents have placed in the top 200 individually.
We have an active AWM student chapter that meets monthly. Its members are both undergrad-uate and graduate students, with faculty advisor Bozenna Pasik-Duncan. AWM meetings featuremostly women speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, both within mathematics and outside it,and some of their meetings (for example, when Chancellor Bernadette Grey-Little spoke, or whenDonna Ginthner spoke on barriers to women in science) attract faculty as well as students. AWMchapter activities for the last two academic years can be found in an appendix.
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We also have an active math club for undergraduates, which meets weekly. Its advisor is EstelaGavosto, and it too has a wide range of programs. Many of its speakers are successful KU graduates(both from our undergraduate and our graduate programs) who speak about their work. Math clubactivities for the last two years can be found in an appendix.
Two faculty members coordinate the Kansas Collegiate Math competition. This is co-sponsoredby KU and Kansas State mathematics departments and is a statewide math competition for talentedundergraduates. In addition, the department sponsors an internal problem-solving contest, the KUMath Competition.
6.10 UKanTeach
Students wishing to teach secondary school mathematics were previously in a five-year program inthe School of Education, where their mathematics course requirements were similar to those for theB.A. in mathematics. The secondary mathematics licensure program has moved to the College ofLiberal Arts and Sciences. It is modeled after the UTeach program at the University of Texas, iscalled UKanTeach, and includes science education as well as mathematics. For UKanTeach math-ematics certification, students have requirements for pedagogy courses and specific mathematicscourse requirements, which form a substantial subset of the mathematics B.A. requirements. Stu-dents will generally complete these requirements while earning a B.A. or B.S. in mathematics, butit is possible to do it with another major and a minor in mathematics. Due to constraints onthe number of hours, some courses, such as abstract algebra, which were required in the Schoolof Education program, are now optional. The UKanTeach program graduated its first student in2009. So far five students have completed the UKanTeach program in mathematics. Currently 86students are in the UKanTeach mathematics program at all stages. (This includes students takingthe first, 1 credit, exploratory course.) The complete requirements for UKanTeach certification arein an appendix.
6.11 Issues
It appears that our B.S. degree requirements allow less flexibility than is common in undergraduatemathematics programs. In particular, the requirement for three advanced courses to form an appliedconcentration sometimes burdens students with courses that are not relevant to their goals, andmay not accomplish the stated goal of exposing them to serious applications of mathematics. Inaddition the requirement for two two-semester sequences, intended to ensure depth, leads studentsto course choices that may not accomplish the goal. This has recently become a bigger issue, asUKanTeach students sometimes choose a course (e.g., time series analysis) that may be of lessvalue for the future teacher, instead of a more relevant course (such as nonEuclidean geometry).We would like to find the right balance to maintain depth in the program and expose students ina meaningful way to applications of mathematics.
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Chapter 7
Outreach
7.1 To K-12 students
A KU faculty member is the state coordinator for the Math Kangaroo competition for K-12 stu-dents.
Over the years, a number of KU faculty (sometimes aided by graduate students) have runand organized math clubs in three local junior high schools (two of them still running) and twoelementary schools (one of them still running). A faculty member has been involved in the DukeTIP program, and MathCamp.
7.2 General outreach
Our vibrant Mathematics Awareness Month program, over a dozen years old, reaches out to severalpopulations through a number of activities:
• a public talk to a general audience (last year’s speaker was the eminent baseball analyst BillJames)
• a statewide math competition on three levels, grades 3 through 12
• workshops for local elementary school children (which involve faculty and both graduate andundergraduate students)
Faculty members have spoken at high schools in Kansas and California, given general lecturesto undergraduates throughout the United States (and Spain and Argentina), addressed audiencesof teachers (both in the U.S. and in Argentina), given general lectures to professionals in otherareas (not only in the U.S., but internationally, including in China, Japan and South Africa), beeninvolved in K-12 education on state and national levels, and organized conferences and workshopsinvolving teachers, professionals. and students sponsored by various organizations, including NSF,and the American Control Conference and the Conference on Decision and Control. One of ourfaculty members has been very active in diversity outreach within the university: she establishedTreisman programs, and currently is associate director of the Office for Diversity in Science Training.
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Chapter 8
Resources
8.1 Staff
The mathematics department has seven permanent, non-faculty staff. Clerical and administrativework is handled by a team of four university support staff in the department office, headed by GloriaProthe, the office manager. The reception desk is staffed primarily by students. There are twounclassified6 professional staff: a full time systems administrator, Justin Graham, who maintainsthe department’s network and over 125 computers in offices and labs, and a full-time director, Dr.Ingrid Peterson, of the Kansas Algebra Program. In addition, a full-time advisor for lower divisionmathematics courses, Lindsey Deaver, is paid by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
8.2 Endowment
Endowment funds are an important financial resource for the mathematics department. The de-partment has been very fortunate to have alumni who believe in the mission of the mathematicsdepartment, and believe in the faculty as well. We have been relatively well supported within KUEndowment for decades, but mathematics endowment funds greatly increased under Jack Porter,our previous chair, who played a key role in cultivating and informing recent major donors aboutthe opportunities to support, and the needs of, the mathematics department. As of August 2010we had $5,709,260 in 29 funds dedicated to the exclusive use of the department, with a spendablebalance for this fiscal year of $351,735. These funds are used for undergraduate scholarships, grad-uate student summer support, faculty teaching awards, an endowed professorship, supplement tovisiting assistant professor salaries, travel support for both faculty and students, support for col-loquium/seminar speakers and other visiting scholars, hospitality, prizes for department sponsoredmath competitions, outreach activities, KU Math Club, KU Student Chapter of the Associationfor Women in Mathematics, department banquets, support for department hosted conferences, andother activities that would not be possible without the use of unrestricted funds. Their use inscholarships and summer support has already been documented. Table 8.1 documents their otheruses.
7. Endowment funds were not needed in years when other funds fully supported faculty travel
8. This is the Wells teaching award, which became available in 2003 and did not have enough funds for an awardin 2009.
9. Until 2003 this was generously provided by a faculty grant; from 2003 to 2007 it came from money earnedfrom selling student handbooks for KAP courses.
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8.2.1 Endowed professorships
The department has one current endowed professorship, the Bischoff Professorship (currently heldby Craig Huneke). For many years this was our only endowed professorship, but we soon willhave another, the Florence Black and Wealthy Babcock Professorship in Mathematics. This wasendowed by Martha Peterson, who passed away in July of 2006. In March 2003, she gave $521,000to start the endowment for this professorship. In May 2009, her estate was settled and another$1,149,000 was added to this professorship. As of March, 2010, there was approximately $1,770,000in the endowment. The state of Kansas also “matches” the spendable balance. This matching isnot one-to-one, but as of October, 2010, $95,000 had accumulated in the matching funds. Thedepartment is currently negotiating with the dean concerning the search to fill this distinguishedprofessorship. As one of the terms of the bequest, the holder must have a significant interest inand record of distinguished teaching.
Two more pending endowed professorships are the G. Baley Price Professorship in Mathematics,still in the estate of the McMillen family, and the Stouffer Professorship of Mathematics. TheStouffer Professorship was endowed over 25 years ago with a small initial sum. Its funds are in theKU Endowment account, and must increase before they can be used.
8.3 Budget
8.3.1 Operating expenses
The majority of office/classroom supplies, telephone equipment and long distance charges, readingroom subscriptions, advertising, membership dues, and other expenses come from an annual allo-cation from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The past four years the allocation has been$114,291. For academic year 2010-11 the allocation has been reduced to $108,576. The departmentgenerates a net income of approximately $10,000 from the sale of Math 002/101 student hand-books. These funds have been used to enhance classrooms, purchase office furniture, and to helpcover other operating expenses.
8.3.2 Travel funds
The department receives a 4% facilities and administration return on grants which is used primarilyfor travel to conferences.
Other travel funding for faculty comes from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty Travelfund and, for graduate students, the Office of Graduate Studies makes awards from the GraduateScholarly Presentation Travel (GSPT) fund to those who present a paper at a national or regionalmeeting. The department also uses endowment funds to help cover travel costs of both facultyand graduate students. In addition, Facilities and Administration (F & A) funds from grants areused to support faculty travel for faculty without grants. Information about College and Universitytravel funding can be found in tables 8.2 and 8.3.
8.3.3 Instructional Technology funds
These funds have been allocated to us from the College since at least 1998; Table 8.4 gives thelevels for the last six years. The funds are collected through a student fee that was authorized
The extra funds in 2006-07 and 2007-08 were used to purchase computers for student use and,in 2006-07, for our Mathematica license. The sharp drop in funding for the current academicyear will be partially compensated for by College funding of MATLAB and Maple. The drop ispartially explained by the College decision to fund a significant portion of their technology budgetby competitive applications from departments. We hope a significant portion of our applicationwill be successful.
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8.3.4 Summer session funds
The College requires summer course tuition to cover instructor salaries. In the past, the Collegewould give back a portion of the funds to departments, but starting in 2008, when the legislaturebegan cutting university funds, we no longer received them.
8.3.5 Salaries
The bulk of the department’s budget goes to salaries. The figures for the last two years are inTable 8.5.
Finally, table 8.6 gives data on the 2009-10 faculty salaries, compared to AMS statistics for 2009-10. We are clearly competitive at the lower ranks, but at the full professor level we are substantiallylower than the national average. Note that we are in the second year of a University-wide salaryfreeze.
Table 8.6: Faculty salary ranges (in thousands)
KU AMS data
Assistant professorsLower bound/Q1 69 65.4
Q2 73 69.7Upper bound/Q3 75 74.1
Associate professorsLower bound/Q1 73 68.5
Q2 76 74.2Upper bound/Q3 91 83
Full professorsQ1 83.5 87.2Q2 88 101.6Q3 118 121.6
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8.4 Space
The mathematics department is primarily housed in Snow Hall on the first, third, fourth, fifthand sixth floors, with approximately 19,800 square feet dedicated to offices, conference/seminarrooms, computer labs, study areas, and the department’s reading room. Eighty-eight offices areassigned this year to 40 faculty, 15 lecturers, 53 GTAs/GRAs, 6 administrative staff, 6 emeritusfaculty, and 9 long-term visitors. Faculty and staff have private offices. Retired faculty sharetwo offices with invited speakers and short-term visiting scholars. Graduate teaching/researchassistants share 2-4 person offices. Non-supported graduate students use the study space in thereading room. Undergraduate teaching assistants keep hours in the three consulting rooms. Inaddition, a machine room (shared with the Department of Electrical Engineering and ComputerScience) houses the department’s servers, 8-node computing cluster and two stand alone researchsystems. The department has also loaned three offices to the College, to the Economics departmentand to staff of the IMSD (Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity) program.
The Kansas Algebra Program (KAP) is housed on the third floor of Strong Hall with approxi-mately 4,700 square feet dedicated for offices for the director and assistant director, a help room,testing room, computer lab, and workroom for grading. These spaces were recently remodeled withfunds provided by the College and the department. In addition, four classrooms on the third floorof Strong are assigned to KAP.
The department has the use of 20 classrooms throughout campus. Eight of these classroomsare located in Snow Hall: five that seat 20 to 45 and three rooms that are used for seminars andgraduate courses. Some of our assigned classrooms are media equipped classrooms. Nine classroomsin Strong Hall are used for the KAP program, but we have had to schedule some non-KAP coursesin them as well. An additional three classrooms in Snow Hall are assigned for use as consultingrooms for help in precalculus, calculus, and non-calculus based statistics courses. In Fall 2011 wewill have the use of an additional 80-seat classroom in Snow.
8.5 Library
Mathematics materials are held in the Anschutz Library. As with many (probably most) mathe-matics research departments, between 1990 and 2000 the library was forced, for financial reasons,to cancel a large number of journals. In the last ten years, partly due to electronic resources, wehave significantly increased our access to math serials, although there has been a small decline inbook purchases. In the last few years, with the advent of electronic subscriptions and materials,there was an abrupt change in the way mathematics holdings were purchased by the library, whichmakes comparison with past holdings difficult. This change has two aspects: (1) a number ofelectronic-only subscriptions and e-books; (2) interdisciplinary online journal packages with majorpublishers in which it is impossible to precisely tease out the cost of the mathematics part of thepackage or the precise number of mathematics journals included. In the past we chose all of thejournals we purchased; in the present, journals which are part of a package are not all specificallychosen and may or may not be useful to us. To complicate the picture further, publishers feelfree to change journals included in a package, and access varies for each journal title. Access toa journal title may be perpetual access or not. With perpetual access, access will be maintainedindefinitely into the future for the journal volumes in subscribed years even if the journal title orpackage is canceled; without perpetual access, even volumes to which we had subscribed may bewithdrawn. Within the same journal package, we may have perpetual access to some titles but not
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others. This situation tends to arise for the multidisciplinary journal packages and not for mostsmaller single-subject packages such as those published by SIAM and the AMS. The days of hardcopies of all issues of major journals seem to be over. Some of these changes also are occurringin book purchases. For example, Springer has a large e-book package: in the past three years wehave received 957 Springer e-books whose keywords identify them as mathematics books, at a costof $14,068.
Modulo these caveats on the difficulties of comparison, here are some comparisons:
Table 8.7: 2005/2010 book purchases
Books Books SpringerOn approval Firm order E-books Total
FY05
Number 580 15 0 595
Amount $52,806 $854 0 $53,660
FY10
Number 205 49 319 573
Amount $13,747 $2,741 $4,689 $21,177
I.e., in 2010 we spent less than 40% of what we spent in 2005 on books, but received 95% of thenumber of books received in 2005. (The Springer e-books are a major reason for this.)
Another comparison is between FY02 and FY10 for subscriptions and standing orders (bookseries): In FY02 there were 189 subscriptions and standing orders in the mathematics fund, ata cost of $124,961. In FY10 there were 81 such subscriptions and standing orders, for a totalcost of $43,546, which is slightly less than 35% of the FY02 expenditures for slightly less than43% of the volumes. Of the FY10 mathematics subscriptions and standing orders, $21,520.01 wasspent on print journals with online access (43 of them) and $2,920.97 was spent for print onlyjournals (9 of them). This is, however, balanced by the electronic journals. It is impossible toknow exactly how many electronic journals we receive in mathematics or exactly how much theycost, since they are part of interdisciplinary packages, but in FY10 approximately $140,533 wasspent as the mathematics portion of large interdisciplinary online packages ($89,948 for Elsevier;$34,782 for Springer; $12,145 for Wiley/Blackwell; and $3,678 for Oxford). In FY02 there were nomultidisciplinary journal packages.10
The days of freely browsing all of the library holdings in the library may be over, and thedays of departmental control over acquisitions may be over, but with electronic access comes easieraccess to other library holdings, and the importance of electronic document delivery. The library’sdocument delivery service is quite good, and usually articles which we cannot access directly throughour library are available within a few days. We remain concerned about archival fluidity, that is,having direct access to electronic material and then having that access removed.
In addition to the mathematics holdings in the University’s Anschutz Library, the mathematicsdepartment has its own books and journals in the Wealthy-Babcock Reading Room, currentlyhoused on the 6th floor of Snow. Its budget (from department funds) has fluctuated, rising from$18,174 in 2002 to $24,174 in 2007; for 2010 the budget is $17,083. It is used only to buy journalsubscriptions. These have steadily declined, from a high of 30 in 2002 to a low of 20 in 2010. The
10We are indebted to the mathematics librarian, Julie Waters, for all of these figures.
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funds are in the general department budget, i.e., unrestricted funds. What is the best use of thesefunds?
8.6 Computer resources
8.6.1 Equipment
Computer equipment is a major part of start-up funding when faculty are hired. All faculty, staffand graduate offices are equipped with either a UNIX workstation or Macintosh Desktop. Officecomputer systems are replaced every three years on average. Many faculty and staff membershave printers in their offices. All department computers, printers and other computing devices areconnected to an Ethernet network. The network provides workstations with access to computingservices provided by the department and central IT. The department provides several public useprinters for faculty, staff and students. All printers are network enabled and can be used from mostMath workstations and desktops. The department also provides two checkout laptops for facultymember or visitor use.
8.6.2 Labs
The department maintains three computing labs: one general purpose/instructional lab, two testinglabs, and one mobile lab. General purpose / instructional lab (455 Snow); Gateway testing lab(Snow 159); The KAP testing lab (Strong 323D). In addition, the department maintains a mobilelab.
The 455 lab contains 21 Dell workstations running Linux. All systems have dual core processorsand at least 2 GB of main memory. This lab is available for general use as well as graduate andundergraduate instruction.
The 159 lab contains 21 iMac workstations. These systems have dual core processors and 2 GBof main memory. MapleTA is the primary software package used in this lab. The lab providestesting for classes with gateway exams and for the mathematics placement exam. The lab is staffedand monitored during operating hours.
The 323D lab has 16 iMac workstations. All systems have dual core processors and at least2 GB of main memory. These systems provide a secured location to administer KAP skills testsand to provide the students with additional learning materials including video lectures. The lab isstaffed and monitored during operating hours.
The mobile lab is used to provide students with access to department computing resources in astandard classroom setting. The mobile lab consists of 16 iBook laptops, a secure storage/chargingcart and a printer. These systems are primarily used to provide students with access to Geometer’sSketchpad or LaTeX in a standardized environment.
8.6.3 Research
The department maintains a small 8 node computing cluster. Each cluster node has two Xeonprocessor cores and 1 GB of RAM. The nodes are connected by a high-speed Myricom interconnect.
In addition to the computing cluster the department has two stand alone research systems. ADell PowerEdge 1950 provides remote login access. This system has 8 Xeon cores and 16 GB of
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main memory. Resources for console users are provided by a Mac Pro system. This system has 8Xeon cores and 32 GB of main memory.
8.6.4 Servers
All department accounts and services are network based. These services are supported by a smallarray of servers. File storage is provided by a Sun XFire 4140 and J4200 storage array. Otherservices run in virtualized environments hosted on Dell PowerEdge 850, 2850 and 2950 systems.
8.6.5 Software
The following commercial software packages are available for use on department computers: MAT-LAB, Mathematica, Maple, SAS. The mobile lab computers have Geometer’s Sketchpad. In addi-tion to the commercial packages listed above many free mathematical packages are available. Theseinclude TeX/LaTeX, Maxima, Octave, R, Macaulay 2 and GeoGebra.
8.6.6 Multimedia classrooms and seminar room
The department maintains one multimedia classroom and one multimedia seminar room. Eachlocation is equipped with a data projector, a document presenter, and laptop connections. Theseminar room is also equipped with a department supported computer. In addition, the departmenthas access to University-maintained multimedia classrooms on a competitive request basis.
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Appendix A
Faculty vitae
For formatting reasons, these are available in a separate appendix at the end of this document.
