PhD in Applied Mathematics

The doctoral program in Applied Mathematics and Statistics belongs to the engineering and applied sciences college and emphasizes research from the start. Students collaborate with faculty whose interests cover applied graph theory, computational biology, drug design, fluid dynamics, combinatorial optimization, statistics, reliability theory, finance, nonlinear conservation laws and inverse problems. Research activity is supported by sizable outside funding and by joint projects with several national laboratories, industrial groups and scientific, biomedical and engineering programs. Most doctoral students receive support through research or teaching assistantships. Candidates with solid analytical and computational preparation typically complete the degree in four to five years. Applicants are encouraged to develop programming skills ahead of time, since computation is central to the department's work. The catalog entry also names the chair, a graduate program director and a graduate secretary as contacts.