Mathematics, M.S.

(SMATH)

The departmental-level academic course plan, including course selections, for each student must be approved by the student’s advisory committee. The committee will include the student’s major advisor and at least two additional members of the department’s graduate faculty. The MS degree in mathematics is available as both a non-thesis and a thesis degree. There is also a thesis MS with concentration in applications as well as a thesis MS with a concentration in financial mathematics. These four options entail different requirements.

• The non-thesis MS in mathematics requires 36 semester hours, of which at least 24 hours must be in mathematics and at least 18 must be in mathematics courses numbered 7000 or higher. Every non-thesis MS student must pass the department’s written comprehensive examination, which is administered twice annually and is described at www.math.lsu.edu/grad/gradexams. Doctoral students in mathematics normally earn a non-thesis MS during the first two years of enrollment in the PhD program, described below.
• The thesis MS in Mathematics without concentration is based on breadth of exposure in mathematics. The graduate coursework requirement is 36 semester hours, six of which will be thesis credit. Of the 36 hours, at least 24 must be in mathematics, and at least 18 of those 24 hours must be at the 7000 level or higher. The courses must satisfy requirements listed at www.math.lsu.edu/grad/degrees. The chair of the student’s advisory committee will be the thesis advisor. The thesis must be an original and interesting contribution to the field, a worthwhile and useful expository work, or a substantial application of mathematics. An oral thesis defense is required as the final examination for this program.
• The thesis MS in Mathematics with concentration in applications requires 30 semester hours of graduate credit, 24 hours of which must be in graduate level classes, and six in thesis research. At least 15 of the 30 semester hours have to be in courses numbered 7000 or above. The six hours of thesis are counted toward this requirement. Of the required 24 semester hours of coursework, a minimum of 12 must be taken in the Department of Mathematics, nine of which must be at the 7000 level. The remaining 12 hours must be in approved elective courses, and at least six of these hours must be in approved courses related to the thesis. The courses must satisfy requirements listed at www.math.lsu.edu/grad/degrees.
• The Master of Science in mathematics with concentration in financial mathematics requires a total of 36 credit hours of which six hours are thesis credit. The curriculum is intended to provide specialized master’s-level training for individuals seeking employment in today’s sophisticated financial markets requiring substantial knowledge of graduate level mathematics. The curricular requirements are presented in detail at www.math.lsu.edu/grad/msconfin.