News from the Graduate Director by Alan Noell
These are busy years for the graduate program. For both the M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees we have three areas of specialization: pure mathematics (about 18 students), applied mathematics (9), and mathematics education (4). We have a strong group of first-year graduate students as well as a significant number who expect to complete work on their dissertation this year or next. And of course there are many students in between.
Our graduate students have been busy presenting the results of their research. Here are some highlights: Lizheng Tao, Ben Wescoatt, and Kazuo Yamazaki gave talks at the 2011 annual meeting of the Oklahoma-Arkansas Section of the MAA at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Dhanapati Adhikari and Toshihisa Kubo presented lectures at the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings (AMS and MAA) in New Orleans. Kenneth Ward lectured in a seminar at Columbia University in New York, and he has been invited to participate in the AMS Math Research Communities number theory work group. Other locations for lectures or presentations include the University of Arkansas (Toshihisa Kubo), the University of Kansas (Dhanapati Adhikari), the University of Oklahoma (Kazuo Yamazaki), and Fudan University in China (Lizheng Tao). Also, Krystin Steelman and Yujie Zhang were supported by NSF awards to attend a workshop at the University of Georgia. Ben Wescoatt was the co-author on a paper published in February 2011 on computer-aided College Algebra.
Within the last couple of years the faculty has approved revisions to the graduate program designed to foster more timely student progress through the doctoral program. We are providing clearer guidance on the expected timetable and closer supervision through the process. We are encouraged by the results we have already seen.