Mathematics

Admission details can be found here. For details on preliminary examinations, please see the University Calendar.

• Alexandru Badescu: Mathematical finance, actuarial science.
• Kristine Bauer: Algebraic topology and homotopic theory, calculus of factors, homological algebra.
• Mark Bauer: Number theory and cryptography.
• Karoly Bezdek: Combinatorics, geometry and logic, geometric analysis and rigidity, computational discrete geometry.
• Thomas Bitoun: Algebraic geometry and D-modules.
• Elena Braverman: Delay differential equations, delay equations of population dynamics, logistic equations, impulsive equations, equations with distributed delay.
• Alex Brudnyi: Fundamental groups of compact Kahler manifolds, limit cycles and the distribution of zeros of families of analytic functions.
• Clifton Cunningham: Number theory, topology and algebraic geometry.
• Gilad Gour: Quantum information science, foundations of quantum mechanics.
• Matthew Greenberg: Algebraic Geometry, Cryptography, and Number Theory, Algebra and Topology.
• Claude Laflamme: Set theory, theory of homogeneous structures, e-learning systems, graph theory.
• Wenyuan Liao: Seismic inversion and applications, mathematical modelling and the application of mathematics, especially perturbation and numerical methods, to industrial problems, numerical methods and applications to geophysics.
• Dang Khoa Nguyen: algebraic dynamics, diophantine geometry, and related problems
• Jinniao Qiu: Analysis, mathematical finance, quasilinear and fully nonlinear partial differential equations, stochastic calculus, operations research.
• Cristian Rios: Analysis and partial differential equations, quasilinear and fully nonlinear partial differential equations, degenerate elliptic equations.
• Carlo Maria Scandolo: Quantum Information, Quantum resource theories, Quantum Information Science, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics.
• Renate Scheidler: Number theory, mathematical cryptography.
• Deniz Sezer: Credit risk and finance, super-processes, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods.
• Anatoliy Swishchuk: Financial mathematics, biomathematics, stochastic delay differential equations, insurance mathematics, stochastic models in economics, applications of random evolution.
• Antony Ware: Numerical analysis, biomedical applications of mathematics, wavelets, numerical solution of unsteady convection-diffusion problems, computational finance.
• Qingrun Zhang : Genomics Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Sstatistical Genetics, Machine Learning algorithms applied to Genomics.
• Yuriy Zinchenko: Applications to medicine and healthcare, optimal radiation therapy design; operations research, optimization algorithms and software; scientific parallel computing and high-performance linear algebra; mathematical programming with applications to computational geometry.

The course requirements for a doctorate are determined on an individual basis and must include eight half courses in the student’s combined master's and PhD program in addition to MATH 600A and MATH 600B seminar course which must be taken in the first or second year of the program.

Performance level: Should maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 calculated on a four-point scale at the end of each registration year and attain at least a B- on each course taken for credit.

Course selections

• MATH 600 Research Seminar (this course is not one of the eight required courses).
• Two courses from List A courses
• At least three courses at List A or List B

The PhD is a full-time degree with an expected completion time of four years. The maximum time allowed is six years.

• Supervisors will decide with their students on what courses the students have to take, and what preliminary exams the students have to write.
• A supervisory committee must be established within three months after the program starts.  The supervisory committee includes a supervisor (and a co-supervisor if there is one), and two supervisory committee members.
• The supervisory committee should meet with the student regularly to provide guidance through the program.

Written preliminary exams

Students must pass three written preliminary examinations on material from List A and List B courses (including at least two from List A), no later than 18 months into the program.

Presentations

All mathematics PhD students are required to give three invited or contributed presentations during their doctoral degree, not including presentations that are required as part of a graduate course or the 600 seminar course.

Written candidacy proposal and oral candidacy exam

• Program course work and examination requirements completed (prior to candidacy oral examination)
• Written proposal submitted to supervisory committee (recommended six months, minimum four months in advance of expected oral examination date)
• Reading list approved by the graduate program director (at least three months prior to scheduling oral examination)
• Written research proposal approved (at least two months prior to scheduling oral examination)
• The oral candidacy examination must be taken no later than 28 months from the start of the doctoral program. Prior to the oral examination, the student must have completed all the course work and the written preliminary examinations
• The oral candidacy exam must be scheduled at least four weeks before the intended date.
• The exam committee contains a supervisor, a co-supervisor (if it is applicable), supervisory committee members (usually two), and two examiners (outside of student’s program, within the department or within the university)

More information can be found under the following links:

Faculty of Graduate Studies candidacy regulations

Departmental guidelines for candidacy examinations

Thesis and thesis oral examination

The student must complete a thesis on a topic to be agreed to by the student and their supervisor.

• After completion of the thesis, the student must pass a thesis oral examination
• A thesis oral exam committee contains a supervisor, a co-supervisor (if applicable), supervisory committee members (usually two), an examiner (outside of student’s program, within the department or within the university) and an external examiner (from outside of the university)
• The external examiner must be applied for approval from Faculty of Graduate Studies six weeks prior the intended examination date
• The exam must be scheduled at least four weeks prior to date of oral exam
• Examiners must have a copy of the thesis at least three weeks prior to the date of oral exam
• Final thesis oral examinations are open

More information can be found on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website under examinations.