We provide the student with an essential background consisting of the three Calculus courses I, II and III (4 credit each), Differential Equations (4 credit), Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra I, Abstract Algebra II (3 credit each) and Introductory Analysis I (4 credit.) Students are prepared for the last four upper level required courses and the other four upper level elective courses (see below) by taking Fundamentals of Advanced Mathematics (MATH 305, 3 credit) in the second semester of the sophomore year.
In addition to the required course mentioned above, students take four upper level elective courses, which can be chosen from a wide variety of courses. The list of optional courses is continually added to in order to keep up with the needs of modern society and job market. For example, we have recently added MATH 516 Coding and Information Theory and MATH 537 Introduction to Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Logic.
We also impart to the student a mathematical way of thinking and methodology (in our upper-level courses) by stressing the use of axioms, definitions, theorems and proofs. The student is frequently asked to handle a prove-or-disprove problem, which puts him in the real-life mathematical situation of not knowing the result in advance. Mathematical writing is also developed through these courses.
By the time the student completes his/her undergraduate program in our department, he/she is expected to be able to approach applied problems mathematically and/or to pursue graduate degrees in mathematics. Critical thinking is also expected of the student, as part of the make-up of an educated person.
Outcomes Assessment: Exams (written and/or oral) and home assignments are used to evaluate the student’s comprehension of the course material. The assimilation of the material learned in the courses and ability to think mathematically are efficiently tested by the comprehensives, which consist of a sequence of take-home across-the-curriculum mathematical problems taken in the last two years.
The course exams and home assignments serve to measure the student’s learning of the course material. The comprehensives create the opportunity for the student to use the mathematical approach and methodology he/she has acquired and the mathematical knowledge learned in the course to tackle a mathematical problem. He/she is then expected to submit mathematically well-written solutions. The comprehensives thus serve two purposes: one is educational and the other is to evaluate the student’s progress toward the goals stated above.
Sherif T. El-Helaly
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics
