The degree is made up of at least 33 units consisting of course work, chosen according to theguiding principles, a Master's project or thesis, and a colloquium series. In addition students are required to undertake a summer internship or an equivalent training experience. Course work is selected as follows:
Disciplinary courses - Typically five or six mathematics courses, consisting of:
(a) Depth requirement - at least three semesters of designated "core-courses" described below.
(b) Breadth requirement - three or four more thematically related mathematics courses, or approved equivalents from other departments. One unit of Research Tutorial Group (Math 586) for most incoming students.
Cross-disciplinary courses - Typically two courses from outside Mathematics, chosen with considerable flexibility, but thematically related to the choice of disciplinary courses.
Computing courses - Students are expected to have a high level of computational proficiency and will be expected to take the courses necessary to achieve this.
Thesis/Project - Either a 3-unit project or a 6-unit MS thesis: in either case students are required to complete the project in a timely fashion and give both an oral presentation and a written thesis/project document.
Business courses - Students are required to take at least one of the two business courses (Business Basics and Project Management) especially designed for the Professional Master's degree by the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona. Students with no business background normally take the Business basics courses first and are encouraged (but not required) to take the more advanced Project Management course.
Industrial Colloquium - Students are required to participate in a special weekly colloquium series with students from the other Professional Master's degree Programs to hear invited speakers and presentations from fellow students.
Internship - An internship in industry, a National Laboratory, or some other setting outside the University during the first or second summer, is an essential part of the degree. Alternatives to traditional internships will be designed for students who are already employed in industry.
Graduation Requirements - The degree has the attractive feature of not requiring a written qualifying examination. However, students must fulfill minimum GPA requirements. The Graduate College at the University of Arizona currently only allows the award of A,B,C, D grades to graduate students (plus/minus grades are currently only permitted for undergraduates). Students in the Professional Masters degree in the Mathematical sciences must have a GPA of better than 3.0, both cumulatively and for their mathematics course. The Graduate College does have a grade replacement option and students may, with instructor and Program Director approval, retake a course to improve their grade. If a student's GPA falls below 3.0 they are put on academic probation by the Graduate College. Students with two semesters of academic probation are removed from their degree program.Designated core courses - Students are expected to complete a two semester sequence of one of the designated core courses and (at least) one semester of another. Illustrative examples of this are given in theSample Courses of Study.
The following have been designated as "core" courses for the Professional degree program
(i) Algebra (Math 511a,b)
(ii) Analysis (Math 523a,b) or Principles of Analysis (Math 527 a, b)*
(iii) Numerical Analysis (Math 575 a, b)
(iv) Methods of Applied Mathematics (Math 583a,b)
(v) Probability Theory (Math 563 a, b)**
(vi) Stochastic Processes (Math 565a, b)**
(vii) Theoretical Statistics (Math 576a, b)*** The two analysis sequences have a slightly different emphasis. Math 523, which is designed for students in the Mathematics PhD program, has a slightly more theoretical flavor whereas Math 527, which is designed for students in the Applied Mathematics PhD program, is slightly more applications oriented.
** These courses are usually only offered on an alternate year basis and students intending to take any of these courses must take this into account when designing their program of study (which is typically 2 years).
Students should note that course work should consist of 500 level (i.e. graduate) courses. A number of courses listed in the Graduate Catalogue are "dual-listed", meaning that they are offered as joint 400/500 courses. The use of such courses in designing the disciplinary part of the program (i.e. the mathematics courses) is strictly limited and requires the approval of the student's advisor. Cases where such dual listed courses are permitted, e.g. Math 543 (Theory of Graphs and Networks), are usually a consequence of the equivalent graduate level courses having extensive pre-requisites.