Graduate Students attending a talk

Graduate Program

The mathematics department offers two graduate degrees, an MA and a PhD, as well as a Certificate in Applied Mathematics. Full details of the requirements for each degree are listed in the Mathematics Department Handbook and are summarized below. College-wide requirements for graduate students may be found in the Graduate School Catalog.

Students who are interested in enrolling in graduate level coursework in the Department of Mathematics without formal admission to a graduate program at KU are encouraged to apply as non-degree seeking.

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Features of our program

Our Faculty

Our faculty is committed to excellence in teaching, is very active in research, and has a strong record of external funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Many of our faculty members are frequently invited to lecture at national and international venues, and several of them are involved in the organization of established annual workshops and conferences in their areas of research.

Our Diverse Community

The department is committed to cultivating a diverse community in which the dignity and rights of individuals are respected. Our diversity of people, ideas and experiences enriches our educational , service and research missions. For these reasons, we are committed to principles of non-discrimination, and we welcome applications from all qualified students, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or national origin, color, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our Interdisciplinary Activities

We have strong links to other disciplines. Recent interdisciplinary work includes projects in biology, computer science, economics, engineering, geology, medicine, and physics. Such projects involve interactions with the KU Information and Telecommunication Technology Center, the KU Medical Center, the KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, the Kansas Geological Survey, and Sprint.

Our Graduates' Success

A measure of the quality of our program is given by the success of our graduates. Our alumni do very well working in academia, high-tech start-up companies, and established corporations, banks and financial institutions. Recently, our PhD graduates have obtained very competitive positions and awards upon graduation, including selective postdoctoral positions at research universities.

Long tradition of excellence

The first Ph.D. granted at KU was in Mathematics to Arnold Emch in the year 1895.

Since then, our graduate program has been a central part of the research and teaching mission of our department, and is an important component of our long term planning.