Program Introduction

Ph.D. Program in CAM

The Ph.D. program in Computational Analysis and Modeling (CAM) is an interdisciplinary doctoral degree program administered by the Graduate School, with participation from the College of Engineering and Science and the College of Applied and Natural Sciences.

The program is intended to produce professionals, who have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of mathematical modeling, and have the expertise to implement, analyze and evaluate such models using state of the art computing environments and advanced visual data analysis techniques.

CAM Steering Committee

The members of the Steering Committee are Richard J. Greechie (Chair), Ben Choi, Weizhong Dai, Raja Nassar, and Ramu Ramachandran.

This committee will coordinate communication with the Graduate Council concerning the curriculum, entrance requirements and standards. The colleges and departments involved will make admission decisions on individual students, making sure they satisfied the requirements and standards set by the steering committee and the Graduate School.

The Steering Committee appoints the committee for qualifying exams in mathematics and computer science.

The Steering Committee ratifies each student's Doctoral Committee after consultation with the relevant programs, upon request by the student.

The Steering Committee ratifies each student's research plan for the dissertation that is submitted by the student after consultation with his/her major professor.

Dr. Weizhong Dai is the principal advisor of students concerning mathematics. Dr. Ben Choi is the principal advisor of students concerning computer science.

Admission Requirements

At least 1150 GRE score (V+Q) Foreign students are required by the Graduate School to submit an official TOEFL score of 550 or higher before their application will be evaluated.

Financial Support

Teaching and research assistantships are available to qualified applicants.

Core Requirements, Coursework and Dissertation

Typically 72 hours of graduate work will be required for the degree. The Core consists of 15 graduate hours of mathematics and statistics, 9 graduate hours of computer science, and 9 graduate hours of a third area, called the area of application, chosen from Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Statistics, Forestry, or a participating engineering discipline. An initial plan of study must be submitted by the end of the second quarter of study. The remaining 39 hours of graduate work will consist of courses designated by the student's committee, including research hours for the dissertation.

The student need not write a dissertation in his/her area of application. The dissertation may be written in Mathematics, Computer Science, or possibly another area included in this program. The topic of the dissertation will be called the area of specialization.

Exam Structure, Research Proposal, Candidacy and Time Limitation

The qualifying exam will consist of written examinations in Mathematics and in Computer Science and an appropriate exam in the area of application. A student may take each of these examinations more than twice only with the permission of the Dean of the Graduate School. The qualifying exam in the area of application may consist of the master's degree in that area. Within 1 year of passing the qualifying exam, a student is normally expected to pass a comprehensive exam in his/her area of specialization (which may be Mathematics, Computer Science, the area of application, or some other area included in this program). The comprehensive exam will include a lecture and followed by a question/answer period on the student's proposed dissertation topic that exhibits a clear demonstration of an understanding of the principles and methods involved in his proposed area of specialization. The student must submit a research proposal, signed by the committee members, to the Steering Committee within two months of the comprehensive exam, preferably before this exam. A student may take the comprehensive exam before the qualifying exam.

After the student has successfully passed both the qualifying exams and comprehensive exam, the student will be admitted to candidacy. The student must complete the dissertation and pass the dissertation defense exam within six years after being admitted to candidacy. The student's Doctoral Committee administered the dissertation defense exam. It will, in most cases, consist of an open public defense of the results of the dissertation. This final exam must be completed successfully at least two weeks prior to the date the degree is expected to be received.

Those serving on the Doctoral Committee must recommend, with at most one dissent, that the student has satisfactorily passed the dissertation defense exam.

Student's Committee

Each student will be assigned an Interim Committee and a temporary advisor no later than his/her second quarter in the program. Within one year of passing the qualifying exam, a Doctoral Committee will replace the Interim committee; and the major professor who will direct the student's research will replace the temporary advisor. At this time, the initial plan of study must be updated to a plan of study. Each student's Doctoral Committee shall consist of a minimum of four members of the Graduate Faculty, approved by the Steering Committee. It will be composed of the major professor (once one is chosen), at least one representative from Mathematics and Statistics, at least one from Computer Science, and at least one from the student's area of application. This committee will work with the student to design suitable course work for the degree.

Core Courses

MATHEMATICS Numerical Analysis: Math 414 and Math 415 Any three from the following courses:

PDE: Math 407; Numerical Methods for PDEs: Math 574; Theory of Probability: Stat 620; Theory of Statistics: Stat 621

Higher-numbered math courses may be substituted for core courses in mathematics, at the discretion of the student's committee.

COMPUTER SCIENCE The core courses comprise CS 428, CS 438, and any advanced course.

The total hours of above three courses are 9.

Qualifying Exams

In Mathematics-Math 414 & 415 and either Math 407 or Stat 620 & 621; and in Computer Science-CS 428 and CS 438. The contents and samples of exams can be seen by opening Math 414 & 415 , Math 407 , Stat 620 & 621 , CS Contents and CS Exam Sample.

The student must take the two qualifying exams at the same time in each discipline.

Date for Qualifying Exams

MATH (Once a year) The first full week of the Fall quarter.

CS (Once a year) The first week after the completion of CS 445.

Students must take the qualifying exams as soon as possible after taking the necessary courses. They should pass all of the qualifying exams by the end of the third year. The syllabus indicating the topics covered on the exam may be obtained three months in advance from the appropriate advisor, Dr. Weizhong Dai or Dr. Ben Choi.

Statistics as a Third Discipline

Statistics may be taken as a third discipline. To qualify, the student must complete at least nine credit hours of graduate statistics courses. These include Stat 620 or Stat 621 (if not taken as a core course) and any 500 or 600 level statistics courses except for Stat 550 and Stat 680.

Students with a Masters in Statistics can qualify for statistics as a third discipline.

Students, not taking Statistics as their third discipline, may use (only) three credit hours of statistics as a part of their 15 hours of required math courses. Students, taking statistics as their third discipline, must have 15 hours of mathematics credits (none of which are statistics) for the required mathematics requirement.