An industrial-project-oriented track is offered under the M.S. program in applied mathematics to meet the educational needs of students who intend to obtain employment in industry or government. This track also may be attractive to part-time students from the government and local industries. The track is designed to provide students with the basic tools of applied and computational mathematics, as well as statistics, fused with mathematical model building. The program is capped with a significant industrial-oriented project. Another aspect of the program is incorporating some experience with technical report writing and oral presentation, a valuable skill in all career options. The track requires the completion of 30 graduate credit hours.

The student should declare the intention to pursue this specific track soon after entering the M.S. program. Approval of a plan of study must be obtained from the department before the student starts taking courses toward satisfying the track requirements. If the student wishes to transfer courses taken elsewhere to satisfy specific track requirements, approval must be obtained before taking more than six credit hours toward satisfying the track requirements.

The course requirements of the industrial track are satisfied by Math 617, Introduction to Industrial Mathematics, taken in the first two semesters in the program; five graduate-level courses taken within the department, at least one of which is a statistics course at the 600 level or higher; two courses in a focused area taken outside the department with the approval of the graduate program director; and Math 717, Projects in Industrial Mathematics, taken in the second year in the program. It will be strongly advised that no more than two courses come from any one area of applied mathematics.

The program culminates in a capstone event by completing a project (MATH 699 for three credit hours) under the direction of a faculty member in the department or under the joint direction of a faculty member in the department and an expert in the area of the project from outside the department. The topic should be associated with an industry- or government-related problem in applied mathematics.