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Appendix B
Brief descriptions of faculty research
Margaret Bayer is primarily interested in combinatorics and geometry. She works on face latticesof convex polytopes, hyperplane arrangements, Eulerian posets and oriented matroids. Of specialinterest are the “flag vectors” of these objects. The flag vector counts incidences of faces or elementsof specified dimension or rank. The interplay between combinatorics and algebraic geometry isfound in the connection between convex polytopes and toric varieties.
Hailong Dao works in commutative algebra and its connections to nearby areas such as al-gebraic geometry and algebraic K-theory. He currently works on understanding cohomology andhomology functors over local rings, Picard and class groups, splitting of vector bundles on algebraicschemes, and non-commutative resolution of singularities.
Tyrone Duncan has performed research on applications of probability and stochastic processesto a wide variety of areas during his academic career. These applications include stochastic filteringand control, stochastic adaptive control, identification, and information theory. The stochasticmodels have been in both finite and infinite dimensional spaces. Other topics of his researchinclude some relations between probability and differential geometry/Lie groups, stochastic calculusin manifolds and stochastic problems in manifolds. He has also performed research on geometricsystem theory.
Jin Feng’s research interests fall into probability and related areas. He is currently workingon statistical description of limit behaviors for a variety of deterministic PDEs. Usually, such aproblem has a microscopic origin which is stochastic, and the overall program involves variationalcharacterization of a probabilistic theory known as large deviation. Some key techniques involvedare Markov processes theory, viscosity solution for Hamilton-Jacobi equations, and the theoryof optimal mass transportation... Professor Feng is also interested in financial mathematics andstatistical inference for stochastic processes.
William Fleissner does research in set theory and general topology. He has made importantcontributions to the normal Moore space conjecture. Currently he is interested in Stone-Cechcompactifications.
Fred Galvin works on combinatorial problems in classical set theory, namely, such stuff asinfinite Ramsey theory, coloring problems for infinite graphs and hypergraphs, chain conditions,transversals, closure functions, infinite permutation groups, and whatnot. A lot of this work, andthe focus of his current efforts, is on set-theoretic and topological games similar to the gamesintroduced by Banach, Mazur, and Ulam in the Scottish Book. From time to time he has alsodabbled in lattice theory, model theory, cardinal arithmetic, list colorings of finite graphs, and
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miscellaneous graph theory.
Estela Gavosto’s research interests include several complex variables and complex dynamics.In addition, she collaborates with colleagues in computer sciences in computer visualization andmore recently in applications in medical imaging. She also works in STEM education and sciencetraining of underrepresented groups.
A. Susan Gay works in middle and secondary mathematics education. Her interests lie inhelping students develop an understanding of mathematics concepts and the professional devel-opment of mathematics teachers. Recent work has focused on assessing and developing students’understanding of mathematics vocabulary and has included research with middle, high school anduniversity students.
Heping He’s basic research centers around the likelihood theory and methodologies. Specifi-cally, his research can be divided into three major parts: (1) higher-order likelihood methods andtheory which can be applied for small and medium samples; (2) change-point problems includingindependent data and time series; (3) modified profile likelihood applied to model selection prob-lems. In addition, he did some collaborative research on Bayesian analysis of time series and theapplication of Bayesian analysis.
Yaozhong Hu’s research area is probability theory and applications. He concentrates on analy-sis of (nonlinear) Wiener functionals, stochastic differential equations, stochastic partial differentialequations, numerical simulations, statistics of stochastic processes, with applications to quantumfield theory (Feynman integral, Euclidean quantum field theory), mathematical finance, nonlinearfiltering theory, signal processing and stochastic control.
Weizhang Huang’s research interest is in numerical solution of partial differential equations inparticular and numerical analysis and scientific computing in general. His research topics includemesh movement, mesh adaptation, anisotropic mesh generation and analysis, high order methods(collocation and spectral), geometric integration, and their applications.
Craig Huneke’s work is in the field of commutative algebra. He works on a wide variety ofthemes, which include homological algebra, ideal theory, module theory, linkage, and local coho-mology. But his main work has been using the technique of reduction to characteristic p, especiallythe creation of tight closure theory with Mel Hochster.
Yasuyuki Kachi has worked on rationality criteria of algebraic varieties; Bernoulli numbers;effective Stirling’s formula ; functional identities of the Riemann ζ function; the Wallis type productformula for ζ(3) and the Catalan number.
Daniel Katz’s research interests lie primarily in the field of commutative algebra, with tangen-tial interests in homological algebra, algebraic geometry and computational algebra. Among thetopics he is interested in are the asymptotic theory of ideals, multiplicity theory, Rees algebras ofideals and modules and homological problems in mixed characteristic. In particular, the study ofmixed multiplicities for ideals not primary for the maximal ideal in a local ring has occupied muchof his time over the last few years.
Jeffrey Lang’s main research focus has been on the divisor classes of Zariski surfaces, an areain which he, Piotr Blass and several others were much involved in the 1980s and 1990s, and towhich he recently returned. The divisor class group is a subtle and important geometric invariantused to classify surfaces. The techniques he developed to study these varieties have also led me tonew and promising applications in algebraic coding theory and number theory.
David Lerner’s primary interest is mathematical physics. He began working in relativity theoryand made some contributions to cosmology and twistor theory (nonlinear gravitons and self-dual
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gauge fields). In the early 1990s, he did some work on constant mean curvature surfaces, and thenbecame interested in dynamical systems and applications. Since then, he has worked with peoplefrom other fields applying techniques from nonlinear dynamics to the identification and predictionof epileptic seizures, to the diagnosis and modeling of hearing disorders, and to a characterizationof muscle fatigue.
Weishi Liu’s research interest is in the theory of nonlinear dynamics and differential equations,particularly for systems with multi-scales. He has worked on center manifold theory for generalinvariant sets, geometric singular perturbation theory for turning points, Poisson-Nernst-Plancksystems for ion flow through membrane channels, compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equationsfor gas flow through nozzles, Ericksen-Leslie continuum theory for liquid crystals.
Satyagopal Mandal specializes in the area of projective modules and complete intersectionsover noetherian commutative rings. A greater part of his research career was devoted to a programto develop an obstruction theory for projective modules analogous to the same in topology. M. V.Nori gave the germ for such a program for the top-rank case (i.e. when rank of the projective moduleis equal to the dimension of the ring). The program succeeded beyond anybody’s expectation inthe top-rank case. In this case, the program took a complete shape, after Satya and Albert Sheuestablished a natural homomorphism from the algebraic obstruction groups of real smooth affinevarieties to the same of the corresponding real manifolds. In fact, this homomorphism becomes anisomorphism after inverting more functions. Work on obstruction theory for projective modules oflower rank continues.
Jeremy Martin’s primary research area is combinatorics, the mathematical study of discretestructures. A central theme of his work is the interplay of combinatorics, particularly graph theory,with geometry and topology. A long-term goal of Prof. Martin’s has been to understand funda-mental geometric invariants by studying certain algebraic varieties whose points parametrize theembeddings of a graph. A more recent research interest is cellular and simplicial generalizations ofthe matrix-tree theorem, and their consequences for tree enumeration.
David Nualart works in stochastic analysis. His research interests focus on the application ofMalliavin calculus to a wide range of topics including regularity of probability laws, anticipatingstochastic calculus, stochastic integral representations and central limit theorems for Gaussianfunctionals. His recent research deals with the stochastic calculus with respect to the fractionalBrownian motion and related processes. Other fields of interest are stochastic partial differentialequations, rough path analysis and mathematical finance.
Myunghyun Oh works in the stability analysis of wave solutions to nonlinear partial differentialequations. She has worked on stability of periodic traveling-wave solutions of viscous conservationlaws, stability analysis in infinite dimensions, and stability of solutions to the special model equa-tions. The main tool used in her research is the Evans function, which was recently introduced inthe theory of dynamical systems and has emerged as an effective tool to locate isolated eigenvaluesin the point spectrum and near the essential spectrum.
Bill Paschke is a functional analyst. He works on self-adjoint algebras of operators on Hilbertspace, i.e. C∗- and von Neumann algebras.
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan works on stochastic systems, control and adaptive control, mathemat-ical statistics, identification and estimation, stochastic modeling and its applications to actuarialsciences, finance, telecommunications and biomedicine, control education, and STEM education.
Jack Porter’s research mostly falls within the Hausdorff framework of general topology. Muchof his research focuses on projective covers (including the Iliadis and Banaschewski absolutes,
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Boolean algebras, and Stone spaces), arbitrary extensions (especially H-closed extensions and com-pactifications), cardinal functions, homogeneous spaces, the semilattice structure of Hausdorff (andother properties implying Hausdorff) topologies on a fixed set, and the semilattice structure ofextensions of a fixed set.
Bangere Purnaprajna works in the area of algebraic geometry. His current research interestsinclude syzygies of algebraic varieties, deformations, classification and moduli of varieties of generaltype,topology of surfaces of general type with applications to holomorphic convexity of the universalcover, a topic in several complex variables and fundamental groups of algebraic varieties. He has alsoworked on multiple structures on algebraic surfaces and their smoothings, geometry on Calabi-Yauthreefolds and in the topic of projective modules in affine algebraic geometry.
Kamran Reihani’s primary interests lie in operator algebras with applications in noncommu-tative geometry. The main focus of his research program is aimed at studying metric aspects ofnoncommutative geometry through the theory of spectral triples, which are purely operator theo-retic by nature. Among the examples he is interested in are actions of discrete groups on boundariesof trees, quantum groups, and transverse geometry of tiling spaces. On operator algebra side, heam interested in the classification of C∗-algebras by means of their K-theoretic invariants. Hismain examples of interest consist of transformation group C∗-algebras and discrete subgroups ofLie groups.
Judith Roitman has done work in set theoretic topology and Boolean algebra, with emphasison the following areas: hereditary properties of topological spaces (especially S and L spaces);cardinal invariants of superatomic Boolean algebras; automorphisms and cardinal sequences ofsuperatomic Boolean algebras; Ostaszewski spaces; and paracompact box products. She has alsodone work on almost disjoint families and coarser connected topologies.
Albert Sheu works in the area of operator algebras with special interest in its interaction withdifferential geometry and quantization, the noncommutative geometric aspects of operator algebras.His work involves Toeplitz C∗-algebras, groupoid C∗-algebras, deformation quantization, quantumgroups and spaces, covariant Poisson homogeneous spaces, the cancellation problem in K-theoryand algebraic topology.
Saul Stahl’s work has concentrated on graph theory, including topological graph theory, frac-tional graph colorings, integral graph colorings, and Ramsey theory. In particular, he has foundnew relationships among graph theory, topology, and group theory. He has also done work in bothEuclidean and non-Euclidean geometry and in group theory.
Milena Stanislavova’s research interests are in the area of infinite-dimensional dynamical sys-tems and partial differential equations. She uses a variety of applied analysis methods to study thetime-evolution and stability of nonlinear PDEs. The physical systems, described by these equa-tions support special solutions such as solitary waves, whose long time behavior is a very importantpractical question. Hamiltonian PDE’s arise in nonlinear optics, fluid dynamics and combustion.Her point of view is that of infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, which utilizes the analogy be-tween PDEs and ODEs by looking at systems whose time evolution occurs on appropriately definedinfinite-dimensional function spaces.
Atanas Stefanov’s research is in the area of dispersive partial differential equations, harmonicanalysis and mathematical physics. More precisely, he uses Fourier (and functional) analytic meth-ods and spectral-theoretic tools to study the long-time behavior of solutions to nonlinear wave andSchrodinger equations. A related recent interests include the stability of coherent structures arisingin these (and related) models as well as the behavior of their spatially-discrete counterparts.
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Zsolt Talata works in mathematical statistics, overlapping with information theory and prob-ability theory. He has worked on model selection problems using information criteria. His currentresearch interest includes estimation of stationary ergodic processes in d-bar distance, context treeestimation of stationary ergodic processes, neighborhood estimation of Markov random fields, andlongest increasing subsequence problems.
Rodolfo Torres works in Fourier analysis. He is interested in Calderon-Zygmund theory, multi-linear operators, function spaces, and discrete decompositions techniques such as wavelets. Torres’research also involves applications in partial differential equations and signal analysis. In addition,he has done contributions in Biology in the spectral analysis of coloration in nanostructured tissuesof animals.
Xuemin Tu’s research interests include scientific computing and numerical analysis. She workson domain decomposition methods which provide scalable algorithms for large scale computation byreducing original large problems into collections of smaller problems, nonlinear multigrid methodswhich provide a framework for solving nonlinear system to better utilize the modern computersystems, and nonlinear filters with applications in oceanography.
Erik Van Vleck’s research is in numerical analysis and dynamical systems. In particular,Professor Van Vleck is interested in structure preserving numerical techniques for approximationof differential equations, perturbation theory and error analysis for the approximation of Lyapunovexponents and differential eigenvalue problems. These techniques are important in determiningstability properties of time dependent processes. In addition, he is interested in the existence,uniqueness, and stability of traveling wave solutions, in particular for spatially discrete dissipativeevolution equations that arise when there is a discrete spatial structure. Of current interest arehigher dimensional problems, systems of equations, and anti-diffusion equations.
Hongguo Xu’s research interests include numerical linear algebra, scientific computing, matrixtheory, perturbation analysis, and applications in science and engineering. His areas of main focuscover numerical theory, methods, and software development for algebraic eigenvalue problems andsystems of linear equations, numerical problems of structured matrices, numerical methods forproblems from systems of control and other application areas.
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Appendix C
Faculty research profile
Table C.1 is a snapshot of the mathematics research profile in the department. It gives careernumber of publications as n/m where n = publications listed in MathSciNet and m = total numberof refereed published research papers (many of them interdisciplinary; see 3.5);11 gives citations(from AMS and Web of Science, listed separately); and MA and PhD students. For a fuller pictureof each faculty member’s contributions, see the vitae.
Since Prof. Gay’s work is in education, we have not included her in table C.1.
To briefly summarize: the mean number of MathSciNet publications is 28.8 with a median of28; the mean number of AMS citations is 203.26 with a median of 92, and the mean number ofWeb of Science citations of 302.86, with a median of 130. The column “MAs” refers to Universityof Kansas MA graduates from December 2000 - December 2010; “PhDs” refers to PhD graduatesover the faculty member’s career, through December 2010. Hence a number of these PhDs do nothave degrees from the University of Kansas Mathematics Department.
The reader is reminded that publication rates differ markedly by field and that no table cancapture the individual achievement of members of the department.
11In a few cases n > m. This is when MathSciNet counts publications which the faculty member did not considera full publication, for example a book review or an erratum.
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Table C.1: Faculty research profilePhD joined KU Pubs Cite MAs PhDs
We have had two long-range plans in the last ten years, one in 2000 and one in 2004. This appendixgives both, and then briefly discusses our success in meeting our goals.
D.1 Recommendation to the dean of the mathematics departmentlong-range planning committee; March 2000
Introduction
After the self-study and external review of the Department of Mathematics during the 1995-96academic year, a plan of recruitment was approved by the department early in 1997 to serve as a‘basis for an agreement with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences concerning the stability and,if possible, the gradual increase of faculty size in the near future’. This document made specificrecommendations of areas in which to hire, as well as recommendations not specifying an area,such as filling the Bischoff professorship. With the exception of the position unfilled this year, 12
all of these goals have been met. What was not achieved from the previous plan is the increase inthe total size of the faculty. Due to resignations and retirements, the current size of our faculty is36.25 positions and 3 TAPs (Term Assistant Professors). As part of the discussions with the Deanwhen Craig Huneke was hired and when Jack Porter became chair, the Dean has agreed to increasethe size of the faculty to 39.25 tenure-track positions and 4 TAPs.
Next year the department will lose 2.75 faculty due to unexpected resignations and phasedretirements. If we are successful in hiring a numerical analyst this year, the number of faculty inthe department during the academic year 00-01 will be:
34.5 Tenure-Track, 3 TAPs
This leaves us 4.75 tenure-track faculty and 1 TAP short of our goal of 39.25 tenure-track facultyand 4 TAPS. Moreover, during the next 7 years, 12 of our current faculty will reach the age of 70,at the rate of approximately two per year. The need for another long-term recruiting plan is clear,both to foster agreement within the department about our future development and to serve againas a basis for agreement between the Department of Mathematics and the College of Liberal Artsand Sciences. With this in mind, the Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) was constitutedin the Fall, 1999, and has met throughout the Fall and Winter to create such a plan.
12The position in numerical analysis is also unfilled at the current time.
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Recruiting Goals of the Mathematics Department
The goals outlined in the last plan and in the internal review of 1996 are just as relevant fouryears later. The goal of any department is to be successful; but what does ‘successful’ mean?A successful department never loses sight of its educational mission within the university andthe broader community at large. Developing and retaining high quality students at both theundergraduate and graduate levels who are stimulated by the programs and courses offered by thedepartment is a primary goal of the department. Students should leave with ample opportunity touse their training in their future profession. Attracting superior students because of the quality ofthe program is an important component in the success of a department. This success is directlytied to the excellence of the faculty. Success in producing a stimulating environment is achievedthrough the integration of research and teaching. Our mission to thrive as a department cannot beseparated from the research of the faculty and their participation at the national and internationallevel in their respective areas.
Over the next ten years, the department will literally re-create itself. It is likely that at mosthalf of the current faculty will be working full-time in the department ten years from now. Thechallenge facing the department is to use this change to enhance our national visibility and improvethe quality of our programs. Some specific goals in our hiring strategy are:
• To repair the damage done by our omission from the last NRC ranking of departments. Inparticular to affirm our position among the top seventy schools in the country.
–Not being ranked in the NRC hurts the department at all levels. Potential graduate studentsoften check such rankings; if they do not, other schools competing for good students will, andwill be quick to point this out to prospective students.
• To address the problem of retention of good faculty.
–This problem has come to the fore this year with resignations/leave of three of our strongestfaculty. The two applied mathematicians, Lai and Leimkuhler, were both offered substantialsalary increases and excellent startup packages, and in Leimkuhler’s case, an appointmentas Full Professor. We expect that as the competition for mathematics faculty becomes moreintense, additional faculty members will be targeted for recruitment by other universities. Itis imperative that we be able to retain our faculty.
• To raise our national visibility and research profile.
• To continue to support our program in applied mathematics, while at the same time pre-serving our traditional strength in pure mathematics.
–Over the last several years, the department has made a concentrated effort to build theprogram in applied mathematics. While we are hiring a numerical analyst this year, we needto reaffirm our commitment to this area in view of the apparent loss of Lai and Leimkuhler.On the other hand, the department should not lose its balance and traditional roots andneeds to enhance strong programs in pure mathematics at the same time.
• To build strong research groups within the department.
