texas a&m university mathematics department graduate ...phoward/graduate/orientation2016.pdf ·...

TexasA&MUniversityMathematicsDepartment

GraduateStudentOrientation

PeterHowardAssociateHeadforGraduateStudies

Outline

• Schedulesandtimelines• BriefFactsaboutTexasA&M• Overviewofthedepartment• InitialCourseScheduling• WarningaboutScamsandFrauds

Thistalkisavailableatthefollowingwebsite:http://www.math.tamu.edu/~phoward/graduate/materials.html

SchedulesandTimelines

SchedulefortheDay9:30– 9:45:Computeraccountforms9:45– 10:15:Overviewoftheprogram;discussionofcoursescheduling10:15– 10:30:TAassignments,DavidManuel10:30– 10:45:Break10:45– 11:00:Computersystems,ArtBelmonte11:00– 11:30:GraduateStudentOrganizersandRepresentatives

– GSO,AndrewKimball– AMSStudentChapter,OlaSobieska– SIAMStudentChapter,SamScholze– AWMStudentChapter,Fatma Terzioglu– DemoofregistrationinHowdy

11:30– 12:00:Break12:00– 1:15:Lunch1:15– 4:00(-ish):Coursescheduling,payrollprocessing

SchedulefortheDay9:30– 9:45:Computeraccountforms9:45– 10:15:Overviewoftheprogram;discussionofcoursescheduling10:15– 10:30:TAassignments,DavidManuel10:30– 10:45:Break10:45– 11:00:Computersystems,ArtBelmonte11:00– 11:30:GraduateStudentOrganizersandRepresentatives

– GSO,AndrewKimball– AMSStudentChapter,OlaSobieska– SIAMStudentChapter,SamScholze– AWMStudentChapter,Fatma Terzioglu– DemoofregistrationinHowdy

11:30– 12:00:Break12:00– 1:15:Lunch1:15– 4:00(-ish):Coursescheduling,payrollprocessing

DepartmentEmail

• Studentsshouldhaveadepartmentemailaccountbytheendoftheday.

• Totheextentpossible,studentsshouldcheckthisaccountatleastonceeachdaywhileintheprogram.

SchedulefortheNextTwoWeeks

• Monday,Tuesday,Aug.15,16:Internationalstudentcheck-inwithISS.Latecheck-in:Mon.Aug.22.

• Thursday,Aug.25:InternationalStudentConference(ISC);informative,butnotrequired.Moreinformation:

http://iss.tamu.edu/Events/ISC• Friday,Aug.19,orFriday,Aug.26:Universitylevelgraduate

studentorientation,8:00a.m.– 5:00p.m.,inRudderTower.Studentsshouldregisterat

http://ogaps.tamu.edu/New-Current-Students/New-Graduate-Student-Orientation

SchedulefortheNextTwoWeeks

• Saturday,Aug.13;Sunday,Aug.21:EnglishLanguageProficiencyExam(ELPE).Moreinformation:

http://dars.tamu.edu/Testing/ELPEBothdatesarealreadyclosed.

SchedulefortheSemester• Friday,Aug.26:LastdaytoregisterforFall2016classeswithoutapenalty

• Monday,Aug.29:Firstdayofclasses• Wednesday,Aug.31:FirstmeetingoftheFirstYearGraduateStudentSeminar(FYGSS),5:30p.m.– 6:30p.m.inBlocker628

• Friday,Sept.2:Lastdayfordrop/add• WehaveathreedayThanksgivingbreak,Nov.23-25.

