Mathematical Sciences Ph.D.

Degree Requirements

1. Credit requirement. The doctoral students entering the program with a Bachelor’s degree are required to complete a minimum of 60 credits of course work, at least 36 of which must be at the 700-level. The doctoral students entering the program with an M.S. degree are required to complete at least 30 credits of course work, at least 18 of which must be at the 700-level. Each doctoral student must complete a dissertation embodying the results of original research which is acceptable to the student’s advisory committee. A student must enroll in a minimum of 18 credits of Dissertation. A maximum of 24 credits of Dissertation can be counted toward the Ph.D. degree.

2. Qualifying Examination. The purpose of the Qualifying Examination is to measure the student’s knowledge of basic graduate course work in selected areas and to make sure that the student is prepared to proceed to more advanced studies. A doctoral student normally takes the Qualifying Examination within the second year after entering the program, based on the core courses in the student’s concentration. Doctoral students must pass the Qualifying Examination within three years. For each concentration, the Qualifying Examination consists of two parts, which are based on:

Applied Mathematics
Part I: MAT 707-708 or MAT 709-710
Part II: MAT 771-772

Computational Mathematics
Part I: MAT 707-708 or MAT 709-710
Part II: MAT 765-766

Pure Mathematics
Part I: MAT 707-708 or MAT 709-710
Part II: MAT 703-704

Statistics
Part I: STA 767-768
Part II: STA 761-762

A student who fails the Qualifying Examination on the first attempt must complete a second examination within the next twelve months. A student who entered the program with a Bachelor’s degree and who fails the second examination may be allowed to complete a M.S. degree with the consent of the Graduate Studies Committee. Such a student will not be permitted to seek readmission to the Doctoral Program in Mathematical Sciences at UNLV. A student who fails the Qualifying Examination a second time and who entered the Doctoral Program with an M.S. degree in Mathematical Sciences will be separated from the program.

3. Subject Area Breadth Requirements. With the goal of encouraging students to be exposed to a broad spectrum of mathematics during their graduate studies, doctoral students are required to take at least two one-year sequence courses with a grade of B or better, in addition to the core courses tested by the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. Students are required to choose two one-year course sequences based on the following list:

Applied Mathematics
MAT 703-704, MAT 723-724, MAT 729-730,
MAT 733-734, MAT 765-766, STA 767-768.

Computational Mathematics
MAT 703-704, MAT 723-724, MAT 729-730,
MAT 733-734, MAT 771-772, STA 767-768.

Pure Mathematics
MAT 701-702, MAT 717-718, MAT 723-724,
MAT 733-734, MAT 771-772, STA 767-768.

Statistics
STA 713 & 715, STA 750-751, STA 755-756,
STA 753 & 765, STA 763-764, MAT 707 & STA 731.

4. Comprehensive Examination. The purpose of the Comprehensive Examination is to measure a doctoral student’s knowledge of the advanced level graduate work that will be required as the student begins to do original research in his or her area of concentration. After passing the Qualifying Examination, a student will engage in the approved course work specified by the Doctoral Advisory Committee and submit to the latter a dissertation proposal.

Usually one year after passing the Qualifying Examination, a student will complete the Comprehensive Examination, designed and administered by the Doctoral Advisory Committee, based on the student’s course work with focus on his/her ability to perform research on the dissertation proposal. A student who fails the Comprehensive Examination on the first attempt must complete a second examination within the next semester. A student who fails the examination a second time will be separated from the Doctoral Program. A student who has successfully passed the Comprehensive Examination will be admitted to Candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and thereby be allowed to proceed with the approved dissertation proposal.

5. Dissertation. A doctoral candidate is expected to complete a dissertation embodying the results of significant original research, which is performed independently by the student, and is acceptable to the student’s advisory committee.

6. Additional Requirements. Skills in foreign languages, computer programming and/or interdisciplinary areas, dependent on the concentration of a student’s program,
will be determined by the Doctoral Advisory Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee in consultation with the Department Chair.

7. Dissertation Defense. After submitting to the Doctoral Advisory Committee a dissertation draft that was approved by his/her Dissertation Advisor, a candidate will defend orally the dissertation before the Doctoral Advisory Committee and any other graduate faculty members who wish to attend. The Doctoral Advisory Committee will recommend to the Graduate Coordinator/Department Chair whether the dissertation and defense are both satisfactory.

Specific degree requirements, including those listed above, are described in detail in the Graduate Student Handbook for the Ph.D. Program, available on the department’s web site. The listing of graduate courses is constantly under review. Graduate students will automatically receive new listings. Since some courses are taught on an “on demand” basis, course prerequisites for each of the four concentrations are considered guidelines with courses roughly equivalent accepted as prerequisites, subject to approval of the Graduate Studies Committee and the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee.

A student will be placed on academic probation if a minimum of 3.00 GPA is not maintained in all work taken in the degree program. A grade of C or less in one graduate-level course will cause a student to be placed on academic probation and will elicit a critical review of the student’s program by the Graduate Studies Committee.

The Graduate College requires a minimum of 50 percent of the total credits required to complete the doctoral degree, exclusive of transferred credits and/or the dissertation, must be earned at UNLV after admission to a graduate degree program.