–This principle addresses several of the perceived needs of the department. Strong groups willmake it easier to run a successful graduate program, attract external funding, and make our
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department more visible at the national level. Moreover, retention problems can be causednot only by noncompetitive salaries, but also by the lack of strong support groups. Buildingsuch groups will help to alleviate the retention problem.
• To enhance our graduate program significantly.
– We need better students and more students. To achieve this goal we need a varied and activefaculty, a stimulating atmosphere, and senior faculty who are willing and able to mentor andrecruit students. Supporting the students and the courses needed to train them is a criticalconcern.
• To recruit faculty who are committed to our educational mission at all levels within theuniversity.
– Understanding our responsibilities to the university at large and communicating this to ournew faculty is very important, and should be kept in mind during the hiring process.
• To promote diversity in our department.
– Having a diverse faculty is an important goal independent of other issues. The departmenthas a good record in this regard. Being aware of this goal during the hiring process isimportant.
Realizing Our Goals
The LRPC was guided by several principles which were articulated during our discussions. Inmaking our hiring recommendations, we were partly guided by the following principles, many ofwhich were enunciated in the previous plan:
1) Faculty additions should add to areas of strength in the department. Areas with faculty with
distinguished research records should be built as a way of attracting strong candidates and retainingboth future hires and our current faculty.
2) Pure and applied mathematics should be developed simultaneously. This is a stated principle
of our previous hiring plan and remains valid today.
3) Flexibility in hiring should be maximized. In any area the talent of recent Ph.D.s and the
number of available Ph.D.s fluctuates considerably from year to year. To maintain our ability tohire the best people, we must look for candidates within all areas represented within the plan in agiven year. This strategy does not rule out prioritizing various areas, but recognizes that limitinghiring to a smaller pool of applicants is clearly not a good strategy for finding the best faculty.
4) Be aggressive in our hiring. Demographics changing over the next few years suggest that
many universities will have more positions available while at the same time fewer Ph.D.s are beingproduced. All faculty should play an active role in identifying potential hires at the earliest possiblestage. Our hiring committee should begin work as early as possible to identify potential candidatesand get offers out.
5) Keep our options as open as possible to respond to the changing market. The LRPC recom-
mends a limited plan for the next three years, rather than a five year plan. The last several years
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have been ones of both unexpected and great changes in the department. Such changes are likelyto continue, particularly in view of the changing demographics, and our plans must be flexibleenough to respond to new developments. Although setting clear goals and producing a long-termwritten plan agreed upon by both the department and CLAS is clearly valuable and necessary, atoo-narrowly defined long-term plan can also be a recipe for failure in a time of rapid change. Thisleads to our next principle.
6) Reevaluate our situation after implementing a three-year plan of hiring.
7) Be alert for opportunities in hiring which may not rigidly fit the plan. Departments can build
strength through unexpected opportunities. Examples of such opportunities could include spousalhiring, the chance to hire a strong researcher at the senior level, or joint appointments.
Three-Year Recruitment Plan
The Department of Mathematics is in a period of rapid change. It is important to maintainflexibility in this situation. Predicting exactly how the department will change is difficult if notimpossible: predicting that it will change is easy. This period of transition is not unrelated to de-velopments in the mathematical profession at the national level. There are increasing opportunitiesfor strong faculty to move. This is evident not only from many anecdotal instances (e.g., resigna-tions in our department), but from national trends. In the latest statistics13 the unemploymentrate for new Ph.D.s is listed as 5%, down from almost 11% in 1994 and 1995, and slightly up fromthe 1997 mean of 4%. There are many reasons for this trend. In 1997-1998 there were 1231 newPh.D.s but 1528 jobs for doctoral faculty. At the same time the number of new American graduatestudents declined by 7.7%. The large numbers of faculty hired during the expansion in the 1960sare now at or near retirement. In this atmosphere it is imperative to have an aggressive hiring planthat addresses the issue of retention and is flexible enough to adapt to the changing market.
As the introductory discussion suggested, it is likely that the department will be able to fillat least two tenure-track positions per year over the foreseeable future. Even without anticipatedretirements, to reach our level of 39.25 faculty would entail hiring for the next three years at thelevel of two faculty per year.
The LRPC had lengthy discussions. Many areas were considered for potential hiring. Theseareas include (in alphabetical order), algebraic geometry, classical analysis, combinatorics, commu-tative algebra, computational algebra, differential geometry, math education, mathematical physics,modern analysis, noncommutative algebra, noncommutative geometry, numerical analysis, partialdifferential equations, signal analysis, statistics, stochastic control, and topology (both algebraicand set-theoretical).
In particular, the Kansas Algebra Program (KAP) was discussed at length. Approximately30% of mathematics credit hours come from the courses in the Kansas Algebra Program, Math002 and Math 101. Many entering freshmen need additional preparation in algebra. KAP is thegateway to mathematics for these students. This educational program is of great importance to theuniversity. The current structure of KAP, with program administration by a full-time staff personand oversight by faculty, has been effective. A major change in the KAP program should occur inthe Fall of 2001, when the Regents’ Qualified Admissions policy will be implemented for all studentsentering KU. The new admissions policy is expected to improve the mathematics background ofentering students. By the end of the three years of the proposed recruiting plan, we should have
13Notices of the American Mathematical Society, vol 46(8), September, 1999, pp 894–909
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a better idea of the effect of Qualified Admissions, and we will again consider how best to addressthe needs of the KAP program.
The LRPC unanimously recommend a plan to hire seven tenure-track faculty (six positionstogether with the one unfilled position from this year) and a fourth TAP in the following areas,listed alphabetically:
• Two tenure-track positions should be filled in algebra. The filling of the Bischoff professor-
ship with a commutative algebraist gives the department an opportunity to build in algebrawith the expectation of recruiting high-quality faculty. The publication record of the algebragroup is strong. This area is a natural one around which to build a strong group in thedepartment. We recommend that the first hire in algebra should be an algebraic geometer.
• Two tenure-track positions should be filled in analysis. Many of the upcoming retirements
are in analysis, a traditional strength in the department. Moreover, the younger membersof this groups are performing at a high level both in the department and nationally. Theirresearch funding is excellent.
• One tenure-track position should be filled in numerical analysis. Besides stochastic control,
numerical analysis is a natural area of applied mathematics to build. After our hire this yearwe will have three people in this group. Their record of funding and research is excellent andthe department should make a commitment to this area.
• Two tenure-track positions should be filled in the area of stochastic analysis and control,including the position unfilled this year. The members of the stochastic analysis and control
group have a high level of publication and national and international visibility. Their researchfunding is high, as is their level of interaction with students at all levels. Our goals ofsupporting applied mathematics and building strong groups justify the continued support ofthis group. At this time, we find it best to use the stochastic control group along with thecurrent statisticians to meet the teaching and advising needs in statistics.
• TAPs:
For the next TAP position, which we will hire next year, we should recruit in topology/settheory. This group has been one of the most successful in the department in the training ofgraduate students, and is active in research. The last TAP in this area was Eisworth, who washired in 1994-95. Since that time there have been TAPs hired (including this year’s hiring)in algebra, combinatorics, chaos, numerical analysis and operator algebras. The first TAP
position available after the one in topology/set theory next year, should be devoted to one ofthe fields of mathematics of the tenure-track assistant professors or junior associate professorswhose areas are not supported by or are only tangential to the focus of the tenure-track hiresproposed in this plan. In particular, the areas to be considered for such a TAP should include:
Complex dynamics/ mathematical visualization of complex geometrical structures.
Dynamical systems/ qualitative behavior of differential equations.
Probability/ probabilistic analysis and differential equations.
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Table D.1: 2000 hiring time line
Year TAPs Tenure-Track Hiring Total Tenure-Track FTEs
00–01 3 2 34.501–02 4 2 36–36.514
02–03 4 1–2 3803–04 4 0–2 39
14. Bob Adams’ phased retirement ends in January, 2002
Time Line and Priorities
Our suggested time line for filling these positions is in table D.1.
The first year hiring includes the unfilled position from this year. While it appears that wemight reach our expected size (depending on what happens to the .25 position of Lai) by 03-04,it is much more likely that phased retirements will push down our number of positions below thislevel, and continued hiring will be needed to reach our goal. It is also unlikely that we will reachthe level of 39 in 03-04 without filling at least two positions in each of next three years.
We do not recommend prioritizing the positions year by year as was done in the last plan. Whiledetailing exactly which positions should be filled each year does save the faculty discussions andtime, it also limits the available candidates. From year to year the strength of candidates canvary widely. We wish to hire the best people possible from the greatest selection of areas in ourthree-year plan. However, some fields need immediate support more than others. The recent lossesof prominent faculty have hurt our Analysis and Applied Math groups. We recommend givingtop priority to the hiring in Analysis and Applied Mathematics over the positions in Algebra.Specifically this means advertising for at least two tenure-track positions next year in analysis,numerical analysis and stochastic control. In 2001-02 we would advertise again for at least twotenure-track positions in the same areas together with algebra, minus whatever we were able tofill in 2000-01. In the third year, 2002-03, we would advertise in targeted areas not filled in theprevious two years.
Criteria for Selection of Tenure-Track/Tenured Candidates
The following principles are a modified version of the ones developed several years ago. Successfulcandidates for our positions should possess the following qualities:
A demonstrated excellence in research with national recognition. For an assistant professor,this means a strong publication record and a significant research plan. Preference should begiven to candidates with evidence of national visibility such as post-doctoral appointments,grants, or invited talks at major conferences. For a more senior position, the candidateshould have achieved national and international recognition through their outstanding re-search, shown a record of consistent external support, and demonstrated the ability anddesire to lead a group of researchers.
A strong potential to obtain external funding and, for a senior hire, a record of externalfunding and a commitment to be actively involved in seeking new funding opportunities.
A commitment to excellence in teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate level.
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The ability to have a positive impact on our graduate program. At the assistant professorlevel, this should be realized by the potential to make such an impact, based on their recordand how they present themselves. It is unlikely such a candidate will have had a Ph.D. studentor even a Masters student. At a senior level, the candidate should have had a successful recordof mentoring Ph.D. students.
A willingness and ability to interact with other members of this department, and especiallyin the case of applied faculty, willingness and ability to reach out to members of other de-partments and programs.
The ability to serve both the department and the profession, e.g. in department and universityservice and/or in state and national organizations. For a senior hire, there should be a recordof such service.
Areas of Recruitment
I. Algebra
The hiring of Craig Huneke as the Bischoff professor in the strong algebra group increasedour national and international profile in algebra. This is reflected in the recent NSF postdoctoralfellowship awarded to Graham Leuschke to work with Huneke. The algebra group has taken on amore active role with the hiring of Purnaprajna and the large number (six) of doctoral studentsnow in the program. Specific areas of interest include algebraic geometry, commmutative algebraand computational algebra. In particular algebraic geometry is a natural area in which to build.
Algebraic geometry is one of the fundamental fields of mathematics. One of the most outstand-ing achievements in pure mathematics of the 20th century was the solution by Andrew Wiles ofFermat’s Last Theorem, a solution which rested heavily on the edifice of arithmetic algebraic ge-ometry. Algebraic geometry, as its name suggests, studies geometric objects defined by algebraicequations such as polynomial or power series equations. The two viewpoints of algebra and ge-ometry complement each other: insight in geometry can be made precise and generalized throughalgebraic methods. Algebraic geometry is a vast field touching and encompassing many diverseareas within mathematics. These include algebraic topology, coding theory, combinatorics, com-mutative algebra, differential geometry, number theory, several complex variables, and singularitytheory. The department has active faculty in commutative algebra, combinatorics and severalcomplex variables who could benefit from hiring in algebraic geometry.
The job market for algebraists is a strong one at the present time, with options not only inacademics but in applied positions, especially those pertaining to encryption.
II. Analysis
With calculus as the starting point, analysis provides the foundation to many other branchesof mathematics. The analytical study of functions, their properties, and the transformations thatact on them is of relevance in every theoretical research dealing with parameter-dependent quan-tities. In addition, analysis is the link to most of applied mathematics and progresses in analysishave an immediate impact in other disciplines. Recent fundamental contributions in theoretical
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analysis have been adapted into “computational tools that have substantially benefited science andtechnology”.15 The United States has played a leading role in the development of analysis, whichis strongly represented at all of its major research universities. Nationwide, analysis is one of thebiggest programs in mathematics at NSF.
Our analysis group is very active in research and has a solid record of external funding. Itsmembers play an important role in both our graduate and undergraduate programs. Currently 4Ph.D. students and several MA students are being trained in analysis in our department. Somemembers of the analysis group are involved in directing undergraduate students via NSF REU-projects. These research experiences have already attracted very talented undergraduate students.
Our department has been recognized in the past as a nationwide center in operator algebras. Theanalysis group has lost two prominent members in recent times, but the group has broadened its areaof interests and has the momentum to further increase its national recognition. The specific areasof interest to current members include harmonic analysis, noncommutative geometry/quantization,operator algebras, several complex variables, and theoretical PDE’s. This diversity of fields with acommon background enriches the quality of the research and enhances the opportunity for horizontalinteraction across areas. Based on the existing strong research group in analysis and its pastreputation, our department can successfully compete with other universities in attracting high-caliber analysts to join our faculty.
III. Numerical Analysis
Describing the importance of applied mathematics it is appropriate to quote SIAM, the majorsociety for applied mathematicians:
“Applied mathematics, in partnership with computing, has become essential in solving manyreal-world problems. Its methodologies are needed, for example, in modeling physical, chemical,and biomedical phenomena; in designing engineered parts, structures, and systems to optimizeperformance; in planning and managing financial and marketing strategies; and in understandingand optimizing manufacturing processes.
Problems in these areas arise in companies that manufacture aircraft, automobiles, engines,textiles, computers, communications systems, chemicals, drugs, and a host of other industrial andconsumer products, and also in various service and consulting organizations. They also arise inmany research initiatives of the federal government such as those in global change, biotechnology,and advanced materials.” 16
In turn, nearly all of modern applied mathematics relies on the continuing development ofeffective and accurate numerical methods. Because computer simulations rely on floating pointarithmetic, the robust implementation of apparently straightforward algorithms such as Gaussianelimination are surprisingly non-trivial, and therefore critically important. General topics in nu-merical analysis include the rigorous study of convergence of algorithms for solving algebraic anddifferential equations, their accuracy, their stability, and their computational complexity. Particularareas of local expertise are numerical algebra and the numerical solution of differential equations.
The strengthening of numerical analysis is important to both our graduate program and to theUniversity as a whole. Few areas offer better opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations withthe possibility of attracting substantial external funding. Both of our numerical analysts have been
15http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/2/1/2.text.1, White House pressrelease description of the work of Ronald R. Coifman, 1999 National Medal of Science in Mathematics recipient.
16http://www.siam.org/about/about98.htm
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involved as either PIs or co-PIs on a number of such projects. There is a constant (and unmet)demand from the faculty in physics, chemistry, engineering and the biological sciences for adviceand collaboration as well as for undergraduate and graduate course offerings.
IV. Stochastic Analysis and Control
The stochastic analysis and control group here encompasses a broad range of topics in stochasticanalysis and control theory. These topics have had important applications in many other areas ofpure and applied mathematics as well as fields outside of mathematics. Currently this groupsupervises a large number of graduate students and historically this group has had many mastersand doctoral students. The students in this group, as well as students in other disciplines, have adesire and a need for additional courses and direction in the stochastic area. Important areas ofstochastic control, such as the mathematics of finance and insurance mathematics, need to be morefully developed by the Mathematics Department. The Mathematics Department will benefit manyways from such developments. The stochastic group has had a long history (dating back 25 years)of interaction with other academic units at KU. This group has interacted with the Departmentsof Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,Economics and the School of Business. These interactions have included offering regular andspecial courses for students in these other areas, serving on masters and doctoral committeesin these other disciplines, discussing research with faculty in these other areas and presentingseminars in these other academic units. Currently two members of the stochastic group are affiliatedfaculty of the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at KU. The group has alsoestablished successful cooperation with industry, in particular with Flint Hills Scientific and withSprint Corporation which resulted in almost two years of support for two of the group’s graduatestudents and the hiring of four graduate students whose professional careers at Sprint have hadan impressive development. For two suggested areas of course and research development in thestochastic area, that is, the mathematics of finance and insurance mathematics, the stochasticgroup has had masters and doctoral students, currently has two masters students and has at leasttwo applicants for doctoral study.
D.2 Memo to the dean concerning long-range hiring in mathe-matics, May 2004
Throughout the Winter/Spring semester of 2004, a subcommittee of the faculty of the MathematicsDepartment met to discuss future hiring in the department. During the deliberations the subcom-mittee studied comparisons to peer schools, the needs of the department, and problems which thedepartment should address.
This memo is a summary of the subcommittee’s full report, which will be completed nextFall. The present document provides a crucial basis for agreement between the Department ofMathematics and CLAS regarding hiring in the next five years. The value of such an agreementis apparent for both the department and the college. The large number of retirements in thedepartment–we have four times the national average of faculty over 60– and the decline in the sizeof the department over the last five years by over 20% has created a critical shortage of faculty inmathematics. By agreeing on a target size and a coherent plan to replace these faculty, the collegeand the department can take advantage of a wonderful opportunity to restructure and enhance thedepartment and to seize a competitive edge over rival institutions who have no such plan in place.
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The principal mission of the Mathematics Department is to create and teach mathematics andto develop in all KU students the capacity to use mathematics. Mathematics plays a central rolein the general education goals of the university, in the national need for a scientifically literatepopulation, and in the continual and growing support that mathematics provides in all phases ofscientific research.
The final report of the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21stCentury,17 referring to skills in math and science, pointed out that “Among the scarier statistics
reported by one American think tank, 60 percent of all new jobs in the 21st century will requireskills that are possessed by only 20 percent of the current work force.”
Senator John Glenn, speaking about this report said, “But why is math and science so importantfor our young people? Well, take a look at the rest of the world. Our world is the world of a globalmarketplace now. It’s where science and mathematics, technology, and innovation are calling theshots, and that’s something that we’ve got to remember. Globalization has occurred. It’s no longera futuristic theory; it’s here....”
Target size of the mathematics department
The target size of 39.25 FTE for the math department was agreed upon in both conversationsand written promises to the Chair. While having such a target is the single most important basisfor serious planning, the support we have received to achieve this goal has been minimal, and weare moving backwards since the time of the original agreement, when Craig Huneke arrived in 1999,confirmed when Jack Porter became chair in Fall, 1999. In 2004-05 we will be down to 30 FTE,with seven faculty members over 65 years of age, and another three over 60. We need a flexiblehiring strategy in which the department makes 3-4 hires per year over the next five years untilour target size is reached. This flexibility will pay tremendous dividends in terms of the quality ofthe department, allowing us to achieve a competitive edge over peer schools, and maximizing ourability to pick and choose outstanding new faculty.