• Wednesday,Dec.7:Lastdayofclasses

BriefFactsaboutTexasA&M

AboutTexasA&M• Foundedin1876• A&Moriginallyreferredto“agricultureandmechanics,”butin1963thisinterpretationwasdropped

• Amongthe5largestuniversitiesintheUS,publicandprivate

• Over59,000students(CollegeStationcampus),includingalmost15,000graduateandprofessionalstudents

• TheTexasA&MUniversitysystemincludes11universities,7stateagencies,2serviceunits,andamedicalcenter.Totalenrollmentofthesystemis137,955

AboutTexasA&M• Thecampusspans5,200acres,plus350acresforResearchPark(about8.5mi2or22km2)

• $5B+endowmentranksthirdamongpublicuniversities,and12thoverall

• Facultyincludes3Nobelprizerecipients,and6membersoftheNationalAcademyofSciences

• In2012TexasA&MjoinedtheSoutheasternConference(SEC)

• Ifyouyell“Howdy”anywhereoncampus,everyonewithinearshotwillstopwhatthey’redoingandyellitback

OverviewoftheDepartment

People• 80professors• 31 academicprofessionaltrackfaculty• 33post-docsandvisitors• 120PhDstudents• 32CampusMSstudents• 55DistanceMSstudents

Thedepartmentgraduatesabout16PhDstudents,10campusMSstudents,and15distanceMSstudentseachyear.

FacultyProfile• 13AMSFellows• 1SIAMFellow• 6 distinguishedprofessors(aUniversitytitle)• 7 endowedchairs• 70%ofthefacultyisfundedinpartbyexternalgrants:combined8milliondollars

• Twoassociatedinstitutes– InstituteforAppliedMathematicsandComputationalScience

– InstituteforScientificComputation

ResearchGroups• Algebraandcombinatorics (10,14)• Appliedmathematicsandinterdisciplinaryresearch(11,24)• Approximationtheory(5,1)• Functionalanalysis(10,22)• Geometryandtopology(8,5)• Groupsanddynamics(3,5)• Numbertheory(4,6)• Numericalanalysisandscientificcomputation(7,21)• Partialdifferentialequationsandmathematicalphysics(14,9)• Probabilitytheory(2,2)• Severalcomplexvariables(2,3)

(Numberoffaculty,NumberofPhDstudents)

ActiveSeminars,A-G

• Algebraandcombinatorics• Algebraicgeometry• Banach spaces• Firstyeargraduatestudentseminar• FreeProbability• Geometry• Graduatestudentorganization• Groupsanddynamics

ActiveSeminars,H-Z

• Linearanalysis• Mathematicalphysicsandharmonicanalysis• Noncommutative geometry• NonlinearPDE• Numbertheory• Numericalanalysis• Severalcomplexvariables

Plusworkingseminarsandcolloquiumseries

8/18/15, 10:10 AMHowdy

Page 1 of 2https://howdy.tamu.edu/cp/home/displaylogin

Trouble logging in? Forgot your password?

Activate your account Change your password

Log in with your NetID to get Started.

For security reasons, pleaselog out and close your webbrowser when you havecompleted accessingHowdy.

Texas A&M University at College Station - Texas A&M University at Galveston - Texas A&M University at Qatar - Contact Us - Employment - Emergency Preparedness - State of Texas - Texas

Homeland Security - Statewide Search - Open Records - State Link Policy - Texas A&M University System - Legal Notices - Accessibility

InitialCourseScheduling

Advisors

• MSstudents– Beihang students,PeterHoward– Allotherstudents,SueGeller

• PhDStudents– Algebra/geometry,MauriceRojas– Analysis,ThomasSchlumprecht– Computational/Numerical,Bojan Popov– Numbertheory,MattYoung– PDE/Applied,PeterHoward

MSSchedules

• ForMSstudents,courseschedulesaredeterminedbytheMStrackchosen.Optionsare:– Traditional– Teaching– Computational– Industrial– Mathbiology

• Requirementsforthesetracks:http://www.math.tamu.edu/graduate

PhDSchedules

ForPhDstudents,first-yearschedulesaremostlydeterminedbythequalifying-examandbreadthrequirements.Thesearecharacterizedbyfourbroadcategories:1. Algebra,discretemath,numbertheory2. Realandcomplexanalysis3. Differentialgeometry,topology4. Appliedandnumericalanalysis

QualifyingExamRequirements

• Studentsmustpasstwoqualifyingexamsfromtwodifferentareasbytheendoftheirsecondyearintheprogram.

• Eachqualifyingexamisbasedonatwo-semestersequence.

