Background information

In 1998 The American Mathematical Society (AMS), the Mathematicians and Education Reform (MER) Forum, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) joined together in a two-year project, funded by NSF, to support the development of professional master's degrees in mathematics. The projects revolved around two workshops, Developing Professional Master's Degrees In Mathematics: Exploring Options in Graduate Education, that gathered together participants from more than 50 different colleges and universities and representatives from business and industry to hear about exemplary programs and discuss the nuts and bolts of starting and maintaining a professional master's program. The first workshop was hosted by New York University in New York City on November 5-7, 1998 and the second workshop was hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ on November 4-6, 1999. A third workshop, Professional Master's Degrees in Teaching Mathematics: Exploring Options in Teacher Education, is slated for September 13-15, 2001 at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. (See the MER homepage for more information on this workshop)

As part of that project MER conducted a survey of existing Professional Master's programs. The results of that survey appear on these pages. Over fifty institutions responded to that survey describing more than 100 Professional Master's programs.

Programs may be accessed by clicking on the desired index from the menu at the top of the page.

Characteristics of a Professional Master's Program

Professional master's degree programs differ in varying ways from standard master's programs. All of them are stand only programs, not intended to feed a Ph.D. program. Other characteristics as exemplified at the workshops include:

• The program may include sponsorship from businesses. Financial Mathematics programs at University of Chicago, Columbia University, NYU, and Carnegie Melon call on experts from the financial institutions to advise their programs
• The students in the program might already be in the profession. Masters in Teaching programs at the University of Minnesota and University of Cincinnati are geared to pre-college teachers in their respective communities
• The program may require internships or practicum. In the NYU financial math program, a student works with an industry "mentor" to solve a problem in financial mathematics.
• The program might stress inter-discipline study. The Georgia Institute of Technology has in place several interdisciplinary professional Master's degree programs. The School of Mathematics plays an important role in two recently established ones, bioinformatics and quantitative and computational finance
• The program may offer course work in developing communication skills. Johns Hopkins University is establishing an interdisciplinary Advisory Network.
• Students may do some work in teams in a real or simulated professional environment. University of Massachusetts' students participate in a group project that takes the place of a masters thesis and simulates an industrial problem-solving environment.
• The program may integrate technology into the program. Most of the programs include course work in computer skills relevant to the profession.