Mathematics and Statistics

Current Students

First Year Suggestions

New graduate students should focus on their classes in their first year. Consult with the graduate coordinator for recommendations on which courses to take. At the end of their first year and during the following summer, students should begin working on their thesis or preparing for their two comprehensive exams.

Deadlines

Comprehensive Exams Option

  • Students selecting the Comprehensive Exams option must take 2 units of MAT 6970 and pass two comprehensive exams.
  • The two exams are to be based on separate sequences of courses at the 5000-level.
  • Speak with your professors to select professors to write your comprehensive exams, and coordinate with them to determine when you will take your exams.
  • After passing both of your comprehensive exams, request that the Graduate Coordinator submit a Report of Culminating Experience form on your behalf.
  • In the first week of your final semester, apply to graduate in the current semester. See Applying for Graduation for more information.
  • Follow the Graduation Checklist found in the Graduate Studies Office Policies and Procedures.

Timeline for Thesis Option

Summer (3rd to last semester)

  • Find a thesis advisor and a topic. Talk to your professors.
  • MathSciNet access is available through the library and provides a searchable database of mathematical sciences literature.
  • Read and write down some math.
  • Start typesetting your thesis. A thesis should be written using LaTeX.  LaTeX resources are described below.

Fall (2nd to last semester)

  • Take classes as needed, perhaps a unit or two of MAT 6910/6960. Save at least one unit of MAT 6960 for your last semester.
  • Read and write down some more math. Meet with your thesis advisor regularly.
  • Start/continue typesetting your thesis. Use LaTeX.
  • Choose a thesis defense committee comprising your thesis advisor and two other professors, perhaps one from another department or institution.

Spring (last semester)

  • Take classes as needed, including at least one unit of MAT 6960 for your last semester. Be sure to have completed 2 units of MAT 6910 and 2 of MAT 6960.
  • Schedule your thesis defense, using input from your committee.
  • Contact the Math and Stats department (mathstat@cpp.edu or 909-869-4904) for assistance in securing an appropriate room.
  • Apply to graduate in the current semester. This should be done in the first week of the semester. See Applying for Graduation for more information.
  • Follow the Graduation Checklist found in the Graduate Studies Office Policies and Procedures.
  • Have an initial yet full version of your thesis completed by the end of the 5 weeks of this semester. Send this first full version to your committee members and request feedback within a few weeks or a month. At this point, all of the main mathematical content of your thesis should be done.
  • Edit your thesis as needed. Use the input from your committee members. Perhaps send the revised draft back to your committee for one last review.
  • Schedule a preliminary library formatting review 30 days before the thesis submission deadline and prior to having committee members sign the Signature Page.
  • A few weeks before the end of the semester, schedule the final library formatting review and schedule an appointment with the Graduate Studies office to submit the thesis.
  • Finish writing the thesis before the last week of classes.
  • After successfully defending your thesis, request that your thesis advisor submit the Report of Culminating Experience online form on your behalf.
  • Pay thesis fees at the Student Accounting & Cashiering Services office.
  • Submit approved thesis for binding. Typically, this must be done by the Wednesday of finals week at the latest. Do it before then.

LaTeX

  • Write your thesis using LaTeX. Microsoft Word not an ideal tool and should be avoided.
  • Detexify is a helpful tool for finding the LaTeX command for a symbol.
  • The following programs are free to download:

LaTeX Thesis Template Files

Thanks to Dr. Berit Givens, Tzevetlin Petrov, Rolando de Santiago, Sarah Underwood, Brian Kahovec, and Alec Lewald for creating and sharing the files found here.

First, save cppSampleThesis.tex and CPP.cls files to the same folder. (Right-click below on each file nam to save.)  You may rename cppSampleThesis.tex to a different name if you like, but you may NOT rename CPP.cls.  Next, use your LaTeX program of choice (in our computer lab, your choices are WinEdt for Windows or TexShop for Macs) to open the potentially-renamed cppSampleThesis.tex file.  Follow the instructions written in the file.  If you encounter problems at format check time and think they could be fixed in the template, or if you have other suggestions, please fill out this form to help us improve the template.

Sample Thesis

Thanks to Rolando de Santiago and Alec Lewald for creating and sharing the files found here.