Prospective Students

Mathematics is a rigorous and demanding intellectual pursuit. It is also interesting, exciting and challenging. Students like its clarity and the satisfaction of knowing when you have the right answer to a problem. If you choose math then the Department of Mathematics will strive to provide a rich environment and supportive community in which you can flourish and grow - and achieve your goals.

Majors Offered

Bachelors of Science (BS), Mathematical Biology 

Bachelors of Science (BS), Mathematics

Bachelors of Science (BS), Mathematics- Economics

Enrichment Opportunities

Undergraduate Research 

Study Abroad

Undergraduate Economics Society

Careers

Biotechnology, Medicine, Science, Engineering, Finance, Statistics, Economics

Advising

Each incoming student is assigned an academic advisor within the Dietrich School’s Academic Advising Center. Students are required to meet with their advisor at least once per term before they can enroll in classes for the next term. Students are encouraged to schedule additional appointments as necessary. Students will remain with their assigned advisor until they declare a major; once a major is declared, the student will transition to a new advisor within their major department.

Our faculty are internationally renowned experts covering the full spectrum of mathematical areas, from abstract algebra, geometry and topology, through analysis, scientific computing, to mathematical finance and mathematical biology. Our faculty bring that cutting edge knowledge to every math class, every research project you undertake, and to your job search. Advising of math majors is done by faculty. Alumni are valued by the Department, and in turn many contribute enthusiastically to mentoring and supporting current math majors. 

Meet Award-Winning Faculty Member Paul Gartside

My most valuable mentoring experience with Lecturer Jeffrey Wheeler was pursuing research in additive combinatorics as an independent  study  with  another  student  Steven  Reich.  Jeff  was  an  invaluable  source  of  guidance, particularly  attuned  to  issues  that  arise  in  student  research  such  as  efficiently  reading  mathematical papers,  identifying  which  tools  to attack  a  problem,  overcoming  frustration  that  naturally  arises  during research,  and  properly  writing  up  results. Jeff  helped put  us  in  correspondence  with  a  mathematics researcher, Dr. Gyula Károlyi, who was an expert on such problems. This whole process showed Jeff’s ability  to  introduce  undergraduate  students  to  the  world  of  mathematics  research  in  a  non-trivial  way. We  eventually  wrote  up  some  of  our  results  and  submitted  the  paper  to  a  mathematical  journal  and posted it on ArXiv. This was one of the highlights of my undergraduate career, and led me to apply to graduate school to pursue more research.  Suren Jayasuriya (A&S '13)

 

The Department of Mathematics offers programs leading to a BS in math, applied math, actuarial math and math-biology,  as well as joint degrees in  math-economics and math-philosophy. A degree in mathematics provides an excellent base on which to build a career in virtually any high technology field and provides a particularly strong foundation for advanced study in science, engineering, and finance.

Math courses cover topics such as cryptography, differential geometry and mathematical neuroscience. The `BIG Problems' course is seminar style, with representatives from business, industry and government bringing genuinely `real world' problems which teams of students work on over the semester. Many upper level math courses include project work, and there are numerous opportunities for math majors to participate in research projects with faculty.  Research from these collaborations have been presented by students at mathematical conferences, and at `Math Fest', the Math Department's own celebration of all things mathematical - in particular student work. 

Our approach, of building a community—math majors, graduate students and faculty—and a math-rich environment, works. Math majors report high levels of satisfaction with the program, and our most recent group of graduating students are going on to opportunities ranging from high powered jobs with PNC Bank (the eight largest US bank, headquartered here in Pittsburgh) to starting a PhD in algebraic geometry at the University of Oxford, UK (with full support from a prestigious Simons Foundation scholarship).

For more information about our department, or to schedule a visit or tour, please contact the Dietrich School's recruitment team at artsci@pitt.edu

If you are interested in graduate programs at the Dietrich School, please email asgrad@pitt.edu for more information.