• Thefiveoptionsare:– Algebra;M653-M654– Appliedandnumericalanalysis;M641-M610– Complexanalysis;M617-M618– Realanalysis;M607-M608– Differentialgeometryandtopology;M636-M622

BreadthRequirements

• Asabreadthrequirement,studentsmusttakeatleastoneapprovedcoursefromthetwoareastheydonottakequalifyingexamsin.

• Studentswhohavealreadycompletedintroductorylevelcoursesinabreadthareashouldtakeamoreadvancedcourseinthearea.

Example1,AppliedMath

• Anystudentinappliedmathwilltaketheapplied/numericalanalysisqualifyingexam,andthisisbasedontwocourses:– M641– AnalysisforApplicationsI– M610– NumericalPartialDifferentialEquations

• Manystudentsinappliedmathwilltaketheanalysisqualifyingexam,whichisbasedon:– M607– RealVariablesI– M608– RealVariablesII

Example1,AppliedMath

• Ifastudenttakestheapplied/numericalandanalysisqualifyingexams,he/shewillneedtofulfillbreadthrequirementsintwoareas:– Algebra,discretemath,numbertheory– Differentialgeometry,topology

• Someoptionsforalgebra,discretemath,numbertheory:– M653:AlgebraI– M626:Analyticnumbertheory

• Someoptionsfordifferentialgeometry,topology:– M622:DifferentialgeometryI– M636:TopologyI

Example1,AppliedMath

Hereisanexamplefirst-yearschedule:• Fall2016– M607,RealVariablesI– M641,AnalysisforApplicationsI– M653,AlgebraI

• Spring2017– M608,RealVariablesII– M610,NumericalPDE– M642,AnalysisforApplicationsII

Thisstudentwouldbepreparedtotaketwoqualifyingexams,andwouldonlyhaveonebreadthrequirementleftforthesecondyear.

Example2,AlgebraicGeometry

• Anystudentstudyingalgebraicgeometrywilltakethequalifyingexaminalgebra,whichisbasedonthecourses:– M653-M654:AlgebraI-II

• Manystudentsstudyingalgebraicgeometrywillalsotakethequalifyingexamindifferentialgeometryandtopology,whichisbasedonthecourses:– M622:DifferentialgeometryI– M636:TopologyI

Example2,AlgebraicGeometry

• Studentswhopassqualifyingexamsinalgebraanddifferentialgeometry/topologywillneedtotakebreadthrequirementcoursesinthefollowingareas:– Realorcomplexanalysis– Applied/numericalanalysis

• Someoptionsforrealandcomplexanalysis:– M607:RealvariablesI– M617:TheoryoffunctionsofacomplexvariableI

• Someoptionsforappliedandnumericalanalysis:– M609:Numericalanalysis– M610:Numericalpartialdifferentialequations– M641:Analysisforapplications

Example2,AlgebraicGeometry

Hereisanexamplefirst-yearschedule:• Fall2016– M607,RealVariablesI– M636,TopologyI– M653,AlgebraI

• Spring2017– M622,Differentialgeometry– M648,Computationalalgebraicgeometry– M654,AlgebraII

Thisstudentwouldbepreparedtotaketwoqualifyingexams,andwouldonlyhaveonebreadthrequirementleftforthesecondyear.

ScamsandFrauds

• Incomingstudents,andespeciallyincominginternationalstudents,areoftentargetedbyscamsandfrauds.

• Thesearetypicallyinitiatedbyphoneoremail,andcaninvolve:– Passportandvisastatus– Creditcards– Banking– USTaxes– Computeraccounts– Etc.

ScamsandFrauds

• Individualsperpetratingsuchactivitiescanbehighlyaggressiveandthreatening.

• Somecommonrulesofthumb:– Noreputableagencywillcallyouandaskforinformationsuchasacreditcardnumberorsocialsecuritynumber,soifthishappens,it’sascam.

– Doublechecklinksinemailsyoureceivetoensurethey’revalid;thesafestthingistolookuptheagency’scontactinformationandre-typeit.

• Ifyoususpectyouarebeingtargeted,pleasecontactmeimmediately.