APMATH:PHD - Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematical Sciences
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Simple Requirements
(1) Have either a bachelor’s or a graduate degree in Mathematics or another quantitative field
(2) Have a GPA of at least 3.0 in the bachelor’s or Masters’ degree
(3) GRE is not required.
(4) Official transcripts and least three letters of recommendation.
(5) Have received approval of the departmental graduate committee
(6) Foreign student whose native language is not English must obtain a score of 80 or higher on the TOEFL iBT (this corresponds to 550 on the old TOEFL test) or 6.3 overall on the IELTS. The University Graduate School has a list of countries that are exempt from this requirement.
Graduation Requirements
(1) Completing a total of 75 credit hours of course
(2) A grade of ‘B’ or higher in all required core courses and a cumulative average of 3.0 or higher in the 75 credits of coursework.
(3) Successful completion of the written portion of the Qualifying Exam. This examination is designed primarily to make sure the student has suitable background knowledge to conduct research in his/her chosen area. The student must pass the written Qualifying Exam by the end of the fifth semester (excluding summers) in the program. Two attempts are permitted. Any exception needs to be approved by the Graduate Committee. The student chooses any two of the following six areas of the exams: (1) Analysis (including both real analysis and complex analysis); (2) Differential Equations (including both Ordinary Differential Equations and Partial Differential Equations); (3) Numerical Analysis; (4) Mathematical Statistics; (5) Algebra (Graduate Algebra and Applied Linear Algebra); (6) Geometry/Topology (Introduction to Algebraic Topology and Differential Geometry).
(4) Choosing advisor(s). The student will choose a faculty from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics as their dissertation advisor. A co-advisor could be selected from within the department or from outside.
(5) Successful completion of the oral portion of the Qualifying Exam. The student will present and defend an oral examination. The purpose of this exam is to verify that the candidate has chosen a suitable topic for dissertation research and to evaluate the candidate's ability to conduct such research. The student will normally take the oral examination after completion of the core requirements and the written portion of the Qualifying Exam. The oral examination will be conducted by a panel of math faculty including the student’s advisor(s). During the oral examination, the candidate presents his/her accomplished and proposed research and answers questions from the panel and others in the audience.
(6) Upon completion of the required core courses and passing both portions of the Qualifying Exam, the student can advance to Candidacy.
Dissertation Requirements
(1) The student will assemble a Dissertation Committee of at least four faculty members [including advisor(s)], three of whom will be from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
(2) Submission and defense of a dissertation based upon original research in mathematical science. A dissertation is required of all candidates for the PhD degree and must conform to the format outlined in the Regulations for Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Manual available to students online from the FIU Graduate School.
(3) After submission of the dissertation and completion of all other required work for the PhD degree, the candidate will be given a final oral thesis defense examination by the Dissertation Committee. Successful completion of all of these steps will culminate in the granting of the PhD degree.
Students can complete the PhD in Mathematical Sciences as described under program requirements or they may choose the Statistics Major.
This Major provides advanced training in statistical theory and translational methods to make optimal decisions based on real-world data in diverse scientific and engineering areas. Research/study on statistics allows graduates to better understand data, measure uncertainty, and calculate risk in depth.
There are no tracks, specializations, concentrations, areas of emphasis, or other curricular offerings associated with this program.
The Doctor in Mathematical Sciences (Statistics) degree consists of the 8 core courses, a minimum of 15 credit hours must be of Ph.D. dissertation course, at least 4 courses (for a subtotal of at least 12 credits) from the thesis preparatory courses list. The remaining 24 credits of the required 75 may be filled by courses from:
1. Any courses from the thesis preparatory courses which are not counted as the four courses above, or thesis research courses, or other 6XXX/7XXX courses from the departmental catalog.
2. Courses of level 5000 or higher from Biostatistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, or Engineering approved by the Graduate Committee.
1. Completing a total of 75 credit hours of course.
2. A grade of ‘B’ or higher in all required statistics core courses and a cumulative average of 3.0 or higher in the 75 credits of coursework.
3. Successful completion of the written portion of the Qualifying Exam. This examination is designed primarily to make sure the student has suitable background knowledge to conduct research in his/her chosen area. The student must pass the written Qualifying Exam by the end of the fifth semester (excluding summers) in the program. Two attempts are permitted. Any exception needs to be approved by the Graduate Committee.
The following two areas of the exams will be taken: (1) Mathematical Statistics I & II, (2) Applied Statistics (including Data Analysis I and II, Design of Experiments and Linear Models)
4. Choosing advisor(s). The student will choose a faculty from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics as their dissertation advisor. A co-advisor could be selected from within the department or from outside.
5. Successful completion of the oral portion of the Qualifying Exam. The student will present and defend an oral examination. The purpose of this exam is to verify that the candidate has chosen a suitable topic for dissertation research and to evaluate the candidate's ability to conduct such research. The student will normally take the oral examination after completion of the core requirements and the written portion of the Qualifying Exam. The oral examination will be conducted by a panel of Statistics faculty including the student’s advisor(s). During the oral examination, the candidate presents his/her accomplished and proposed research and answers questions from the panel and others in the audience.
6. Upon completion of the required core courses and passing both portions of the Qualifying Exam, the student can advance to Candidacy.
1. The student will assemble a Dissertation Committee of at least five faculty members [including advisor(s)], with a minimum of 3 from the department of mathematics and statistics and a minimum of one from another department.
2. Submission and defense of a dissertation based upon original research in mathematical science (specialty in statistics). A dissertation is required for all candidates for the PhD degree and must conform to the format outlined in the Regulations for Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Manual available to students online from the FIU Graduate School.
3. After submission of the dissertation and completion of all other required work for the PhD degree, the candidate will be given a final oral thesis defense examination by the Dissertation Committee. Successful completion of all of these steps will culminate in the granting of the PhD degree.