The Board of Trustees terminated the master’s program in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (AMST) and voted to merge it with the master’s Mathematics program at their April 5 meeting.

“There’s just not a demand among students for it,” said Bret Danliowicz, the university’s provost.

The change will be effective in the Fall 2022 semester. Current students in the program will be informed of a teach-out plan and will still finish by Fall 2023.

In an emailed statement to the UP, Hongwei Long, the graduate director of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, said that the AMST program will be merged with the MS in Mathematics program. There will be five concentrations: pure mathematics, applied analysis, biostatistics, cryptology, and financial mathematics.

Long cited low enrollment and graduates as the key rationale for the restructuring.

“It is very reasonable and feasible for us to merge the AMST program with MS in Mathematics with the specified five concentrations, which will give our graduate students including PhD students the flexibility of obtaining MS in various fields,” Long said. “We shall keep the four concentrations in applied analysis, biostatistics, cryptology and information security, and financial mathematics from the AMST program. The original MS in Mathematics would become ‘pure mathematics’ concentration in the merged program. Thus, the original MS in AMST program should be terminated.”

He said the university will continue to offer all of the specified courses in the AMST program so that students who are currently active in the program can graduate on time. Faculty that are teaching in the current AMST program will not be affected because they will continue their duties in the revised MS Mathematics program, according to Long.

Michael Gennaro is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or message him on Instagram @mycoolgennaro