Overview of the Graduate Program in Mathematics at KSU

Welcome! Thank you for your interest in the Mathematics graduate program at KSU. What follows is a brief description of our graduate program, please go ahead and browse our sites and, in case of questions or comments, feel free to contact our Director of Graduate Studies, Prof. Diego Maldonado, at dmaldona@math.ksu.edu. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

The Math graduate scholarly experience at KSU in the national rankings

Our Math Department offers the PhD, Masters, concurrent BS/MS degrees and a graduate certificate in Applied Mathematics. According to the influential site PhDs.org, on a basis of 500 simulated rankings of 127 public and private universities in the US, our Department's median rank is 11 (top 10%) when the maximum weights (of 5) are allocated to the following categories:
Student Outcomes (Overall support and outcomes): The program supports a high fraction of students, students graduate quickly and get jobs, and the program tracks student placements, and
Student Resources (Professional development): The program offers a wide range of professional development opportunities and oversight mechanisms.

This top 10% nation-wide rank emphatically speaks of the high levels of dedication, mentoring, academic training and professional support offered by our faculty and staff to our graduate students. Our 34 faculty members have diverse mathematical interests and a common dedication to teaching and research. A teaching advisor and a temporary academic advisor are assigned to every incoming graduate student. Teaching advisors mentor and assist students with their teaching duties and teaching philosophies. Temporary academic advisors mentor and assist students with their choices of courses and other academic decisions until students choose a permanent academic advisor. The permanent academic advisor will mentor and assist students with their reports, research projects, reading courses, dissertation, job market, and all other aspects of their professional life. The Department also offers coaching courses such as Math896: Preparation for the Qualifying Exams and Math799c: Workshop on the job market application process and beyond.

Our program currently counts with about 40 graduate students and it has granted 65 master's degrees and 29 doctoral degrees over the past 10 years. With a good background, it normally takes two years to complete the requirements for a Master's degree and additional three to four years to complete the Ph.D. Check out our list of graduate courses.

The research environment

The Department's faculty and students are actively engaged in research, and all graduate students have close contact with the senior faculty. The Department counts with Research Groups in Number Theory, Algebra, Geometry and Topology, Analysis, Applied Math, and Math Education. Browse the sites of the individual groups to learn about their members, research projects, seminars, upcoming conferences, and the job placement of former members.

The Department offers nine weekly seminars, including a graduate student seminar, and a substantial endowment for colloquia allows the Department to invite mathematicians of international stature to our eight series of Distinguished Lectures. Take a look at our list of events for the current semester (and browse the previous ones). Every summer, advanced graduate students have the opportunity to participate in summer workshops at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California.

Research and the letter Centers

The Department houses the I-Center, the M-Center, and the Q-Center.

The I-Center. The Center for Integration of Undergraduate, Graduate, and Postdoctoral Research (I-Center) promotes and advance an integrated approach to undergraduate and graduate research in the Math Department and KSU. The I-Center offers graduate students the opportunity to mentor undergraduates in research projects through the I-Center graduate scholarships. These scholarships are awarded to graduate students engaged in the mentoring of undergraduate research under the supervision of faculty or postdocs.

The M-Center. The M-Center promotes research of the highest standard in Mirror Symmetry, Tropical Geometry, and related areas. The M-Center stands as a hub of an international research network, including collaborators at Berkeley, UCSD, MIT, IHES, Vienna, Paris, and Milan, with whom the M-Center members do research and co-organize research training activities.

The Q-Center. The Center for Quantitative Education (Q-Center) has multiple ongoing research projects on how best to teach students in a technological world. Much of this research is done in collaboration with graduate students in both the Math Department and the College of Education.

Financial support

Graduate students are supported by teaching assistantships which include tuition waivers and outstanding health insurance coverage. Students making good progress may expect to be supported throughout their degree program. The Department sponsors a number of awards for graduate students and students can supplement their stipend by teaching during the summer or by becoming Master or Organizational TAs. Depending on availability of funds, the Department also provides financial support for grad students to attend conferences in the US and around the world.

Manhattan, KS

Kansas State University, member of the Big 12 Conference since 1996, is located in the town of Manhattan, KS. Manhattan is home to more than 50,000 people, the Konza Prairie, the Sunset Zoo, the Tuttle Creek Lake, and it offers a number of great outdoors activities.
The Manhattan Regional Airport (airport code MHK) offers multiple daily non-stop American Airlines flights to and from Dallas, TX (DFW) and Chicago, IL (ORD). Manhattan is approximately two hours away from the Kansas City International airport (KCI).