The core curriculum includes 4 courses to be satisfied by all students, and a weekly seminar. Remaining courses are chosen from a list of options, depending on the student's interest and faculty advice. PhD and Master's students in Biomathematics complete 36 hours of approved coursework (not including seminars), of which a maximum of 6 credits can be taken S/U (pass/fail). At least five 3-hour courses must be in the Department of Mathematics. Students completing this coursework are awarded a Master's degree.
Visit the course descriptions page to learn more about some of these courses.
Required courses:
(Any one of these may be replaced by an appropriate biomathematics topics course with the permission of the Director.)
Students must take the following core courses:
- MAP 5486 Computational Methods in Biology (Fall)
- MAP 5932 Spatial and Temporal Models in Biology (Spring)
- MAD 5306 Graph Theory and Networks (Fall) or other approved biomathematics course
- MAP 6437 Biomathematics Projects (Spring)
- MAP 6939 A Biomathematics seminar (1 hour credit each semester)
Interdisciplinary component:
Two courses from Biology, Chemistry, Statistics, Computer Science, or Scientific Computing. Typical choices are listed below. Other choices can be approved by the director of the program. Courses in Biology and Chemistry can, and probably should, be taken as S/U (pass/fail).
- PCB 5525 Molecular Biology (Biology department)
- BCH 5405 Molecular Biology (Chemistry department)
- PCB 5137 Advanced Cell Biology (Fall)
- BSC 5936 Membrane Biophysics
- PCB 5845 Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (Fall)
- STA 5176 Statistical modeling with application to biology (Fall)
- STA 5236 Distribution Theory (Fall)
- STA 5325 Mathematical Statistics (Spring)
- STA 5327 Statistical Inference (Spring)
- STA 5172 Statistics in Epidemiology
- STA 5179 Applied Survival Analysis (Spring)
- STA 5166 Statistics in Applications 1 (Fall)
- STA 5198 Epidemiology for Statisticians (Fall)
Additional mathematics courses:
From the following, for a total of 36 hours of listed courses (not including seminars) of which at least 5 courses are in the Department of Mathematics.
- MAP 5932 Topological Data Analysis (Spring)
- MTG 5326, 5327 Topology I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAS 5307, 5308 Groups Rings Vector Spaces I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAA 5406, 5407 Complex Variables I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAA 5616, 5617 Measure and Integration I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAD 5403, 5404 Foundations of Computational Mathematics I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAP 6536, 6537 Advanced Partial Differential Equations I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAD 5738, 5739 Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAP 5165, 5423 Methods in Applied Mathematics I, II (Fall, Spring)
- MAD 5305 Graph Theory
- ISC 5935 Computational Methods for Continuous Problems
(other graduate mathematics courses can be taken with approval of the Director)
Visit the course descriptions page to learn more about some of these courses.
MS Degree.
This is a two-year program with 36 semester hours of courses and with seminars. Students develop skills in a number of areas for working on applications of mathematics to biology.
PhD Degree.
Students do research work in a variety of fields represented by the biomathematics faculty. PhD students should complete all requirements for a Master's degree and then pass the preliminary examinations. See the PhD degree requirements page for more details.