These are not new positions: they are replacements. However, part of our mission includesteaching over 11,000 students every year. It is critically important to provide these students witha first-rate mathematics education. We believe that the discussion of tuition based enhancementshould begin with the students and direct resources where the students are.
Principles and goals in hiring
Our goal is to enhance the mission of the university and the department, both of which recognizemathematics as a leader and core component in scientific research and in undergraduate education.The replacements we propose will allow us to reshape the department to meet this goal. Thesubcommittee studied the department in terms of its undergraduate mission, its research mission,and the role of the graduate program in both of these missions. The full report will discuss thesein detail. We kept these principles in mind:
• To identify areas of mathematics in which the department is not well-represented, and whichare important to help us fulfill our mission.
• To maintain and enhance the level of excellence and critical mass in areas of current strengththrough promising hires.
• To identify areas of current strength which will be de-emphasized in future planning.
17This quote and the quote of John Glenn are taken from http://www.connectlive.com/events/glenn/Glenn-092700-transcript.html
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• To improve our hiring philosophy and practices in order to maximize our opportunities to hireoutstanding mathematicians.
Target areas
The outcome of our deliberations identified two major areas in which the department is not well-represented, and which are playing an important role in mathematics in this century: Statisticsand Differential Geometry. We are recommending three hires in Statistics and two in DifferentialGeometry. In particular, we envision the three recommended positions in Statistics as a cluster hireof one senior person and two junior appointments. Areas of current strength which should not beallowed to wither were also identified. Some general areas we recommend supporting are algebra,analysis, combinatorics, numerical analysis, and stochastic analysis. Specific recommendations willfollow in the full report. It is cost-effective to maintain strength in an area, rather than trying torebuild from scratch. We decided to de-emphasize some areas in the department, of which topologyis the clearest example.
2005-06
Next year we are asking for four tenure-track positions and one TAP, to begin in Fall, 2005. Twoof the tenure-track positions are carry-overs from the algebra search of last year. We recommendthree separate ads be placed: one for the algebra positions, one for positions in Statistics, and onefor other areas which rebuild existing strengths. Proposed copies of these ads are included. Tryingto hire in a single area in a given year is a sure path toward mediocrity and decay. It is now a verycompetitive market for mathematicians, and being able to look at multiple areas in a single yearwill vastly improve our ability to hire high quality people.
Goals achieved and not achieved
We have achieved many of the goals of these two (linked) plans, and the department has beenconsiderably strengthened by following their broad outlines. However, we were not given enoughpositions to completely fulfill these plans. The gaps from these plans are: two positions in differ-ential geometry; and one position each in algebraic geometry, analysis, and dynamical systems. Asthe departmental research profile has changed, it is not clear that our next long-range plan willfill in these gaps. For example, we currently have no faculty whose main research is in differentialgeometry, so it is not clear that we need to hire in that area.
The major goal not achieved is the number of faculty. We still fall considerably short of ourgoal of ≈ 39 FTE.
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D.3 Progress in hiring
The two preceding appendices referred to our long-range hiring plans from 2000 and 2004. How didwe do in fulfilling them? Table D.2 shows the number of positions in our plan at the start of the2004–05 academic year. Note that this includes two positions in algebra and algebraic geometry,and two positions in stochastic analysis left over from the 2000 plan, along with twelve positionsstipulated in the 2004 plan. The subsequent columns of the table show how many of these positionswere filled at the end of each year, followed by a column on how many positions remain. At thebottom of the table are the number of new hires we made each year. Of the 16 positions planned,13 were filled.
Extensive data from University of Kansas Office of Institutional Research and Planning begins onthe next page. In a few places there are discrepancies with our data, due to different ways ofclassifying and collecting data.
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Department of
Mathematics
Summary
Table F.1: Academic Information Management System data
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - Division of Natural Sciences and MathematicsDepartment: Mathematics
ADVISORY REGARDING SENSITIVE DATA
Note: These reports have been created to give access to data needed by campusdecision-makers. Use care in sharing any data from these reports that might beconsidered confidential, such as financial aid awarded, or data cells that representfewer than five individuals . When a data cell represents just one individual, details areintentionally suppressed.
Notes and comments for this department and its programs:
1. In Fall 2009, in response to an initiative from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, many CLAS departmentsmore accurately recorded the teaching efforts of their graduate teaching assistants who instruct students directly. This change is reflected in the Instructor Workload Information by an increase in GTAs who are instructors of recordand a corresponding decrease in GTAs who are not instructors of record.
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - Division of Natural Sciences and MathematicsDepartment: Mathematics
Graduate Student Satisfaction Measures
Comparative results from the Spring 2005 and Fall 2009 Graduate Student Surveys
Factors that are obstacles to academic progress in unit
KU Graduate students overall
Obstacles Major Minor
2009
2005
Other
Immigration lawsor regulations
Familyobligations
Availabilityof faculty
Coursescheduling
Work/financialcommitments
Program structureor requirement
Other
Immigration lawsor regulations
Availabilityof faculty
Work/financialcommitments
Program structureor requirement
Familyobligations
Coursescheduling
Percent
0.0% 50.0% 100.0%
Appendix G
Complete requirements for the MA
The complete list of requirements, include the University requirements, can be found beginning onthe next page.
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Graduate School Requirements for the M.A. Degree
(As abstracted from the 2009-11 Graduate School Catalog.)
A Master of Arts requires at least one year of graduate work or its equivalent. Stated in terms of hours of credit, the standard master's program requires 30 hours, though some degrees may require as many as 36 or 40 or more. With permission of the department and of the Graduate Division it is sometimes possible to complete a 30-hour master's degree with as few as 24 hours if the student enters the program especially well prepared and maintains a superior grade-point average. Work for a master's degree is concentrated in the major area, with only a minimal amount of work (usually no more than six hours) that is completed at KU permitted outside the major department. Each master's program must contain a research component, represented either by a thesis (usually for six hours of credit) or by an equivalent enrollment in research, independent investigation or seminars. Within these requirements and well-founded practices, departmental master’s programs may be flexible enough to meet the particular needs of individual students.
A final general examination or defense of the thesis or culminating mater's prooject in the major subject is required of all candidates for the degree of Master of Arts. The degree program and the Graduate Division should ascertain that the graduate student is in good academic standing (3.0 or higher grade point average) before scheduling the final general examination or thesis defense. At the option of the department, the examination may be oral or written, or partly oral and partly written. Master's examinations are administered by a committee of at least three members of the Graduate Faculty. The examination is held during the semester of the student's final enrollment in course work. The thesis defense should be held when the thesis has been substantially completed. The department's request to schedule the general examination must be made on or before the date set by the Graduate Division, normally a minimum of two weeks before the examination date. Students earning a master’s thesis degree must have completed at least 1 hour of thesis enrollment before the master’s degree may be awarded. See www.graduate.ku.edu for information and requirements for submitting the thesis electronically.
All Master's degree students who have completed the required coursework for their degrees are required to be continuously enrolled for the fall and spring semesters until all requirements for the degree are completed. No enrollment is required during the summer session. This requirement affects those students who have not yet completed their thesis/research project/seminar papers. If a student has not enrolled correctly, the hours will have to be "made up" (i.e., paid for) before a student can graduate.
All graduate students enrolled in master's graduate programs must be enrolled the semester they complete master's degree requirements. Master's students who complete degree requirements during the first week of summer session or within the first two weeks of the fall or spring semester are not required to be enrolled for that term unless they were not enrolled during the previous semester.
Normal expectations are that most master's degrees should be completed in two years of full-time study. Master's degree students are allowed seven years for completion of all degree requirements. In cases in which compelling reasons or circumstances recommend a one-year extension, the Graduate Division, on recommendation of the department/committee, has authority to grant the extension. In cases where more than eight years are requested, the appropriate appeals body of the school considers petitions for further extensions and, where evidence of continuous progress, currency of knowledge, and other reasons are compelling, may grant them.
General rules for the preparation of a thesis can be obtained in the Graduate Division Office.
Departmental Requirements for the M.A. Degree
A student must fulfill the general requirements of the Graduate School and complete one of the following options.
1. Pass the qualifying examinations in algebra, analysis, and one in probability/statistics or numerical analysis, and complete 30 hours of 700 or above level courses of which 12 hours are 800 or above.
2. Complete 30 hours of courses and pass an oral examination. These courses must include MATH 800, 810, 820, 830, 831, at least 9 of the remaining 15 hours must be from courses numbered 700 or above. These additional hours may include the enrollment credit (a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 6 hours) used to fulfill a research component, e.g., enrollment in MATH 896, 899, 990, 993 or advanced courses. An M.A. candidate must demonstrate an ability to communicate mathematics both orally and in written form. In particular, an M.A. candidate not selecting the thesis option (MATH 899) will be expected to write a technical report as part of his or her research component. Also, a candidate will be required to give a short (30 to 60 minutes) presentation of his or her research component in the first part of the oral examination.
3. Complete 36 hours of courses numbered 600 or above, complete a research component, and pass an oral examination. These courses must include complete MATH 727, 765, 781, 790 and 791. At least 24 of the 36 hours must be in courses numbered 700 or above. Course equivalents to MATH 727, 765, 781, 790, 791 may be substituted if approved by the Graduate Studies Committee. An M.A. candidate may, with prior approval of the Graduate Director, substitute up to 9 hours of graduate courses taught in other departments. Also, the 36 hours may include the enrollment credit (a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 6 hours) used to fulfill a research component e.g., enrollment in MATH 896, 899, 990, 993 or advanced courses. An M.A. candidate must demonstrate an ability to communicate mathematics both orally and in written form. In particular, an M.A. candidate not selecting the thesis option (MATH 899) will be expected to write a technical report as part of his or her research component. Also, a candidate will be required to give a short (30 to 60 minutes) presentation of his or her research component in the first part of the oral examination. A proposed program of study must be submitted to the Graduate Director at the earliest feasible time - preferably during the second semester of enrollment. The degree will be awarded only on the basis of an approved program, which can, however be revised.
In exceptional cases a few semester hours of credit (a maximum of 6) may be transferred from another university and counted as part of the semester hour requirement for the M.A. degree. All transferred credit hours are subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee.
A graduate student must maintain at least a B average in his or her graduate courses to be in good standing. The grading system of the Graduate School is explained in Grading System for the Graduate School .
The Application for Degree (AFD) should be submitted online through Enroll and Pay. This is commonly done during enrollment for the session in which the requirements for the degree are expected to be completed.
The written examination required on Option 1 is discussed in the Ph.D. program. The oral examination required in Options 2 and 3 is scheduled for the individual student by the Graduate Director. This examination should occur near the time of completion of the course work for the degree. The oral examination will cover the candidate's course work in mathematics (including the thesis or research component). The student should notify the Graduate Director of his or her intention to take the oral examination at least three weeks prior to the time he or she wishes to take this examination. The Graduate School sets deadlines for completion of all requirements, including the oral examination, for August, May or December graduation. The deadline is usually about five weeks before graduation.
Students choosing Option 2 or 3 must select a member of the senior staff to supervise their research component. A non-thesis research component usually consists of research, independent investigation (e.g. a special reading course in which a mathematical article is researched), or research seminars. A technical
report is normally required. Other non-thesis research components are possible and can be designed by the student and the senior staff supervisor with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. The thesis usually contains an original exposition of a topic in mathematics rather than an original contribution to knowledge. If a thesis is written, the oral examination will not be scheduled until the thesis is complete. The student must submit four unbound copies of the thesis to the thesis supervisor at least two weeks before the oral examination is to be given so that it can be reviewed by the members of the examining committee before the examination.
Option 3 is designed to meet the needs of a wide variety of students, including those who intend to teach or to work in government or industry after completing their master's degree and those who intend to pursue further graduate study in the mathematical, the natural, or the social sciences. Students electing this option are encouraged to take courses offered by other departments in areas of applied mathematics.
A great variety of course programs is possible under Option 3 and the program selected by a particular student will depend both on his or her educational purposes and on the current availability of courses. In general, the student's program must have a coherent theme and must be appropriate as a master's level program in its particular area of mathematics. While many students under Option 3 choose to focus on an area of pure mathematics, there is great flexibility.
Possible programs include the following:
A student interested in an applied statistics or applied mathematics program can emphasize linear models, time series analysis, numerical analysis, computational statistics, or actuarial science.
A student wishing to earn a master's degree in mathematics with emphasis in mathematics education can choose from a wide variety of pure and applied mathematics courses.
A student interested in future doctoral study in statistics can construct a program including work in both theoretical and applied statistics, together with some training in computing and in probability theory and abstract mathematics.
A student interested in concurrent or subsequent graduate work in any of a variety of areas can select a program leading to an M.A. in Mathematics which would simultaneously deepen his or her mathematics background and help prepare the student for further work in the area of application. For example, it is possible to construct programs which combine mathematics with the following areas:
i. operations research with courses in probability theory, mathematical programming and statistics in both the Mathematics Department and the Business School,
ii. mathematical biology or biostatistics with courses in probability theory, statistics, real analysis, and differential equations plus courses in genetics and applied statistics in the Division of Biological Sciences,
iii. mathematical economics with courses in analysis and differential equations plus courses in theoretical economics,
iv. econometrics with statistics and probability courses in the Mathematics Department plus economics courses in the Economics Department,
v. quantitative psychology with courses in statistics plus courses in psychological statistics, and
vi. a particular area of engineering, with appropriate mathematics courses; for example, classical applied mathematics courses for the area of civil engineering; or control theory, probability theory, and stochastic processes courses for the area of electrical engineering.
An M.A. program with emphasis in yet other areas of the science is, of course, also possible.
THE MASTER'S EXAMINATION.
The Application for Degree (AFD) should be submitted online through Enroll and Pay. This is usually done during enrollment for the session in which requirements for the degree are expected to be completed.
A student who has passed the written qualifying examination for the Ph.D. should let the Graduate Director know his or her wish to receive a Master's degree. A student who wishes to schedule a Master's Oral Examination should see the Graduate Director, who will arrange for an examination time, committee, and see to it that the necessary Progress to Degree forms are executed. The Progress to Degree form must be completed at least three weeks before the date of the examination. In order to graduate in August, May or December, the examination must be taken before the Graduate School deadline.
A student writing a thesis should consult the Graduate School's website for instructions to electronically submit the thesis at http://www.graduate.ku.edu/04-02_etd.shtml.
Following the examination, the chairman of the examination committee completes and signs the Progress to Degree form (and the Change-of-Grade cards usually required in the case of the thesis option) and returns them to the Graduate Director.
Summary of Master's Requirements
Option Total No.
of Credit Hrs
Course Level Courses Required Research Component Exams
1 30
700 and above
At least 12 hours at 800 level or
above
Qualifying exams in algebra, analysis and one of the numerical analysis or
probability/statistics.
3 30 700 and above 800, 810, 820, 830, 831
2-6 hours (896, 899, 990, 993, etc...)
Projects
Oral Exam
4 36
600 and above
At least 24 hours at 700 level or
above
727, 765, 781, 790, 791
2-6 hours (896, 899, 990, 993, etc...)
Project or Thesis
Oral Exam or
Thesis Defense
GRA/GTA must be enrolled in at least six credit hours in fall and spring.
Non GTA/GRA international students must be enrolled in nine hours.
Appendix H
Complete requirements for the PhD
The complete list of requirements, include the University requirements, can be found beginning onthe next page.
92
The Ph.D. Program
The rules, regulations, and requirements for the doctoral program are somewhat more detailed. Before laying them out in a detail we give an informal summary.
The major checkpoints of one's progress toward a Ph.D. Are:
i. The departmental written qualifying examinations
ii. Selecting a mentor
iii. The written preliminary examination
iv. Coursework requirements before the oral examination
v. The foreign language/computer skills requirements
vi. The oral comprehensive examination
vii. The dissertation
viii. Additional coursework
ix. The final examination
The comprehensive examination follows soon after the passing of the preliminary examination. Before the comprehensive can be scheduled, the preliminary examination must be passed, the foreign language (research skills) requirement met, and certain course work required by the department completed.
When the student passes the comprehensive, his or her dissertation committee is established and more specialized individual research activities predominate. Upon the completion of an acceptable dissertation, the final examination is scheduled; its name states its role--the final step towards the degree.
Graduate School Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
(As abstracted from the 2009-11 Graduate School Catalog.)
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest degree offered by the university. It is awarded for mastering a field of scholarship, for learning the methods of investigation appropriate to that field, and for completing a substantial piece of original research.
Although the courses and the research leading to the Ph.D. are necessarily specialized, the attainment of this degree should not be an isolated event in the enterprise of learning. The Ph.D. aspirant is expected to be a well-educated person with a broad base of general knowledge, not only as preparation for more advanced work but also as a means of knowing how the chosen specialty is related to other fields of human thought.
To give depth and breadth to their doctoral programs, many departments require some work in a minor field or at least an articulated selection of extra-departmental courses. Because of the diversity of the fields in which the Ph.D. is offered and the variety of needs and interests represented by individual students, the degree does not have a specific requirement for a minor. However, the Ph.D. aspirant is encouraged to plan an integrated program, under departmental direction, that will include courses outside the major field.
1. APPLICATION AND ADMISSION
A student who seeks admission to a doctoral program must apply to the department and school offering the desired degree. Upon admission, the student is known as an aspirant for the degree and shall remain so
designated until successful completion of the comprehensive oral examination. After passing that examination the student is designated a candidate for the degree.
2. Program Time Constraints
Minimum Tenure. The student must spend three full academic years, or the bona fide equivalent thereof, in resident study at this or some other approved university, including the time spent in attaining the master's degree. Resident study at less than full time requires a correspondingly longer period, but the requirement is not measured merely in hours of enrollment. Because a minimum number of hours for the degree is not prescribed, no transfer of credit is appropriate. However, graduate degree programs take relevant prior graduate work into consideration in setting up programs of study leading to the doctorate.
Residence Requirement. Two semesters, which may include one summer session, must be spent in resident study at the KU. During this period, the student must be involved full time in academic or professional pursuits, which may include an appointment for teaching or research if it is directed specifically toward degree objectives. The student must be enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours per semester and the increased research involvement must be fully supported and documented by the dissertation supervisor as contributing to the student's dissertation or program objectives. Research work must be performed under the direct supervision of the major adviser if on campus, or with adequate liaison if off campus.
Maximum Tenure. After being admitted to doctoral programs at the KU, students complete all degree requirements in eight years. In cases in which compelling circumstances recommend a one-year extension, the Graduate Division has authority to grant the extension on the written advice of the department and dissertation committee. Students who complete the master's degree at KU and subsequently begin doctoral studies have a maximum total enrolled time of 10 years to complete both degrees. Normal expectations, however, are that most master' degrees should be completed in two years of full-time study,, and both master's and doctorate in six years of full-time study. Some graduate degree programs may have more stringent time restrictions. Students should inquire about the policy in effect in the department in which they plan to study.
