Mathematical Biosciences

Required Core Courses (26 credit hours):


​A student will need to pass all required core and elective courses in the respective specialization with at least a grade of C- by the end of the Spring Semester of the second year. The total credits earned from required core and elective courses must be at least 30 credit hours. Independent studies, group studies, and research credit hours or hours from unapproved courses not on the lists below do not count toward the required 30 hours of course work.

Mathematics

Molecular Genetics

  • MOLGEN/ MATH 5660 (5 cr. hrs.) Integrated Molecular and Cellular Biology for Non-Biologists

Statistics

  • STAT 6301 (3 cr. hrs.) Probability for Statistical Inference
  • STAT 6302 (3 cr. hrs.) Theory of Statistical Analysis

Allowed Substitutions of Required Core Courses:

The following substitutions of required core course sequences are allowed with permission of the advisor.

  • MATH 5401 & 5402 may be substituted by MATH 6411 & 6451
  • MATH 5601 & 5602 may be substituted by MATH 6601 & 6602

A student may request additional substitutions of required courses. The request should be submitted by the advisor to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for approval.

Summer Project:


Each student is required to complete a summer project during the Summer Term between the first and second year. Summer projects are individually arranged and approved by the advisor. The project may have two mentoring faculty, one from mathematics and one possibly from another department. 

Elective Courses (5 credit hours):


At least two elective courses must be chosen from the list below and must add up to at least 5 credit hours. At least one elective course has to be from BIOCHEM, BIOMED, EEOB, or MOLGEN. A student may request to use other courses to satisfy the elective requirement. The request should be submitted by the advisor to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for approval.

  • BIOCHEM 5613 (3 cr. hrs.) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I
  • BIOCHEM 5614 (3 cr. hrs.) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II
  • BIOCHEM 5615 (3 cr. hrs.) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology III
  • BIOMEDE 6000 (1 cr. hr.) Scientific Methods in Biomedical Engineering
  • EEOB 7720 (4 cr. hrs.) Theoretical Ecology
  • MOLGEN 5607 (3 cr. hrs.) Cell Biology
  • MOLGEN 5608 (3 cr. hrs.) Genes and Development
  • MOLGEN 5623 (3 cr. hrs.) Genetics and Genomics
  • MOLGEN 5630 (3 cr. hrs.) Plant Physiology
  • MOLGEN 5640 (3 cr. hrs.) The Genetic Basis of Evolution
  • MOLGEN 6700 (3 cr. hrs.) Systems of Genetic Analysis
  • MOLGEN 6701 (4 cr. hrs.) DNA Transactions and Gene Regulation
  • PUBH-EPI 6436 (3 cr. hrs.) Infectious Disease Epidemiology
  • PUBH-EPI 6410 (3 cr. hrs.) Principles of Epidemiology
  • PUBH-EPI 6411 (3 cr. hrs.) Biological Basis of Public Health
  • MATH 5421 (3 cr. hrs.) Mathematics of Infectious Disease Dynamics
  • STAT 6540 (3 cr. hrs.) Applied stochastic processes I
  • STAT 6194 (2-5 cr. hrs.) Topics in Mathematical Statistics
  • STAT 6625 (3 cr. hrs.) Statistical Analysis in Genetic Epidemiology

Thesis:


By the end of the Autumn Semester of the second year each student must select a thesis advisor, and submit a Change of Advisor Form to the Math Graduate Office. The thesis advisor needs to be a mathematics department faculty member of category M level or higher. Typically (but not necessarily) this is the mathematics mentor for the summer project. Thesis research and writing will occur during the second year, and should be completed at the end of the Spring Break of the second year. During this time students should generally be signed up for MATH 6999 with the supervising Master's Faculty Advisor (Thesis).

  • Math 6999 (1 + cr. hr.)  Graduate Thesis Research

Thesis Defense & Graduation:


The Master's thesis will be written during the second year under the supervision of the Master's Faculty (Thesis) Advisor, and prepared in compliance with university rules. The thesis should be completed early during the Spring Semester. All students are expected to apply to graduate with Master's of Mathematical Sciences (MMS) degree via the Thesis-Option before the second Friday of the Spring Semester of their second year with the Graduate School. In order to apply a student also has to choose a second member of the examination committee by the beginning of the same semester. This has to be a Graduate Faculty member but may be from another OSU unit related to the specialization. Typically (but not necessarily) this can be the second mentor of the summer project. The Non-Thesis Option is not open to MMS students. The oral examination has to be scheduled and passed during the Spring Semester of the second year, after submission of a draft of the thesis. An additional written examination is not required. The thesis needs to follow university formatting guidelines, be approved by the committee, and be submitted to the Graduate School and OhioLink.

For further details see Section VI of the Graduate School Handbook.

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