Department of Mathematics

Graduate Program Overview

The Department of Mathematics offers programs leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. There are several programs leading to the Master of Science degree, some of which prepare the student to seek nonacademic employment, others prepare the students to continue to the Ph.D. degree. The interdisciplinary Computational Science and Engineering program gives students the opportunity to study mathematics and computing in a multi-disciplinary environment. The master's degree program requires 30 hours of coursework. The other programs include the Computational Finance Program which requires 34 hours of coursework. There are no required oral or written examinations, and a thesis is not required. A student with a half-time teaching assistantship normally takes two years to complete the master's degree program.

Among the requirements for the Ph.D. are a minimum of 42 hours of graduate work, reading knowledge in one foreign language, passing written qualifying examinations and an oral specialty examination, writing a thesis, and passing a final oral examination based on the thesis. A student with a half-time teaching assistantship would require a minimum of four years to complete the Ph.D. program, and most students spend five or six years in the program.

Funding

Fellowships

Beginning graduate students who intend to work toward the Ph.D. degree will be considered for fellowships. Some of these fellowships include the Andrews, Ross, Lynn, Knox, Purdue Doctoral, and Puskas Fellowships. These fellowships provide a tax-free stipend of $16,000- $21,000 or more for twelve months with all fees remitted to several hundred dollars a semester. An additional stipend is provided to cover insurance costs. These fellowships have tenures ranging from 1 to 2 years, after which the student will be supported with a departmental teaching assistantship or research assistantship up to a total of seven years provided satisfactory academic progress towards the Ph.D. is made. For more information contact the Graduate Office or Graduate School or the Graduate School Fellowships webpage.

Research fellowships are available for advanced students for both the summer and the academic year.

Purdue University is a tenable school under the provisions set forth by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Hertz Fellowships cover tuition and all fees plus a $25,000 annual stipend. Students apply directly for this fellowship. For more information see http://www.hertzfndn.org

Teaching Assistantships

Students who do not receive fellowships will be given graduate teaching assistantships with stipends ranging from $14,670 to $16,020 per academic year with a minimum of $16,020 for most successful applicants who can be assigned to classroom teaching. Half-time assistants usually teach four hours per week. Fees are remitted to several hundred dollars a semester and reduced insurance costs. Teaching assistant training and mentoring is provided by the Assistant to the Head.

Facilities

The Mathematics Library, located in the Mathematical Sciences Building, features an outstanding collection of research journals and reference material in pure and applied mathematics. The department maintains a network of Sun Workstations, several high performance scientific computing and graphics workstations, and equipment for high-quality graphics output. Supported software includes TeX, LaTeX, Macaulay, MACSYMA, Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB. University facilities for research computing include an Intel Paragon parallel supercomputer. Student offices contain workstations and the Mike Keedy Computer Laboratory contains workstations, personal computers, terminals, and laser printers for graduate student use.

Applications

Electronic Application for Graduate Studies

The Graduate School application fee is $60 (U.S. dollars) for domestic applicants and $75 (U.S. dollars) for international applicants. The deadline for applications is January 15.

Applicants should arrange to take the GRE General Test and the GRE Math Subject Test (Institution Code: 1631, Department Code 0703) enough in advance so that scores are received by the department before January 15.

Non-native English speakers need to obtain a minimum score of 570 on the paper-based TOEFL exam or 230 on the computer-based exam. The following minimum scores are required for the iBT: Reading 19, Listening 14, Speaking 18, Writing 18 and an overall score of at least 77. An official score report not more than two years old must be submitted (Institution Code 1631, Department Code 72).

Purdue does not discriminate against qualified handicapped persons in any of its programs or activities. Purdue is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University

Contact

Mailing Address:
Graduate Committee Chairman
Purdue University
Department of Mathematics
150 North University Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2067
USA

Telephone: 765-494-1961
FAX: 765-494-0548
email: gcomm@math.purdue.edu

Handbook

The Department of Mathematics maintains an updated, online version of its Graduate Student Handbook. Consult this guide for detailed information about the program and its requirements.

Qualifying Exams

The Department of Mathematics maintains an archive of Past Qualifying Exams.

Related Information