A student in any of the above categories may petition the Graduate Division through the department for a leave of absence during either the pre- or post-comprehensive period to pursue full-time professional activities related to the student's doctoral program and long-range professional goals. Leaves of absence also may be granted because of illness or other emergency. Ordinarily a leave of absence is granted for one year, with the possibility of extension upon request. After an absence of five years, however, a doctoral aspirant or candidate loses status as such and must apply for readmission to the program and the Graduate Division.
3. RESEARCH SKILLS (Language Requirement and Computer Science Skill).
Specific research skills requirements vary with graduate degree programs, but all reflect the expectation of a significant research skill component distinct from, but strongly supportive of, the dissertation. Traditionally, a reading knowledge of two foreign (non-English) languages, a demonstrated competence in reading, writing, and speaking in one foreign language, or a reading knowledge of one foreign language and demonstrated proficiency in some other research skill, such as computer science, has been required.
When the aspirant has met the requirements for research skills recommended by the program and approved by the school, the program must report this fact to the Graduate Division on the appropriate form, certifying that the student is prepared to proceed to the comprehensive oral examination. If a program requires research skills that are tested separately from the program, completion of each requirement should be reported immediately to the Graduate Division so that it may be recorded on the student's permanent record.
The formal procedures that have been established for demonstration of the foreign language and computer science competences are listed on page 19 of the Graduate School Catalog.
4. COMPREHENSIVE ORAL EXAMINATION
When a doctoral aspirant has completed the major portion of the course work at a level satisfactory to the graduate degree progam and school and has met all other program, school and general requirements prerequisite to the comprehensive oral examination, including the research skills requirement as appropriately applied and established for the student's particular program, the degree program must request the Graduate Division of its school to schedule the comprehensive oral examination. It should be determined that the student is in good academic standing (3.0 or higher grade-point average) before scheduling the exam. The examination request must be submited in advance of the examination date by at least the period specified by the Graduate Division, normally a minimum of two weeks. The Graduate Division ascertains whether all pertinent requirements have been satisfied and if reports of any previously scheduled comprehensive oral examinations have been properly submitted and recorded.
The committee for the comprehensive oral examination must consist of at least five members, all of whom must be members of the Graduate Faculty. Its members are appointed by the Graduate Division of the school or college on the basis of nominations submitted by the graduate degree program. At least one member must be from a department other than the aspirant's major department. This member represents Graduate Studies and must be a regular member of the Graduate Faculty. The Graduate Studies representative is a voting member of the committee, has full right to participate in the examination, and reports any unsatisfactory or irregular aspects of the examination to the committee chair, department chair, Graduate Division, and Graduate Studies. The examination may be scheduled provided that at least five months have elapsed from the time of the aspirant's first enrollment at KU.
The comprehensive oral examination covers the major field and any extradepartmental work for which the program wishes to hold the aspirant responsible. For every scheduled examination, the degree program reports a grade of Honors, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory. If the aspirant receives a grade of Unsatisfactory on the comprehensive oral examination, it may be repeated upon the recommendation of the degree program, but under no circumstances may it be taken more than three times. In any case, the examination may not be repeated until at least 90 days have elapsed since the last unsuccessful attempt.
5. CANDIDACY
Dissertation Committee: After passing the comprehensive oral examination, the aspirant becomes a candidate for the doctorate. If it has not begun before, the traditional, close student-mentor apprenticeship relationship comes into being. The student is expected to learn by both precept and example of the mentor, and often in collaboration. The chosen field of scholarship is explored using acquired research tools. The principles and customs of academic inquiry and the codes of ethics traditional to the various disciplines and professional fields become part of the student's thinking and working.
When the student passes the comprehensive oral examination, the Graduate Division of the appropriate school designates the candidate’s dissertation committee based on the recommendations of the candidate’s major department. The dissertation committee must consist of at least three members and may include members from other departments and divisions or, on occasion, members from outside the university. All members of the committee must be chosen from the Graduate Faculty, and the chair must, in addition, be authorized to chair doctoral dissertations. A prospective member of the committee from outside the university must have gained appointment as an Ad hoc member of the Graduate Faculty before appointment to the committee.
Post-comprehensive Enrollment: After passing the comprehensive oral examination for a doctoral degree, the candidate must be continuously enrolled, including summer sessions, until all requirements for the degree are completed, and each enrollment must reflect as accurately as possible the candidate’s demands
on faculty time and university facilities. During this time, until all requirements for the degree are completed (including the filing of the dissertation) or until 18 post-comprehensive hours have been completed (whichever comes first), the candidate must enroll for a minimum of 6 hours a semester and 3 hours a summer session.
Post-comprehensive enrollment may include enrollment during the semester or summer session in which the comprehensive oral examination has been passed. If after 18 hours of post-comprehensive enrollment the degree is not completed, the candidate must continue to enroll each semester and each summer session until all requirements for the degree have been met. The number of hours of each enrollment shall be determined by the candidate's adviser and must reflect as accurately as possible the candidate's demands on faculty time and university facilities.
6. Dissertation Committee/Dissertation
The candidate must present a dissertation showing the planning, conduct and results of original research and scholarly creativity. The purpose of the dissertation is to encourage and assure the development of broad intellectual capabilities as well as to demonstrate an intensive focus on a problem or research area. The dissertation itself should be an evident product of the candidate's growth and attainment of the ability to identify significant problems; organize, analyze and communicate scholarly results; and bring to bear on a useful area of interest a variety of research skills and scholarly or creative processes. It must show some original accomplishment, but it should also demonstrate without doubt the candidate's potential to make future contributions to knowledge and understanding.
The dissertation is to be a coherent scholarly work, not a collage of separate, distinct pieces. Its unity of theme and treatment may still accommodate several subtopics by demonstrating their relationships and interactions. If previously published material by other authors is included in the dissertation, it must be quoted and documented. It should be noted that prior publication does not guarantee acceptance of the dissertation by the dissertation committee. Final acceptance of the dissertation is subject to the approval of the dissertation committee. The dissertation—or one or more substantial portions of it, often rewritten—is expected to be publishable and indeed to be published (see Dissertation Submission and Publication section).
Both the dissertation research and the dissertation itself are to be completed under the guidance and direction of the committee appointed as described above. Instructions about the proper form of the dissertation may be obtained at www.graduate.ku.edu or from the Graduate Division of each program. Candidates and faculty members are reminded that the dissertation is to be a coherent, logically organized scholarly document. Because the demands and practices of different disciplines are varied, the format is somewhat flexibly described, and moderate departures from the norm are allowed when justified by the nature of the work or the circumstances of presentation. Any substantial divergence must be approved in advance as prescribed by the instructions, and candidates and faculty members are urged to seek early approval to avoid last-minute disappointments over unacceptable format or reproduction.
7. FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION
Completion of the dissertation is the culminating academic phase of a doctoral program, climaxed by the final oral examination and defense of the dissertation. In all but the rarest cases, tentative approval of the dissertation is followed promptly by the final oral examination. When the completed dissertation has been accepted by the committee in final draft form and all other degree requirements have been satisfied, the chair of the committee requests the Graduate Division to schedule the final oral examination. This request must be made in advance of the desired examination by at least the period specified by the Graduate Division (normally at least three weeks). The submission of the request must allow sufficient time to publicize the examination so that interested members of the university community may attend. At lease five months must elapse between the successful completion of the comprehensive oral examination and the date of the final oral examination.
The committee for the final oral examination must consist of at least five members (the members of the dissertation committee plus other members of the Graduate Faculty recommended by the committee chair and the department and appointed by the Graduate Division). At least one member must be from a department other than the major department. This member represents Graduate Studies and must be a regular member of the Graduate Faculty. Before the examination, the Graduate Division provides a list of responsibilities to the Graduate Studies representative. The Graduate Studies representative is a voting member of the committee, has full right to participate in the examination, and provides a written report on any unsatisfactory or irregular aspects of the examination to the committee chair, Graduate Division, and Graduate Studies. The Graduate Division ascertains whether all other degree requirements have been met and if reports of any previously scheduled final oral examinations have been properly submitted and recorded. Upon approval of the request, the final oral examination is scheduled at the time and place designated by the Graduate Division. This information must be published in a news medium as prescribed by the Graduate Faculty. Interested members of the university community are encouraged to attend these examinations.
For every scheduled final oral examination, the department reports to the Graduate Division a grade of Honors, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory for the candidate's performance. If an Unsatisfactory grade is reported, the candidate may be allowed to repeat the examination on the recommendation of the department.
8. DISSERTATION SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION
When the final oral examination has been passed and the dissertation has been signed by the members of the dissertation committee, a title page and acceptance page with original signatures are to be delivered to the Graduate Division so that completion of degree requirements may be officially certified. In addition, the candidate must arrange publication of the dissertation and payment of all associated fees through the electronic submission process found at www.graduate.ku.edu.
The student must be the author of the dissertation, and every publication from it naturally must indicate that authorship. However, practices vary among disciplines, and even among scholars in a given field, as to whether the mentor’s name may appear as a co-author and whether as senior or junior, on the published dissertation, usually revised, or on articles prepared from it. Clear understandings in individual cases are expected to derive from the apprenticeship period, when the inculcation of ethical practices in the student best results from their regular application by the mentor.
Departmental Requirements for the PH.D. Degree
a. THE QUALIFYING EXAMINATIONS IN MATHEMATICS
1. The Department of Mathematics requires those students who seek the Ph.D. degree in mathematics to pass three written qualifying examinations in the areas of algebra, analysis, and applied mathematics. The examinations in algebra, analysis, and applied mathematics are written following the outlines below. For the applied mathematics examinations, students may choose either numerical analysis or probability and statistics.
2. The qualifying examinations will be given near the beginning of each fall and spring semester. Each qualifying exam is to be passed within fifteen months or three semesters of completion of the highest preparatory course (MATH 791, 766, 782 or 728, respectively). All three must be passed by the beginning of the fifth semester. We recommend that all be passed by the beginning of the third semester.
3. An outline of the topics to be covered in the written qualifying examinations can be found beginning on page 91.
b. SELECTING A MENTOR
A Ph.D. student who has passed all three of the qualifying examinations needs a faculty mentor (if he or she has not already acquired one) to consult before completing the preliminary examination phase of the Ph.D. program. The Graduate Director will help the student in selecting a faculty mentor. The student in consultation with the faculty mentor must select either a pure track or applied mathematics track for the Ph.D. and start the process of selecting a broad area of specialization.
c. THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN MATHEMATICS
The Department of Mathematics requires all students who seek the Ph.D. degree in mathematics to pass one preliminary examination in the student's area of specialization. The preliminary examination is individualized, and may be written, oral, or both. A preliminary examination committee of at least three faculty members will decide on the form of the exam, and give the student an outline of topics and suggested readings. The same committee will then design the exam and evaluate the student's performance. Under normal circumstances this committee will be a subset of the student's Ph.D. Committee.
The student must pass all three of the qualifying examinations before taking the preliminary examination. Soon after the student passes the qualifying examinations, a preliminary examination committee of at least three faculty members should be formed. A Ph.D. aspirant is encouraged to take the preliminary examination as soon as possible, but must pass it by the beginning of the eighth semester. The outline of topics and suggested readings for the preliminary examination will be given to the student in writing well in advance of the exam, and a tentative date for the exam will be set at this time.
d. COURSEWORK REQUIREMENTS BEFORE THE ORAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
Students in both tracks are required to complete significant course work at the 800 or higher level. This course work serves both to prepare the student for the oral comprehensive examination and to provide a broad background. All courses meeting this requirement must be passed with a grade of B or higher.
Students on the pure track must complete MATH 800, 810, 820, 830, and an approved course in geometry (e.g., MATH 840, 910, 920).
Students on the applied track must complete MATH 727 (or corresponding qualifying examination); 781 (or corresponding qualifying examination); 800, 810; one of the sequences 881-882, 865-866, or 850-851; and one of the 840, 850, or 950.
e. RESEARCH SKILLS
The research skill is met by demonstrating a reading knowledge of one of the four languages Chinese, French, German, Russian and a working knowledge of a programming language such as C++ or FORTRAN.
A reading knowledge of a foreign language may be demonstrated in one (or a combination) of four ways:
1. Make a score on the Educational Testing Service Graduate Student Foreign Language Test (GSFLT) in the language above the minimal level prescribed by the Graduate School. The GSFLT is given four times a year on dates announced by the Educational Testing Service. A registration fee is required. Registration forms are available at the University Counseling Center, 116 Bailey Hall.
2. Complete French 100, German 101, Russian 101 with a grade of C or better.
3. Pass the College proficiency examination or 16 hours in a single language taken at this or at another university as a graduate or undergraduate student.
4. Pass examinations administered by Mathematics Department members competent in Chinese, French, German, or Russian.
A working knowledge of a programming language may be demonstrated in one of the following ways:
1. Complete an approved introductory programming language course.
2. Complete 6 hours in computer science courses at a level of C++ or FORTRAN and above (e.g., a three-credit-hour course in data structures) taken at this or at another university as a graduate or undergraduate.
3. Complete a project or pass an examination demonstrating competence in a programming language administered by a faculty member well-versed in C++, FORTRAN or any other comparable language.
b. THE ORAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION IN MATHEMATICS
1. Before taking the oral comprehensive examination in Mathematics a student must do the following:
i. Satisfy the Graduate School requirements (See section Advanced Degrees in Mathematics, The Ph.D. Program).
ii. Pass the three qualifying examinations.
iii. Pass the written preliminary examination.
iv. Satisfy the research skills of a foreign language and a computer programming language.
v. Satisfy the course requirements.
vi. Select an advisor and an advisory committee consisting of the advisor and two other graduate faculty members of the Department.
2. Normally, the work required to prepare a student for the oral comprehensive examination (and to prepare a student to do research) will take the form of one or more semesters of advanced courses, directed readings, and seminars. In the examination a student will be required to show proficiency in his or her chosen area of mathematics. The subject matter and format will be determined by the student's advisory committee. This should be done as soon as feasible, and a letter sent to the student from the advisory committee well in advance of the exam stating these responsibilities.
3. A student must take the oral comprehensive examination no later than the end of the second semester following the semester during which he or she passes the written preliminary examination. A student who fails the oral comprehensive examination may retake it one time. In any case, a student who seeks the Ph.D. degree in Mathematics must pass the oral comprehensive examination by the end of his or her eighth semester of residence.
4. When a graduate student is ready to take the oral comprehensive examination, the student should arrange for a time and a place agreeable to his or her examination committee (usually the advisory committee, one additional member of the Department's graduate faculty, and one member of the graduate faculty from outside the Department for a total of five members). The student's advisor reports the time and place to the Graduate Director who will execute the necessary Progress to Degree form. This must be done at least three weeks before the date of examination.
Following the examination, the chairman of the examination committee shall complete the Progress to Degree form and recommend membership of the Student's Dissertation Committee (usually the advisory committee). The completed Progress to Degree form is returned to the Graduate Director.
c. THE DISSERTATION AND THE DISSERTATION SUPERVISOR
1. After passing the oral comprehensive examination, the student is free to request, as the supervisor of his Ph.D. dissertation, any member of the senior staff who has been approved by the Graduate School to serve as the chair of a Ph.D. dissertation committee. These members of the senior staff for the academic year 2010-2011 are the following:
2. The normal course load for a student working on a dissertation is one course, with the rest of the enrollment in dissertation. This is an important development stage of a graduate career, and students are strongly encouraged to broaden their background by taking advanced graduate courses in areas other than their specialization or to take graduate courses in new areas; e.g., a student writing a dissertation in topology is encouraged to take advanced graduate courses in algebra or analysis or to take graduate courses in statistics and/or computer science.
3. During this period, the student should be aware of the minimum and maximum time constraints as described in the section Program Time Constraints. Also, if the residency requirement has not been satisfied, now is the time to meet the requirement.
d. ADDITIONAL COURSEWORK
The student must complete four additional courses at the 800 or above level before the Final Examination. Mathematics courses at the 700 level may be substituted with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee; examples of courses that may be approved are MATH 724 and 725. 700 level or higher courses outside the Department may be substituted with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. We recommend that all coursework be completed before the comprehensive examination.
e. THE FINAL EXAMINATION
1. When the research for dissertation is completed and the student is writing up the results, the student should obtain the guideline for typing a dissertation from the Graduate School Office (Strong Hall, Room 308) and carefully to read section Dissertation Committee/Dissertation.
2. The arrangements should be made at least three weeks before the proposed date of the examination. The examination should be held and the Dissertation filed with the Graduate Division of the College well in advance of the date of the conferral of the Degree (See Graduate School Calendar 2010-2011).
The committee chairman recommends an examining committee (usually the Dissertation Committee, one additional member of the Department's graduate faculty, and one member of the graduate faculty from outside the Department for a total of five members) and a time and place for the examination. The Graduate Director will execute a Progress to Degree form requesting the examination.
NOTE: This request for a Final Examination includes the assertion that the Dissertation Committee finds the dissertation acceptable; the chair should take care to be sure that this is indeed the case. Unbound copies of the dissertation should be made available to the examining committee two weeks prior to the examination.
Following the examination, the chair should complete the Progress to Degree form and return it to the Graduate Director.
Outline of Topics for the Qualifying Examinations in Mathematics
1. The following is an outline of the topics to be covered in the written qualifying examinations in algebra:
INTEGERS.
1. GCD's.
2. LCM's
3. Unique factorization.
GROUPS.
1. Examples.
2. Subgroups.
3. Normal subgroups.
4. Quotient groups.
5. Homomorphisms.
6. Permutations groups.
7. Structure theorem for finitely generated abelian groups.
RINGS.
1. Examples.
2. Ideals.
3. Quotient rings.
4. Homomorphisms.
5. Euclidean domains.
6. Principal ideal domains.
7. Unique factorization domains.
8. Polynomial rings.
FIELDS.
1. Algebraic extensions.
2. Automorphisms of fields.
3. Transcendence degree.
LINEAR ALGEBRA.
1. Vector spaces.
2. Dual spaces.
3. Inner product spaces (including orthonormal bases via Graham-Schmidt).
4. Linear transformations.
5. Matrices (including the trace and determinant).
6. Canonical forms (including rational and Jordan canonical forms).
7. Unitary and Hermitian transformations (as time permits).
Most of the material listed above will be covered yearly in MATH 790-791. References: Topics in Algebra, Herstein and Algebra, Hungerford.
2. The following is an outline of topics to be covered in the written qualifying examination in analysis:
ANALYSIS.
1. Metric spaces (rudimentary topology, including compactness; convergence of sequences; Cauchy sequences and completeness; continuous functions between metric spaces, uniform continuity).
