Industrial Mathematics Program
UIC Program in
Mathematical and Information
Sciences for Industry (MISI)
Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and
Computer Science
September, 1996
Summary
We propose establishing a new program in industrial mathematics
called Mathematical
and Information Sciences for Industry (MISI) within the
Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science
at UIC. The MISI Program will offer an integrated
interdisciplinary curriculum combining mathematics, computer
science, and communication skills. The MISI two year Master's
Program will be based upon a core curriculum and train
students by having them participate in projects with
practical deliverables. The program will place special
emphasis on applications in science, engineering, and
business. Projects are selected by an industrial
advisory board.
Rationale for the Program
The importance of computer science in science, engineering,
and business requires no justification. On the other hand,
the role of mathematics is arguably as important, but not
nearly as well understood or appreciated. Broadly speaking
as the complexity, difficulty, size, or structure of a
problem grows, mathematical analysis assumes increasing
importance. An interdisciplinary program combining
mathematics and information sciences is an research area
that is critical to science and technology and in which UIC
can build a research program of national significance.
Our two year MISI Master's Program will be structured so
that graduates will have developed three overlapping skill
sets:
Our approach is to focus on core courses together with a
project-oriented curriculum so that the students leaving the
two year Master's Program will have worked as a team member
on one or more projects with practical deliverables. We
expect that the majority of Master's students will take jobs
in industry and that this particular combination of
disciplines combined with a practical project orientation
will provide them with a significant advantage when looking
for jobs. We use an industrial advisory
board to ensure that the projects we select
and the students we graduate are of interest to industry.
Goals
1) to provide a focus for the computational research activities within the
department;
2) to provide students with a two year Master's Program which is
matched to their needs and interests and consistent with the current and
intermediate term job market and
3) to provide a solid foundation for MSCS students interested in pursuing a
Ph.D. in computational mathematics and information sciences and to offer these
students a program which provides training for those interested in non-academic
careers.
Nature of Program
The UIC Program in Mathematical and Information Sciences for Industry
is unique in providing
1) a curriculum balancing discrete mathematics,
continuous mathematics, and information sciences, and
2) projects which provide students an opportunity to build their skills in
oral and written communication, and to work as a team on an advanced
development and research project.
Curriculum
A Master's degree requires the successful completion of 12 courses and a
Major Project. The Major Project serves the same functionality as a Master's
Thesis. The first year consists of required three core courses and three
electives. During the second year, students takes three more elective
courses, and three courses from within a Track. In addition, each student
completes a major industrial mathematics project called the Major Project.
Requirements for the M.S. degree with an area concentration in industrial
mathematics
The Department's requirements for the M.S. degree in Mathematics,
Statistics, and Computer Science earned with an area concentration are:
- earn (a minimum of) 32 semester hours of graduate credit
(excluding thesis research), 12 of which must be in the Department's
500-level courses. Of the remaining 20 hours, at least 12 must be in
the Department's courses.
- earn the grade of A or B in each course used to fulfill the
12 hour 500-level requirement of 1).
- satisfy the core course requirement of the area of
concentration. Those of Industrial Mathematics are as follows:
- Industrial Mathematics:
MCS 401, 471, and 590 (Advanced Topics in Computer Science:
Industrial Problem Workshop I).
- write and successfully defend a major project.
Core course requirements may
be waived for students who have completed equivalents elsewhere.
The Major Project
The major project must be successfully
completed and defended, within one year after completion of 32 credit hours
applicable to the degree. Before the major project defense can take place,
all other degree requirements must be satisfied.
Programs of study leading to the M.S. degree earned
with an area concentration in industrial mathematics are given below.
We give a glimpse into the nature of the various area
programs beyond the formal requirements listed above.
Industrial Mathematics
The M.S. degree with a concentration in Industrial Mathematics is designed
for students who have a bachelor's degree in mathematics, computer
science, engineering, or in the physical or biological sciences and
have a good background in undergraduate mathematics. In addition to the
Industrial Mathematics courses recommended for the program, students are
encouraged to take related course in applied mathematics, control &
information theory, pure mathematics, computer science, and
probability & statistics.
Recommended Elective Courses
Students are encouraged to make their selection of six electives from the
following courses in consultation with an industrial mathematics advisor.
- Discrete Mathematics (DM): This includes algorithms,
data structures, complexity, combinatorics, graph theory,
and related topics.
- MCS 423 Graph Theory
- MCS 421 Combinatorics
- MCS 501 Computer Algorithms II
- MCS 521 Combinatorial Optimization
- MCS 531 Error-Correcting Codes
- MCS 561 Algebraic Symbolic Computation
- MCS 565 Mathematical Theory of Databases
- Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (ACS): This
includes differential equations, modeling, numerical computing,
symbolic computing, optimization, and related topics.
- Math 419 Models in Applied Mathematics
- Math 480 Applied Differential Equations
- Math 481 Applied Partial Differential Equations
- Math 574 Applied Optimal Control
- MCS 460 Introduction to Symbolic Computation
- MCS 563 Analytic Symbolic Computation
- MCS 571 Numerical Methods for PDEs
- MCS 575 Computer Performance Evaluation
- Software Science (SWS): This is a project based
course covering program design, operating system concepts,
data management, parallel computing, and introducing modern
programming practices and software project management
techniques. Tentative courses:
- MCS 494 Special Topics in Computer Science: Introduction to Software
Science
- MCS 572 Introduction to Supercomputing
- Applied Probability and Statistics (APS): This includes
probability distributions, random
variables, sampling distributions, estimation, confidence limits, hypothesis
testing, Markov chains, Poisson processes, linear regression, model building,
analysis of variance, and quality control.
- Stat 461 Applied Probability Models I
- Stat 462 Applied Probability Models II
- Stat 471 Linear and Non-Linear Programming
- Stat 481 Applied Statistical Methods II
- Stat 571 Non-Cooperative Games
- Stat 577 Reliability Theory
- Industrial Problem Workshop (IPW):
This course builds skills communicating technical material,
technical writing, oral presentations, working with team
members, and related topics, with the focus on industrial problem analysis,
modeling and solution. Tentative courses:
- Math 590 Advanced Topics in Applied Mathematics: Industrial Problem
Workshop II
Tracks
In addition, each student is required to complete
a Major Project and three courses in one of the following tracks:
Semester Schedule
PROGRAM: Core Electives Tracks Total
Year 1: 3 3 6
Year 2: 3 3 6
Fall 1996 Industrial Mathematics Track and Core Courses
(Click Here)
Program Resources
Nonacademic Careers for Graduate Students Committee
and Program Faculty
Web Source: http://www.math.uic.edu/~hanson/MISI.html
Email Comments or Questions to Professor Hanson