2. R and Rn in particular (sup and inf for subsets of R, lim sup and lim inf for real sequences; Heine-Borel theorem and its relatives).
3. Derivative (mean value theorem and Taylor's theorem for real functions on a real interval; derivative as linear map for vector-valued functions on an open subset of Rn; inverse function theorem and implicit function theorem for vector-valued functions).
4. Riemann integration for functions on a real interval.
5. Series (standard convergence results for series with constant terms; uniform convergence of sequences and series of functions; results on termwise integration and differentiation; power series).
6. Results on interchange of limiting operations (sums, derivatives, integrals, etc.), and examples to show that such interchange is not automatically valid.
7. Instructive examples generally.
One may expect a considerable portion of this material to be covered in MATH 765-766. References: Introduction to Real Analysis, Wade; Principles of Mathematical Analysis, Rudin.
3. The following is an outline of the topics to be covered in the written qualifying examination in numerical analysis:
Students considering taking the numerical analysis qualifier examination are advised to discuss their preparation with one of the numerical analysis faculty.
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS.
1. Computer arithmetic: floating-point arithmetic, rounding, error propagation, loss of significance, and conditioning.
2. Solution of nonlinear equations: iterative methods (bisection method, Newton's method, secant method), rates of convergence, functional iteration.
3. Interpolation and approximation of functions: polynomial interpolation, Lagrange's and Newton's forms, divided differences.
4. Numerical differentiation and integration: numerical differentiation and Richardson extrapolation, numerical integration based on interpolation, Romberg integration, adaptive quadrature.
5. Numerical solution of initial value problems of ordinary differential equations: Taylor-series methods, Runge-Kutta methods, multi-step methods, consistency, stability, convergence, stiffness, stiff equations, A-stability.
6. Linear algebra: vector and matrix norms, canonical forms for matrices (Schur normal form, singular value decomposition, and Jordan canonical form), conditioning of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
7. Solution of linear systems: direct methods (LU and QR factorization), iterative methods (Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, SOR), and semi-iterative methods (Krylov subspace methods like conjugate gradients).
8. Computation of eigenvalues: power method, inverse iteration, Rayleigh quotients, QR algorithm.
Most topics are covered in the following two textbooks: Numerical Analysis, Mathematics of Scientific Computing, Kincaid and Cheney, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1996, second edition. An Introduction to Numerical Analysis, K.E. Atkinson, John Wiley and Sons, 1988, second edition.
4. The following is an outline of the topics to be covered in the written qualifying examination in probability and statistics. Students must pass both parts of the exam at the same time.
PROBABILITY.
1. Probability spaces; conditional probability; independent events.
2. Discrete and continuous random variables; univariate and multivariate probability distributions; special distributions.
3. Expectation and moments of random variables; moment generating functions and characteristic functions.
4. Probability inequalities; modes of convergence for sequences of random variables; laws of large numbers; central limit theorem; Slutsky's theorem.
STATISTICS.
1. Point estimation, concepts and methods; comparison of estimators.
2. Sufficient statistics; completeness; Rao-Blackwell theorem tests of hypotheses; Neyman-Pearson lemma; uniformly most powerful tests; likelihood ratio tests.
3. Interval estimation, concepts and methods; relationships to hypothesis testing and point estimation.
4. Examples of applications.
Most of the material will be covered in MATH 727-728. References: Modern Mathematical Statistics, Dudewicz and Mishra; Probability and Statistical Inference, Bartoszynski and Niewiadomska-Bugaj; and Statistical Inference, Casella and Berger.
Summary of PH.D. Requirements
Track Courses Required Exams Research Skills Enrollment Hours Research
Component
Pure
800, 810, 820, 830
One of 840, 910, 920
Four additional courses at 800 level or above.
Quals in algebra, analysis, and one in
numerical analysis or probability/statistics by
the beginning of the fifth semester.
Preliminary by the beginning of the eighth
semester.
Comprehensive Oral
Final Thesis Defense
One Foreign
Language
Computer Skill
At least six per semester during two semester minimum
residency.
18 after oral comprehensive (at least six in the fall and spring and at
least three in summer).
Continuous enrollment after that.
Thesis
Applied
727 or Qual in Probability/Statistics.
781 or Qual in
Numerical Analysis.
800, 810
One of 850-851 or 865-866 or
881-882
One of 840, 850 or 950.
Four additional courses at 800 level or above.
GTA/GRA must be enrolled in at least six hours in fall and spring.
Non GTA/GRA international students must be enrolled in nine hours.
Appendix I
Review of the graduate program ofthe University of Kansas mathematicsdepartment, 2010
I.1 Introduction
This fall, a committee was formed to review our graduate program. The committee memberswere Marge Bayer, Dan Katz, David Nualart, Atanas Stefanov, Hongguo Xu, and Judy Roitmanas chair. We were asked to look candidly and closely at our program, to provide informationthat could inform recommendations to the faculty for improvement, and to give our own informalrecommendations as they arose from our study. A summary of what we consider to be the mostpromising alternatives is found at the end of this report, but we emphasize that any final proposalsto be put to the department for a vote will come from the graduate committee.
We began by polling the faculty to find out their concerns. Much of our report is an attempt togather data that would help shed light as many of these concerns as possible. We looked not only atour own department, but at 15 peer departments: Auburn, Texas Tech, Colorado (both math andapplied math), Kentucky, North Carolina State, North Texas, Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Texas A& M, Oregon, Illinois at Chicago, Nebraska, Oklahoma. We also looked at other KU departmentswith respect to the FLORS (Foreign Language Or Research Skills) requirement. And, finally, weconsidered additional issues that arose out of our discussions.
The report is organized as follows: First a report on our own department, then informationabout other KU FLORS requirements, then a report on our peer institutions, and, finally, oursuggestions on possible changes.
Our report includes a number of charts. More detailed charts are available online. The URL ishttps://www.math.ku.edu/local/faculty/graduatereview/. To access it, use your KU math depart-ment ID and password. Note that this report is for internal use only. Do not publicly release data.This restriction is due to (a) protocols about using data from other institutions, and (b) universityrules about release of data.
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I.2 Our graduate program
I.2.1 Faculty concerns
We polled math department faculty to find out their concerns. Eight faculty members responded.There were six concerns of general interest. [We indicate the forms of our responses in squarebrackets.]
1. Quals. (mentioned by 6 faculty) Are they appropriate (both level and subject matter)? Arethey effective as gatekeepers? Is the deadline for completion the right one? Should we change thesystem radically? [We have suggestions on several of these matters.]
2. GTA teaching, (mentioned by 5 faculty) How can we reduce the GTA teaching load? Can weprepare our GTAs better? [We have no suggestions on this because we have no helpful data, butthere is some information in our study of peer departments that might be helpful in better financialtimes.]
3. Admissions and recruitment. (mentioned by 5 faculty) How can attract more high qualitystudents? How can we broaden our appeal to women and minorities? [We have some observationson what has been effective.]
4. Advising and mentoring. (mentioned by 4 faculty) Are we doing a good job now? How canwe improve? [We have few suggestions on this because we have little data.]
5. Course offerings and degree requirement. (mentioned by 3 faculty) Should we change theresearch skills requirement? Should we revise course offerings? Should we change aspects of theMA program? Should we improve our applied math program? [We have some suggestions on this.]
6. Financial aid. (mentioned by 2 faculty) How can we increase what we offer? Should we changeallocation among, say, summer research and new student scholarships? [We have some suggestionson this.]
Some of these issues were studied through department data, others through information aboutpeer institutions, and others using both methods. For a few, we could not see any useful and doableway of gathering information. All of the issues mentioned by the faculty are important, and weencourage the graduate committee to continue to consider them, whether or not we were able toshed light on them.
I.2.2 Analysis of quals data
In the 10 years we have been giving quals, 108 students have attempted at least one qual. In thischart, an administration is a date, e.g., fall 2006 or winter 2007; a student could take more thanone qual in an administration. We use the phrase “did not complete” because some students chosenot to pursue a PhD here before running out their quals clock.
Of the 44 students who passed, the mean number of administrations was 4.2. We have dataon the length of time to pass for 34 of them: on average, 1.55 years since entering. Twenty-twoof those students are currently here and on average, they took 2.02 years to pass. The frequencydistribution for these students can be found in table 2.
Note that 8 of the 22 needed extensions; 5 by more than one semester. We checked to see if thestudents who took three or more years entered without Masters degrees. Their admissions statuswas mixed: some entered as Masters students, some as PhD students.
We also looked at passing rates for different quals. As expected (because students get to choose
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Table I.1: Years to pass quals
total number of students taking quals 108
students still in the pipeline 14attempted only one administration and did not complete quals 20
attempted at least two administrations and did not complete quals 30passed quals 44
Table I.2: Years to pass quals
years to pass number of students
.5 31 1
1.5 32 7
2.5 33 44 1
the one they prefer) the over-all pass rate in applied math is higher than in pure math: probabilityand statistics 42%; numerical analysis 41%; algebra 38%; analysis 25%. There is a strikingly lowerpass rate in analysis, but there is also a strikingly different pattern in how students take the analysisand the algebra exams: there were many more attempts at analysis exams by students who nevertook algebra than attempts at algebra exams by students who never took analysis. 20 studentsfailed analysis and never took algebra, for a total of 49 attempts, while 6 students attempted algebraand never took analysis, for a total of 10 attempts. We don’t know the cause(s) of these strikinglydistinct patterns, and we felt that these patterns prevented us from coming to even a tentativeconclusion comparing the average level of difficulty of algebra quals to that of analysis quals.
We also looked for association between passing quals and course grades, but couldn’t find any.
Quals-by-student data is available online, with student names masked.
I.2.3 Graduate course data
Most of the regular courses taught every year are 700-level courses18; most 800-level courses thatare regularly taught are taught every other year; and 900-level courses are taught occasionally. Atotal of 196 sections of regular courses were taught in the 21 semesters. Of these sections 28 hadenrollments ranging from 25 to 39; 23 had enrollments ranging from 2 to 5. The mean enrollmentwas 12.7 students per section. A detailed interactive (if you open it in Excel) spreadsheet ofgraduate course data is available online.19
Courses taught every year: 727, 728, 765, 766, 781, 782, 783 (with the exception of 2000 and2006), 790, 791, 800, 810, 830 (with the exception of 2007).
18“regular” means “listed in the catalog”19We would like to thank Gloria Prothe for preparing this spreadsheet.
Courses listed in the graduate catalog that have not been taught in the last ten years: 715, 717,735, 740, 780, 801, 822, 870, 872, 874, 905, 910, 915, 963.
The schedule of courses allows Master’s students to complete their requirements in a timelyfashion. PhD. students must plan their schedules more carefully, due to the different frequenciesof course offerings. We spell this out in the next few paragraphs.
Courses required for the Master’s degree (most common option): 727, 765, 781, 790 and 791.These are taught every year.
Courses required for the PhD. in pure mathematics: 800, 810, 820, 830 and one of 840, 910, 920.800, 810 and 830 are taught every year, 820 and 840 are taught usually every other year, 920 hasbeen taught once, and 910 has not been taught in the past ten years.
Courses required for the PhD. in applied mathematics: 727, 781, 800, 810, one of the courses840, 850, 950, and one of the sequences 881-882, 865-866, and 850-851. 727, 781, 800, 810 weretaught every year, and it is anticipated that 881 and 882 will be taught at least in alternate years,840, 850, 865 were each taught roughly every other year, 950 was taught twice. The second coursesin the two-semester sequences (882, 866, 851) were taught just once, all in 2008. In the years 2003- 05, two 996 courses in dynamical systems and one in numerical analysis were taught; these mayhave been precursors to the courses 851 and 881.
Topics courses play an important role, especially in the PhD program. Our topics course numbersare 796 and 996. In the last 21 semesters there were seventeen sections of 796, a mean of 1.6 a year;and forty-three sections of 996, a mean of 4.1 a year. The number of 796 courses per academicyear ranged from zero (during three academic years) to four; two to six 996 courses were offeredper year. Enrollment in the 796 classes averaged approximately 9.4, and, in 996 classes, 7.0.
Table I.3: Topics course offerings
Field 796 996
algebra & algebraic geometry 20analysis 3 3
combinatorics 1 5differential equations & dynamical systems 2 4
Table 4 (next page) shows that graduate courses were taught by a large subset of the faculty.
Of the 38 tenure-track/tenured professors who taught graduate courses, 31 are still on the faculty.Four current tenure-track/tenured faculty members have not taught a graduate mathematics course
20i.e., not every year, at least four times in the last ten years or projected to be every other year in the future21881 was introduced in 2007, 881 was introduced in 2008.22i.e., between one and three times in the last ten years, and not projected to be taught more frequently23This overlaps the current 960 and it is anticipated that it will be phased out.
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Table I.4: Course offerings
Course Type Tenure-track Instructors Visiting Instructors
listed courses 38 2topics courses 18 4
in the last ten years; these are two assistant professors in their second year, one faculty memberwho has a joint appointment with the School of Education, and one full professor. One professortaught ten 996 courses in the ten-year period.
I.2.4 Recruiting efforts
A number of efforts have been made in the last ten years to recruit graduate students. Amongthese initiatives are:
• Participation in graduate recruiting fairs at the national level (joint AMS/MAA meetings,Kansas MAA meetings, SACNAS meetings, MSRI meeting, workshops...). In the last two AMS/MAAjoint meetings KU set up a graduate recruiting table, and it was quite popular.
• Personal connections. These include contact with KU graduates, and contact with col-leagues(for example, the topology connection has resulted in a number of students from MiamiUniversity). Our successful senior graduate students constitute an excellent channel to advertiseour program.
• Mailing letters to successful undergraduate students encouraging them to apply to our program.
• Disseminating information (e.g., sending a poster in the pre-internet age, maintaining a webpage that’s easy to use and informative).
We have some data on the effectiveness of personal connections and extra financial support, inthe form of information about the recruitment of 43 students. 31 of them were recruited directlyor indirectly (e.g., knowing a faculty member’s reputation) by 11 faculty members in their field ofinterest; 6 students were encouraged to come here by faculty members (including KU PhDs) at theirundergraduate institutions; two students came because of family connections; 2 received money fromthe Graduate School; and 2 were KU undergraduate students. With one or two exceptions, these43 students are either currently here or graduated with a KU math PhD. Detailed information onwhat we know about the effect of personal connections on recruitment is available online.
I.2.5 Graduate Admissions and Gender
Historically we have had a high percentage of women PhD students: in the last ten years, 29% ofour PhD graduates have been women. But currently the percentage of women in the program isconsiderably lower: 8 of our 60 current students24 are women, as are 3 of the 21 currently enrolledstudents past quals. We looked at admissions records for the last three years to try to understandthe decline. In the last three years, 88 students were offered admission to the graduate programin mathematics. Of these, 29, or 33%, were women. However, women made up a lower percentageof those who accepted admission and chose to enter graduate school in the KU math department.Women constituted 21.3% of the students who accepted KU and 18.2% of the students who then
24i.e., listed in the department directory
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actually enrolled as a graduate student. Altogether, 53.4% of candidates offered admission to theKU math graduate program accepted the offer. The percentage for women was 34.5%, and thatfor men was 62.7%. The figures were most skewed for the class entering Fall 2009. This year 39%of the students admitted were women, but only one student (9% of the entering students) was awoman.25
I.2.6 Admission status
A student can be admitted into the program in one of three ways: as an MA student, as a PhDstudent, and as an MA/PhD student. Criteria for these categories have not been consistent overtime, and our committee was asked to report how these decision were made.
Two rules were applied consistently:
• A student was admitted as an MA student if the student applied for the MA program.
• A student was admitted as a PhD student if the student applied for the PhD program andalready had an MA degree.
But if a student did not have an Masters degree and applied to the PhD program, there weresome differences over time. Earlier in the years of our study
• All such students were admitted as MA students
but later
• Students with a very strong record were admitted as PhD students, the rest as MA/PhD.
We can find no record of what “very strong” means.
Student admission status matters for several reasons:
• Admission status effects the way our department is perceived (e.g., how many students com-plete the degree)
• A student admitted as a PhD student only can not receive an MA without changing status.This affects students who are doing well but for various reasons need to leave the program. Andthe department may derive some benefit from awarding MA degrees to students on their way tothe PhD.
The following is a summary chart.
Table I.5: Admission status 1998 - 2008
MA MA/PhD PhD non-degree
current 28 25 16 3graduated or left without a degree 50 8 7 2
total admitted 78 33 23 5
I.2.7 Graduate support
Almost all graduate students have been supported as either GTAs or GRAs. The GRA supporthas been mainly from NSF sources (exclusively from personal grants of faculty), although some
25Although one woman who delayed coming for personal reasons is expected in spring 2010.
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funding has come from other sources, including University fellowships. Since Fall 2005, we havehad a total of 26 GRAs awarded from (NSF/other) faculty grants:
Table I.6: Number of GRAs awarded
year number
2005-6 52006-7 102007-8 52008-9 52009-10 1
I.2.8 Advising and mentoring
We considered the issue of advising and mentoring before a student chooses an PhD or MA advisor.For the last eight or so years most incoming graduate students were assigned to the graduate chairfor advising. The exceptions were students where there was a specific advising request (either fromthe student or from a faculty member) or a clear desire to work with a particular faculty member.Students were encouraged to find an advisor in their field of interest as soon as possible. Thecurrent system is somewhat different. Now the graduate chair interviews all incoming students andtries to match them up with faculty of similar interests.
Official advisors aren’t the only means of getting advice. What do students actually do aboutadvising and how well are they satisfied? We surveyed the graduate students this semester abouttheir experiences with advising. Seventeen responded. They all used multiple sources of informationon questions about course enrollment, degree requirements, deciding on a research area, and careerplanning. One question asked about over-all satisfaction, with three possible responses. Thirteenfelt their “access to good advice on these issues” was very good; four rated it as adequate, nonerated it as inadequate.
Table I.7: Graduate advising survey
Sources/Information Courses Requirements Research Area Career
That we have a FLORS requirement is a requirement of the Graduate School. The form it takes is,within the constraint of approval by the Graduate School, up to us. Currently we require a foreignlanguage and computer programming. The issue of changing the FLORS requirement was raisedlast year. In this section we summarize a number of FLORS requirements of various KU STEM26
departments.
26Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
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• Physics and Astronomy: significant computing skills requirement (graduate course in computa-tional physical and astronomy; significant undergraduate CS prerequisites)
• Chemistry: one of the following:
(a) German, French, or Russian (either a one semester course or translate an article with theuse of a dictionary)
(b) computer skill: essentially, EECS 138 or equivalent
(c) applied electronics: CHEM 711
(d) bibliographic skills: CHEM 720
• Anthropology: foreign language(s) or a vague injunction to “demonstrate competence in tworesearch skills relevant to the student’s special research requirements”
• Geography: a number of options possible; those explicitly listed include
(a) two foreign languages
(b) one foreign language at a higher level
(c) two of the following:
(i) computer programming course
(ii) 9 hours of math courses at ≥ 500 level
(iii) 9 hours of statistics courses outside the geography department at the 500 level or above
(iv) 9 hours of courses in a single related outside discipline at ≥ 500 level
(d) reading knowledge in a foreign language + one skill from (c).
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: one of the following:
(a) reading knowledge of two foreign languages (one 3-credit course or translation exam)
(b) fluency in one foreign language
(c) other research skills distinct from, but strongly supportive of, the dissertation
• Aerospace engineering: one of the following:
(a) theoretical dissertation: proficiency in computer science and a three hour graduate coursein instrumentation or experimentation
(b) experimental dissertation: proficiency in computer science and a three hour graduate coursein computational methodology
(c) any dissertation: reading proficiency in a non-native language other than English which hasa significant body of literature in the area of the dissertation.
• Molecular biosciences: completion of BIOL 818: techniques in molecular biosciences (taken inthe first semester)
• Chemical and petroleum engineering: very vague, based on their area of research specialization.Work done to fulfill this requirement should involve study in an area that is complementary to theselected research area and should enhance the student’s ability to carry out the research
• Electrical engineering and computer science: one of the following:
(a) reading knowledge of one foreign language
(b) proficiency in computer programming
(c) non-standard skill acceptable to graduate studies committee
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I.3 Comparison with peer departments
The peer departments we looked at were: Auburn, Texas Tech, Colorado (both math and appliedmath), Kentucky, North Carolina State, North Texas, Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Texas A&M,Oregon, Illinois at Chicago, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. We used both web pages and a brief surveyfor our research. We were interested in a number of attributes, including degrees granted, admission,PhD requirements, GTA support and teaching loads, and number of recent PhDs.
These websites contained copious amounts of information on the one hand, though not neces-sarily everything we sought on the other hand. Even when information was available, it sometimestook a lot of digging to find it, and what we found was frequently not dated. With those caveats,the following is a summary of the relevant information we found.
I.3.1 Degrees granted
All of the universities under consideration offer both Masters and PhD degrees in mathematics.Almost all of them offer multiple forms of the Masters degree, with manifold variations and em-phases. While the variations for the PhD are not as great as for the Masters degrees, there areseveral variations. For example the programs at Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma grant tradi-tional PhDs in many areas, both pure and applied. Some, like Texas Tech and A&M, have morethan one track for the PhD (similar to ours). Iowa State has distinct PhD programs for mathand applied math, though both are in the mathematics department, while Iowa has a separateinterdisciplinary program within their graduate college granting degrees in applied math with in-terdisciplinary work. The math department at UIC is a combined math, statistics and computerscience department which grants PhDs in each of these disciplines. In a different direction, Okla-homa also has a separate PhD degree for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education whileUIC has a DA (Doctor of Arts) degree designed to train educators for undergraduate instructionin post-secondary institutions. Nebraska has a PhD minor for students in other mathematicallyoriented disciplines. Finally, North Carolina State, Kentucky, Iowa State, Missouri, and Nebraskahave separate PhD granting statistics departments.
I.3.2 Admission to the PhD program
Here we were especially interested in how students are initially admitted into the graduate program,and in particular the PhD program. Unfortunately, not all of the websites had this informationavailable, other than citing some information about general requirements like having a Bachelor’sdegree or its equivalent in mathematics and a minimum GPA. For these general requirements,most programs require the general GRE exam, but the following are exceptions to this: Nebraska,Missouri and Oklahoma. Nebraska does, however, require the GRE for international students.Of those programs requiring the general exam, only Oregon also requires the subject exam inmathematics. On the other hand, a few schools did require having a Masters degree before beingadmitted into the program (either an external MA or MS, or an internal one), and two othersrequired passing some sort of qualifying exam in order to be admitted into the PhD program. Inparticular, Masters degrees or their equivalents were required for admission to the PhD programby Illinois at Chicago and Missouri. Oklahoma admits new students to the PhD program if theyhave a Masters degree, otherwise it required them to pass the qualifying exams. Oregon admitseveryone in a pre-PhD program, and then to the PhD program if they pass qualifying exams.
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I.3.3 PhD requirements
While we met the expected variety in PhD requirements, the following basic structure held atmost of the programs we looked at: (i) A two-tiered exam system (e.g., qualifying exam followedby preliminary exam, or a preliminary exam followed by a comprehensive exam), (ii) languagerequirement (although not all programs required this), (iii) thesis and (iv) final oral defense.
None of the schools officially have our three-tiered system of quals, prelims and orals, butOklahoma and Nebraska each have two part second level exams. In several cases the second examin the two-tier process is an oral exam. However, North Texas has just one exam requirement.
As far as FLORS goes, Auburn, North Carolina State, Iowa State, and Missouri have no researchskill or language requirement. From what we could gather, all of the remaining schools havelanguage requirements with no other research skill as an option.
The following is a brief summary of the exam requirements (not counting the thesis defense orlanguage exam) at the programs under consideration.
• University of Illinois at Chicago: (i) pass two written doctoral exams (at roughly our 800level), chosen from among 15 subjects, with some restrictions dependent upon degree and (ii) passa more focused oral exam.
• University of Oregon: (i) pass two qualifying exams chosen from algebra, analysis or probabil-ity, algebraic topology or differential geometry and (ii) pass an oral comprehensive over a generalarea.
• Texas A&M: (i) pass two qualifying exams (roughly at our 800 level) chosen from algebra,complex analysis, geometry/topology, numerical and applied analysis, real analysis and (ii) pass apreliminary examination in relevant field.
• Missouri: (i) pass two qualifying exams (at roughly our 700 level), one in algebra, one inanalysis and (ii) pass a more specialized comprehensive exam.
• Iowa State: (i) pass two qualifying exams (approximately our 800 level) chosen from alge-bra, real and complex analysis, methods of applied math and numerical analysis and (ii) pass anoral preliminary exam. These requirements holds for both the PhD in mathematics and appliedmathematics.
• University of Iowa: For PhD in mathematics, (i) pass three qualifying exams chosen from thefour core areas algebra, analysis, topology, differential equations and (ii) pass an oral comprehensiveexam. For the applied mathematics PhD, (i) pass three qualifying exams chosen from analysis,topology, differential equations with numerical methods, numerical analysis and (ii) pass an oralcomprehensive over one’s outside interdisciplinary research area.
• North Texas: pass two qualifying exams chosen from real analysis, complex analysis, modernalgebra, topology.
• North Carolina State: (i) pass three qualifying exams (at roughly our 800 level) chosen from13 topics and (ii) pass an oral preliminary exam.
• Kentucky: (i) pass three preliminary exams (roughly at our 800 level) chosen from analysis,algebra, topology, differential equations, discrete math, numerical analysis and (ii) pass an oralexam in one’s area of specialization.
• Colorado Applied Math: (i) pass three preliminary exams (similar to our quals) chosen fromfour subjects, which must include numerical analysis and applied analysis and (ii) pass an oralexam consisting of questions over a thesis proposal.
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• Colorado Math: (i) pass two comprehensive exams, one each in algebra and analysis at theend of first year and (ii) pass a third exam of choice by end of the third year.
• Texas Tech: (i) pass three preliminary exams chosen from algebra, complex analysis, analysis,ODE and PDE, numerical analysis, real analysis, probability and statistics, topology and (ii) passa qualifying exam on an advanced subject.
• Auburn: (i) pass three preliminary exams (at roughly our qual level), at most one from each ofthe groups algebra (abstract or linear), topology/set theory/geometry, graph theory/combinatorics,numerical analysis/stochastic processes/ODE/computations and applied algebra, statistics and (ii)pass an oral exam.
• Nebraska: (i) pass two qualifying exams, one in analysis and another chosen from algebra,combinatorics/graph theory, applied mathematics, topology, differential equations and (ii) pass atwo part comprehensive exam, the first of which is a four hour written exam over either algebraor analysis and the second of which is either a four hour written exam or two hour oral exam overone’s area of specialization.
• Oklahoma: (i) pass three qualifying exams (at our 800 level), one each in algebra, analysis,topology and (ii) pass a two part general exam, one part written, one part oral, testing over fourmajor areas of mathematics, details determined by student’s doctoral committee.
Most of the programs have general course requirements, requiring some fixed number of graduatehours, some percentage of which are to be taken beyond the graduate entry level. About half of theprograms (e.g., Auburn, UIC, Nebraska, Oregon, Missouri, Kentucky, Colorado) have no specificcourse requirements beyond those courses corresponding to the first round of exams. However, insome of these cases (e.g. Auburn and Missouri) a program of study needs to be devised with one’scommittee. The other half of the programs have various breadth requirements similar in spirit toours, though in the extreme case of Texas A&M, their breadth requirement has students takingeither exams or course work in eight different areas: algebra, discrete math, real analysis, complexanalysis, differential geometry, topology, applied analysis, and numerical analysis.
I.3.4 GTA pay and course load
Many of the sites visited did not have all of this information. In some cases, when listed, thepay scales and course loads were comparable to ours. Some notable exceptions are as follows: AtOregon the course load is one course per quarter. Though the base salary (in 2006 - 07) is low,13K, summer teaching is guaranteed. Texas A&M claims to have exceptionally light GTA loads,as most GTAs either run help sessions, oversee computer labs or grade papers. GTAs at Illinois atChicago have to remain in good standing to remain employed, and one of the yardsticks for suchstanding is timely passing of doctoral exams. Many institutions have various fellowships (collegefunded, externally funded, etc) and a few RAs, though NC State seems to have a number of RAsfunded by faculty grants, some of which pay up to 30K. All institutions that listed informationabout GTAs have tuition waivers, except North Texas. Most of the information was not dated;when dates are available, we give them in parentheses.
In more detail:
• Auburn: Pay scale 13K to 16K, depending on teaching load. Currently have 40 GTA’s, a fewRA positions.
• UIC: No information about pay scale. Currently have 107 GTAs. Most GTAs are 50% em-ployees and must maintain good academic standing, enrolling in 12 hours per semester. Fellowships
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available.
• Nebraska: Pay scale from 15.1K for 4 contact hours; 15.7K for 6 contact hours in fall, 3in spring; 19K for 6 contact hours fall and spring (in 2009 - 10). Increments for passing exams.Summer support available. Numerous fellowships available.
• Oklahoma: Pay scale from 15K to 16.1K with lighter teaching for first year students (notspecified). 14K available for GTAs “not fully English language qualified to teach.” (in 2008 - 09).Numerous fellowships (funded by endowment and Graduate College) exist to supplement GTAsalary. Some GRAs.
• Oregon: Pay scale 13K for one course per quarter, and additional 3.2K for summer teaching(2006 - 07 data). Two substantial prizes (5K), university-wide fellowships available.
• Texas A&M: Pay scale 1.7K month for Masters students, 1.85K month for PhD students, withvery light work load. Various fellowships (up to 20K) available.
• Missouri: Pay scale for GTAs 12K + 2K supplement for two three hour courses or one fivehour course; RA pay scale 12.5K - 14K, for incoming students, not renewable after one or twoyears. The latter have no teaching or at most one three credit hour course. Numerous private anduniversity fellowships available, some partial.
• Iowa State: Pay scale 13K-15K and GTAs either hold recitation or teach 8-9 credit hours peryear. A few awards are available, some GRAs.
• Iowa: Pay scale 16.6K - 19.2K for both GTAs and RAs. GTA work load is 16-20 hours perweek. Numerous fellowships and awards available.
• University of North Texas: Pay scale 15.2K for Masters students and 16K for entering PhDstudents. Course load is two courses. Students pay own tuition and fees at the in-state rate of1.9K per semester as of AY 2007–08. Some scholarships and awards available, especially for women(from P.E.O. international, a private women’s philanthropic group).
• North Carolina State: Pay scale 13K - 18K depending on status. Entering PhD studentsreceive 16K. Work load is 8-12 hours per week in first year, 10-14 hours week beyond. Extra moneyfor passing quals and orals. Numerous RAs available with pay scale 18K-30K. No teaching, butmust enroll in 9 credit hours.
• Kentucky: Pay scale: 13K (in 2004 - 05). Beginning GTAs hold recitation sections (3-4 perweek) or grade papers. More experienced GTAs teach their own courses (1-2 per semester). Severalfellowships and RAs available.
• Colorado Math and Applied Math: The Math department does not list GTAs and has noinformation regarding these positions or GRAs or scholarships/fellowships at the math web page.The Applied Math department lists 36 GTAs and 22 GRAs. The Graduate College web pagementions that most departments have GTA and RA positions that provide tuition waivers.
• Texas Tech: Pay scale: 15K + 5K in summer (in 2004 - 05). GTAs with less than 18 graduatehours in mathematics and statistics are assigned duties such as proctoring a class, assisting aprofessor in a class, teaching a remedial class, tutoring, or grading. After 18 graduate hours inmathematics and statistics are completed, GTAs teach two college entry-level courses per semester,advanced PhD students teach calculus. Scholarships are available, and five fellowships of $5000each from the graduate school are reserved for math students.
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I.3.5 Peer comparison via tables
We surveyed our peer departments on the number of entering graduate students in 2009–10 and2008–09; on PhDs granted in five academic years beginning with 2004–05, on Masters degreesgranted in the same five academic years, in average time to PhD, and an estimate of the percent ofcurrent students working towards a PhD. Twelve of the fifteen peer departments responded. Wesummarize the data here:27
Table I.8: Summary of peer institutions
low high mean KU
number of faculty 26 86 45.4 34.5
number of students 56 150 94.8 68
ratio of faculty to students: 0.36 0.74 0.49 0.58
entering graduate students 2009 - 10 11 35 20.8 11
entering graduate students 2008 - 09 12 39 201.1 17
PhD’s granted 2004 - 05 2 14 7 2
PhD’s granted 2005 - 06 1 18 7.5 4
PhD’s granted 2006 - 07 2 21 7.9 2
PhD’s granted 2007 - 08 1 17 8.9 3
PhD’s granted 2008 - 09 3 25 9.7 5
Masters degrees granted 2004 - 05 9 47 17.5 17
Masters degrees granted 2005 - 06 8 48 19.9 9
Masters degrees granted 2006 - 07 4 55 21.1 12
Masters degrees granted 2007 - 08 2 42 14.8 17
Masters degrees granted 2008 - 09 5 55 17 11
average time to PhD 5 6.8 5.9 6.6
For percent of graduate students working towards a PhD,28 one department reported 25%, onereported 84%, one reported 60% and the rest reported > 60%. “Working towards a PhD” is anambiguous term at best. If we interpret it as “planning to get a PhD here and hasn’t flunked quals”KU’s figure is 58%.
Full data by institution is available online.
Data in table 9 (next page) compares permanent faculty size (assistant professor and above)with PhD production during the most recent five year period. KU’s respective numbers are 34.5and 16.
Our faculty to PhD ratio is 2.16. The ratios for our peer institutions range from a low of .65 toa high of 1.69, with a mean of 1.21. The gap in this area between KU and our peer institutions isstriking — figuratively speaking, it takes over 2 faculty members here to produce one PhD, whileat North Carolina it takes less than 2/3.
27“mean” does not include KU28We gave them a choice of 0 - 20%, 21 - 40%, 40 - 60%, and over 60%
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Table I.9: Faculty size & PhD production
department Auburn Ill. at Ch. Nebraska Oklahoma Oregon
faculty 52 65 40 33 29
PhD’s 63 70 28 21 29
ratio 0.83 0.93 1.43 1.57 1
department Texas A & M Missouri Iowa State Iowa North Texas
faculty 86 39 41 42 26
PhD’s 51 35 33 63 16
ratio 1.69 1.11 1.24 0.67 1.63
department N.C. State Kentucky Colorado (app. math) Colorado (math) Texas Tech
faculty 53 39 16 27 46
PhD’s 82 32 11 21 32
ratio 0.65 1.22 1.45 1.29 1.44
I.4 Suggestions for the future
Part of the committee’s charge was to make suggestions to the department. However, we felt thatit is the business of the graduate committee to bring specific proposals to the department for avote. So the suggestions in this section are advisory only. In many places we gave a number ofoptions, without a consensus on any given option, and in some places our major suggestion is togive a particular issue serious consideration.
I.4.1 Applied mathematics and applications of mathematics
The applied mathematics group has grown and changed its form, a significant percentage of ourfaculty can be considered applied mathematicians, and other faculty members do work which isclosely connected to applications of mathematics. While our current program was designed in partto meet the needs of an earlier applied math group, it’s not clear that it meets the needs of ourcurrent students with interests in applications. A recent proposal to adapt our program was focusedfairly narrowly on the quals system. We would like to encourage faculty with interest in applicationsof mathematics to consider broadly what requirements they would consider appropriate for theirfuture students, not necessarily limited by the parameters of our current system, and if they wishto make a change, to make a proposal to the graduate committee. We are making no assumptionsabout what this proposal would be, or even whether one is needed. We are only saying that this isan issue that should be looked at carefully.
I.4.2 Qualifying exam system
Our peer institutions have a wide range of exam requirements. We seem to be the only one witha clearly three-tiered exam system (quals, prelims, oral comps29). The graduate committee mightwant to look carefully at some of our peer institutions as models. We list some options (largelycoming from our consideration of other systems) to consider for the quals. Should we:
29Only oral comps are mandated by the Graduate School.
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• require any three out of our current four?
• have separate requirements for pure math and applied math?
• when possible, divide exams into two parts (e.g., algebra/linear algebra) so that a student whopasses one part only needs to take the other part again?
• change to a requirement which involves a combination of course work and quals?
• add more quals and require a different menu of which must be passed?
• keep the current system?
I.4.3 Quals deadline
The data show that of the 24 students currently here who have passed quals, 4 needed a one-semester extension; 3 needed two one-semester extensions; and one took four years. Currentlya first petition for extension is pretty much automatically granted, and five ultimately successfulstudents needed longer extensions.We list some options to consider. Should we:
• extend the deadline to 2.5 years (by the beginning of the 6th semester)?
• extend the deadline to 3 years?
• extend the deadline to 3 years for students coming without a Masters degree?
• require that two quals must be passed by the beginning of the fifth semester, and allowadditional time (one semester? two?) to complete the third?
We are concerned that extending deadlines will unduly extend the time that students spendbefore flunking quals, and feel that if deadlines are extended, standards for granting petitionsshould be tightened.
I.4.4 Course listings
The graduate committee has already begun cleaning up the catalog. Some areas of concern remain:
• We still list a number of courses which have not been taught in a long time, and which facultyare not interested in teaching
• We should continue to institutionalize courses we regularly teach as special topics courses.
• We also might want to consider adding specialized topics courses, e.g., “topics in commutativealgebra” which would have a separate course number and could be taken more than once.
I.4.5 Course scheduling
Historically, this is one of the thorniest administrative problems for the graduate chair, and weencourage the graduate chair to continue to work to maximize the probability of graduate courseofferings having a clientele by facilitating coordination among faculty members, and between facultyand students.
I.4.6 Recruitment
The data indicate strongly that personal contact and personal connections have played a major rolein attracting strong students to our department. We should all be aware of this and take advantage
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of opportunities that arise. We should also be aware of the importance of general visibility (e.g.,presence at the Joint Meetings), even if it does not lead to immediate and obvious results.
I.4.7 Admissions status
We encourage the Graduate Committee to study the merits of MA/PhD admission status, and todevelop a consistent department policy about admissions status.
I.4.8 Financial support
The department administration should be encouraged to pursue RAships that cover one or twosemesters from the KU administration. We should encourage donors to donate money for suchRAships, and this could then be used to encourage further support from KU. Such RAships areexcellent recruitment tools. We should also continue to revisit the way we use our Endowmentfunds in supporting graduate students, e.g., summer money, support for new students, etc.
I.4.9 FLORS
Many of our peers had only one language requirement; some of our peers had no FLORS require-ments. None of the peers had a non-language FLORS requirements. KU departments ranged fromcomplicated to simple to vague FLORS requirements. We are in favor of alleviating some of theburdens, and keeping our FLORS as simple as possible. We might want to consider a FLORS ofthe form: choose one of the following . . .
I.4.10 GRE requirements & waivers
Most of our peers require the general GRE; it seems to be a standard requirement. I.e., requiringthe GRE puts us in line with our peers. There is no reason not to continue granting waivers whenthe graduate admissions committee feels it is justified. We hope that, as much as feasible, clearinternal standards are developed for waivers.
I.4.11 Administrative matters
In response to many of the changes in the department over the last 15 or so years, we couldn’t helpnoticing ways in which changes in procedure might clarify or facilitate the department’s interactionwith graduate students. In particular:
• The department has a number of special jobs for graduate students, such as administeringthe calculus Gateways, supervising Math 104, assisting in Math 105, and teaching the enhancedcalculus sections. We recommend that these jobs be widely advertised to the GTAs, that they beincluded as options when GTAs state their teaching preferences, and that procedures used to assignthem encourage participation of more students (for example, perhaps no student should have anyof these jobs for more than one or two semesters).
• Mentoring and advising graduate students before they have passed quals is crucial for theirsuccess. Because the department’s research interests cover a wide range of mathematics, findingappropriate faculty members to advise students in the early stages of their career is non-trivial. Weencourage the graduate committee to continue to develop a clear and open procedure to provide
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mentors and advisors to graduate students, which would involve the most appropriate facultymembers in the advising and mentoring task.
• The number of research awards for graduate students has grown in recent years from oneto three: the Bunce, Byers (numerical analysis only), and Conrad awards. The Joan KirkhamOpportunity Fund adds another source of travel funds for graduate students. We recommend thatall of these awards (research and travel) be granted by one committee which is broadly representativeof the department. For awards such as the Byers award, i.e., restricted to certain research groups,this main committee could appoint an auxiliary committee to help them.
• We recommend a creating graduate student handbook which could
(a) summarize the paths to degrees in the department handbook
(b) communicate opportunities (e.g., teaching and research awards, summer money, GRA, uni-versity awards, etc.)
(c) describe department jobs for graduate students
(d) give a sense of department organization, e.g., who chooses awardees, who assigns teachingduties, with whom to file which petitions, who to approach with particular grievances, and
(e) perhaps fold in a GTA handbook.
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Appendix J
BA requirements
Candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with a major in mathematics must satisfy the generalcollege requirements for the B.A. Math 122 or Math 142; and Math 223 or Math 243 and Math 290or Math 291 are required. In addition, 15 hours in junior-senior mathematics courses (excludingMath 365, 409 and 410) must be completed. The 15 additional hours should include Math 500 orMath 765 and Math 590 or Math 790 and one of the following two-semester sequence. (Coursesmarked with an asterisk are normally taught only every second year.)
500-646 (Intermediate Analysis and Complex Variables)
526-605* (Applied Mathematical Statistics I and Applied Regression Analysis)
526-611* (Applied Mathematical Statistics I and Fourier Analysis of Time Series)
530*-531* (Mathematical Models I and II)
540*-558 (Elementary Number Theory and Introductory Modern Algebra)
558-601* (Introductory Modern Algebra and Algebraic Coding Theory)
581-591* (Numerical Methods and Applied Numerical Linear Algebra)
590-790 (Linear Algebra I and II)
627-628 (Probability and Mathematical Theory of Statistics)
646-647 (Complex Variables and Applied Partial Differential Equations)
647-648 (Applied Partial Differential Equations and Calculus of Variations and Integral Equa-tions)
660*-661* (Geometry I and II)
724*-725* (Combinatorial Mathematics and Graph Theory)
765-766 (Introduction to Theory of Functions I and II)
781-782 (Numerical Analysis I and II)
790-791 (Linear Algebra II and Modern Algebra I)
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Appendix K
Requirements for a BS inMathematics
The degree of Bachelor of Science in Mathematics offers more extensive training in mathematicsand its applications than is possible in the B.A. curriculum. The requirements for the B.S. inMathematics allow a great deal of flexibility in choice of courses and concentrations. Studentsshould plan their programs carefully to meet individual interests and goals, and carefully check theprerequisites for all courses in their programs.
Students should declare the B.S. in Mathematics with the Department of Mathematics to beassigned an advisor. Consult a mathematics departmental advisor early, preferably during the firstacademic year.
The degree of B.S. in Mathematics is granted upon successful completion of a 124-hour prescribedcurriculum as follows:
I. MATHEMATICS COURSES (Courses marked with an asterisk are normally taught only everysecond year):
Preparation (usually 18 hours)/Hours
Calculus: through Math 122 or 142/10–11
Math 223 (or Math 243) and Math 290 (or Math 291)/5
Math 220 or Math 221 or Math 320 or Math 321/3
Mathematics Distribution (12-13 hours):30
More advanced courses in the same areas can be substituted.
Math 500 or 765
Math 558 or 791
Math 590 or 790
Math 526, 628, 728 or DSCI 301
Mathematics Concentration (12 hours):31
One sequence chosen from the following list A (6 hours) More advanced courses in the sameareas can be substituted. Courses used to satisfy the Mathematics Distribution requirement also
30Each listed course is 3 hours.31See previous footnote
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may be used to satisfy the Mathematics Concentration requirement.
List A
Math 627–628
Math 660*–661*
Math 765–766
Math 781–782
Math 790–791
A second sequence chosen either from list A or from the following list B (6 hours).32 Students whoplan to attend graduate school in the mathematical sciences are encouraged to take two sequencesfrom List A.
List B
Math 500–646 Math 581–591*
Math 526–605* Math 590–790
Math 526–611* Math 646–647
Math 530*–531* Math 647–648
Math 540*–558 Math 724*–725*
Math 558–601*
Mathematics Electives
Additional courses, if needed, to complete a total of 24 hours in mathematics courses numbered450 or above.
II. CONCENTRATION IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND RELATED FIELDS:
Three courses, totaling at least 8 hours, that make significant use of mathematics. At least twocourses must be in the same area. Following is a list of approved courses for the concentration. Otherupper-division courses making significant use of mathematics can be used for the concentration withthe approval of a mathematics department advisor. Students should be aware that many of thesecourses have prerequisites that do not count towards the mathematics major.
Statistics
Students who choose courses from this area must select Math 627-628 as one of the sequencesused to satisfy the mathematics concentration requirement.
ECON 817, 818, Math 605, 611, 624 or any statistics or topics-in-statistics course taught by theMathematics Department that is numbered 600 or above and has a calculus-based statistics courseas a prerequisite, provided the course is not used to satisfy the requirements in Part I.
Management Science and Operations Management
Students who choose courses from this area must select Math 627-628 as one of the sequencesused to satisfy the mathematics concentration requirement.
The general requirements in English, argument and reason, Western Civilization are the sameas those for the B.A. degree. For purposes of the humanities and foreign language requirement,humanities courses are those with a course designation of H. Social science courses are designatedS. Acceptable natural science courses are designated NB, NE or NP.
English (9 hours).
Argument and Reason (3 hours).
Western Civilization (4-6 hours).
Computer Science: EECS 138 or EECS 168 (3 hours).
Natural Science: one course with laboratory (4-5 hours), and one additional course (3-5 hours)in biological science, earth science, or physical science (7-10 hours).
Humanities and Foreign Languages: four courses totaling 12 hours or more, at least two courses(6 hours) of which must be in the humanities. No foreign language courses are required. However,students are strongly encouraged to take at least two courses in foreign language. Students whoplan to attend graduate school are urged to take courses in French, German or Russian.
Social Sciences: two courses totaling 6 hours or more (6 hours).
SUMMARY OF HOURS REQUIRED (approximate):
Total hours required in mathematics courses: 42
Total hours of required courses: 96-100
Free electives: 24-28
Total hours required for degree: 124
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Appendix L
Suggested Tracks in Mathematics
Many students have strong interests in particular areas of mathematics. The Department hascreated three informal tracks within the B.S. program: a statistics track, an applied mathematicstrack, and a track in pure mathematics for those considering obtaining a graduate degree in puremathematics. These tracks are advisory only. Students without strong interests in one of theseareas are encouraged to put together a broad program within the B.S. Degree.
I. TRACK IN STATISTICS:
A. Mathematics Department
Calculus through Math 223 (or Math 243) and Math 290 (or Math 291)
Mathematics distribution (12 hours):
Math 320
Math 500 or 765
Math 526
Math 558 or 791
Math 590 or 790
Mathematics concentration: two sequences:
Math 526-605* or 526-611*, and 627-628
Mathematics electives: additional courses to complete a total of 24 hours in mathematicscourses numbered 450 or above.
Recommended courses include 530, 781.
B. Concentration in applied mathematics and related fields: There is a statistics concentration asone of the options. It is recommended that students in the statistics track satisfy the concentrationrequirement by courses from this area. Note: Students who are interested in an actuarial careershould complete the statistics track and use ECON 142 and 144 to satisfy the Social Sciencerequirement. ACCT 200, FIN 310 and FIN 415 are also recommended for these students.
II. TRACK IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS:
A. Mathematics Department: Calculus through Math 223 (or Math 243) and Math 290(or Math 291)
Mathematics distribution (15 hours):
Math 320
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Math 500 or 765
Math 526 or 628
Math 558 or 791
Math 590
Mathematics concentration: two sequences:
Math 781–782
any other sequence
Mathematics electives (recommended):
one of Math 530, 601
Math 750
Math 646
Math 647
B. Concentration in applied mathematics and related fields:
No recommendation.
III. TRACK IN PURE MATHEMATICS FOR STUDENTS WANTING TO GO TO GRADUATESCHOOL IN PURE MATHEMATICS:
A. Mathematics Department:
Calculus through Math 223 (or Math 243) and Math 290 (or Math 291)
Mathematics distribution (15 hours):
Math 320
Math 590 or 790
Math 628
Math 765
Math 791
Mathematics concentration: two sequences:
Math 765–766
Math 790–791
Mathematics electives (recommended):
Math 627
Math 646
Math 660
B. Concentration in applied mathematics and related fields:
No recommendation.
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Appendix M
Minor in Mathematics
As part of their Bachelor’s degrees, students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and theSchool of Engineering may elect to earn a minor in mathematics. A mathematics minor requiresthe completion of 18 hours of mathematics courses, including Math 122 or 142 and 12 hours ofmathematics courses numbered 300 and above, excluding Math 365. The GPA for all mathematicscourses must be at least 2.0. The first year the math minor was offered was 2003-04. Since then52 students have been in the program, and the number has fairly steadily increased.
To graduate with honors in mathematics a student must satisfy College requirements for honors,attain a grade-point average of 3.5 in all mathematics courses taken (numbered 500 or above), andcomplete Math 765, Math 766, Math 790, and Math 791 with a grade no lower than B in any ofthese courses. In addition he or she must make a satisfactory oral presentation. The guidelines forthe oral presentation are:
1. The oral presentation should be on a topic related to but not covered in one of the student’smathematics courses at the level of 600 or higher.
2. The student should choose a faculty member to act as presentation advisor and enroll inMath 699 (for possibly one unit) under his or her chosen advisor. The level of the presentationshould be suitable to the student’s enrollment in Math 699.
3. The oral presentation should be made before a committee of three faculty members, chairedby the student’s advisor. The Department’s Honors committee shall provide one member and thethird shall be chosen by the student and his or her advisor.
4. The oral presentation should last about one hour including a brief period for questions.
5. The oral presentation may be made at any point in the student’s junior or senior years, butthe second semester of the senior year is recommended.
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Appendix O
UKanTeach requirements
Completion of the following, together with a major in an approved science, mathematics or engi-neering program, fulfills the requirements for a UKanTeach certificate in mathematics education.
Professional Development Courses (minimum grade of C)
LA&S 290 (1 hr)
LA&S 291 (1 hr)
CHEM 598: Research Methods (3 hr)
C&T 360: Knowing and Learning in Science & Mathematics (3 hr)
C&T 366: Knowing and Learning in Science & Mathematics (3 hr)
C&T 448: Reading and Writing across the Curriculum (3 hr)
C&T 460: Project-Based Instruction (3 hr)
C&T 500: Student Teaching (6 hr) (Requires a 2.5 cumulative GPA in major and overall.)
C&T 598: Special Topics Seminar (1 hr)
Mathematics Prerequisites
Math 121: Calculus I (5 hr)
Math 122: Calculus II (5 hr)
Mathematics Courses
Math 409: Geometry for Teachers (2 hr)
Math 410: History of Mathematics (1 hr)
Math 223: Vector Calculus (3 hr)
Math 290: Linear Algebra (3 hr)
Math 500: Analysis (3 hr) or Math 765: Analysis (3 hr)
Math 320: Differential Equations (3 hr) or Math 530: Math Modeling (3 hr)
or Math 558: Modern Algebra (3 hr) or Math 559: Non-Euclidean Geometry
Math 590: Linear Algebra (3 hr) or Math 790: Linear Algebra (3 hr)
Math 197: Functions & Modeling33 (3 hr)
33This is a course developed by the UTeach program at Texas and taught according to their guidelines.
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Appendix P
KU math club activities
AY2010-11
Sept 1, 2010: Mathematics and Banking
Justin Hukle-VanKirk and Amy Kim
Business Line Data Analytics Group
Commerce Bank, Kansas City, MO
Oct 6, 2010: John Augusto, assistant dean, graduate studies, and math graduate student panel
Learn about the graduate school selection process, financing graduate degrees, and life as agraduate student.
Nov 3, 2010: Research Experiences for Undergraduates
KU undergraduates, Kelsy Kinderknect, Gene Cody, and Mauntell Ford, will discuss theirexperiences at REUs and giving advice for future applications.
Dec 1, 2010: How to Prepare for Finals
Marian Hukle, Ph.D.
KU Department of Mathematics
AY2009-10
Sep 16, 2009: Organization Meeting
Nov 18, 2009: Topics in Math
Jay Schweig
Adams Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Dec 9, 2009: The Game of SET
Learn how to play! SET is a card game that consists of 81 very unusual cards. The objectof the game is to find a set. There are 1080 different sets that can be found. SET is fun andentertaining and a challenging match of skill.
Feb 10, 2010: The Shannon Sampling Theorem:When is a Little Enough?
Erika Ward
Ph.D. candidate in Math
The Shannon Sampling Theorem is a fundamental result in the field of signal processing that
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begins to answer question about how much data is needed to reconstruct the function it came from.We will work to understand the theorem and some of its implications both in applications and puremathematics.
Mar 24, 2010: Informal Problem Solving Session
To prepare for the KS Collegiate Math Competition
May 5, 2010: The Google PageRank Formula and Some of the Mathematics Behind It
Rodolfo Torres
Professor of Mathematics
Abstract: Whether we like it or not and/or whether we realize it or not, Google as the leadingsearch engine on the web has a tremendous impact on our everyday life. We often start lookingfor answers to both mundane problems as well as scholarly questions by first running a search onGoogle based on some key words.
Though I am not aware of statistics about this, I believe most individuals never look beyondthe first few links unless they cannot find what they are searching for right away; so the order inwhich the links are provided is very important. How does Google sort the links it provides?
In this talk we will explain (a simplified version of) the way in which Google determines thePageRank formula. You’ll be surprised to see how some mathematics familiar to all math majorsdetermines the algorithm used.
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Appendix Q
Student chapter of AWM activities
AY2010–11
Sep 27, 2010
Welcome Dr. Xuemin Tu, new faculty member
Call for Nominations of Officers
Recognize Members of the 2010 Distinguished Women Calendar
Report on 5th Conference for Ph.D. Students and Young Scientists held in Warsaw, Poland
Discuss this Year’s Activities
Oct 11, 2010
Election of Officers
The Role of Mentors in Fostering Women’s Self-Efficacy
Kathy Rose-Mockry
Program Director, KU Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center
Oct 25, 2010
Biofuel Production: A Feedback to Tailpipe Approach
Susan Staff-Williams
KU Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Nov 29, 2010
On the Analysis of DNA Copy Number Data Using a Change Point Model
Jie Chen
Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics & Statistics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
How Do We Measure Commutative Rings?
Liana Sega
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics & Statistics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
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AY2009–10
Aug 24, 2009: Organizational Meeting
Aug 31, 2009
Gender Challenges in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
How Can Our Organization Help to Make a Difference at Graduate and UndergraduateLevels?
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan
Sep 28, 2009
Particle Physics and Switzerland
Alice Bean, Professor
KU Department of Physics and Astronomy
Nov 16, 2009
Conversation with Sara Thomas Rosen
Associate Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies
Dean of Graduate Studies
Professor of Linguistics
University of Kansas
Attracting and Retaining Students in the Mathematical Sciences through Interdisciplinary Men-toring
Jeffrey Humpherys
Brigham Young University
Dec 7, 2009
Does Science Promote Women? Evidence from Academia
Donna Ginther
KU Department of Economics
Feb 1, 2010
Conversation with Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little
Feb 22, 2010
My Experience at the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math
Yue Chu
Junior in Mathematics, KU
Apr 19, 2010
Words of Wisdom for Job Interview Experiences: Conversation with
Anna Ghazaryan, Adams Visiting Assistant Professor
Margaret Stawiska Friedland, Adams Visiting Assistant Professor
Erika Ward, Ph.D. Mathematics Graduate Student
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May 3, 2010
The Success of Young Scientists Towards the Challenges of Modern Technology:
Cross-disciplinary Ph.D. Students and Young Scientists Conference, Warsaw, Poland
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