Hello Math Majors,
I hope the fall semester is continuing to go well for you. This week makes the midpoint of the fall semester as Friday, October 2 is deadline to change a course to the Pass/No Pass grading basis or to change a course back to the letter grade grading basis. Please don't hesitate to contact me or to schedule a meeting with me if you have any questions about the Pass/No Pass deadline or whether it makes sense to change a course to Pass/No Pass.
Have you heard about the newly updated Statistics and Data Science option for the Math major? With everything that has been going on since about the middle of March, the Department hasn't really advertised the update nor has their been a great opportunity to do a presentation for everyone about the changes. The information below is an attempt to get everyone information about the newly updated Statistics and Data Science option.
For many years prior to the Fall 2019 semester, the Math major had four basic options: Standard, Education, Research, and Statistics. These options were pretty flexible, but there wasn't much for specialization. Starting with the Fall 2019 semester, the Math major grew to having seven options: Standard, Education, Statistics, Mathematics of Physical Phenomena, Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Finance, and Discrete Mathematics and Cryptography. The Research option was folded into the Standard option, but otherwise, the Standard, Education, and Statistics options were unchanged. Since the Standard option with a minor in Statistics and the Statistics option were essentially the same, additional changes were considered to make the Statistics option more unique and to incorporate the growing field of data science and analytics.
Starting with the Fall 2020 semester, the Math major still has seven options, but the Statistics option has become the Statistics and Data Science option. Basically, the additional Advanced Math requirement was reduced to 6 hours of 400-level coursework, the additional Advanced Statistics requirement was reduced to 6 hours of 300- or 400-level coursework, and 12 hours of Computer Science courses were added. Beyond the Math major core of MATH 106: Calculus I, MATH 107: Calculus II, and MATH 314: Linear Algebra, the Statistics and Data Science option is as follows:
- MATH 208: Calculus III
- MATH 309: Introduction to Mathematical Proofs
- MATH 310: Introduction to Modern Algebra or MATH 325: Elementary Analysis
- STAT 380: Statistics and Applications
- One course of the following: MATH 428: Principles of Operations Research, MATH 433: Nonlinear Optimization, MATH/CSCE 440: Numerical Analysis I, MATH 487: Probability Theory, or MATH 489: Stochastic Processes
- One additional Advanced Math course at the 400-level
- Two additional Statistics courses at the 300- or 400-level (not including STAT 380)
- CSCE 155T: Computer Science I: Informatics Focus (preferred, but CSCE 155E, CSCE 155H, or RAIK 183H will be considered)
- CSCE 311: Data Structures and Algorithms for Informatics (preferred, but CSCE 310 or RAIK 283H will be considered)
- TWO courses from ONE of the following sets of Computer Science courses:
+ SET 1: CSCE 421: Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE 439: Robotics: Algorithms and Applications, CSCE 474: Introduction to Data Mining, CSCE 476: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, CSCE 478: Introduction to Machine Learning, or CSCE 479: Introduction to Deep Learning
OR
+ SET 2: CSCE 411: Data Modeling for Systems Development, CSCE 412: Data Visualization, CSCE 413: Database Systems, CSCE 439: Robotics: Algorithms and Applications, CSCE 472: Digital Image Processing, CSCE 473: Computer Vision, or CSCE 474: Introduction to Data Mining
In addition, if you take STAT 462: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics I: Distribution Theory and STAT 463: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics II: Statistical Inference as your two additional Statistics courses, you can finish a minor in Statistics by taking one more course from STAT 318, 412, 414, 450, 494, or 496 for at least 3 credit hours. You can also finish a minor in Computer Science by taking 6 more hours of Computer Science courses at any level (CSCE 156: Computer Science II is a great option along with many others).
To access the updated Statistics and Data Science option, you will need to move up to the 2020-21 catalog year, which could change other parts of your degree plan. Please contact me or schedule a meeting with me if you are interested and want to discuss this newly updated option further.
Thanks, Doug
Updates Regarding the University Health Center
There has been a number of updates to the University Health Center in these uncertain times. Some of these include changes to hours, services, access for prescriptions and telehealth among others. You can see more detailed information about these updates by going to the news story at https://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/nextatnebraska/11497/67425.
Fall 2020 Math Advising
All academic advising for the Fall 2020 semester will be completed virtually. This means that all advising meetings and interactions will be conducted on Zoom, over the phone, or via email. Doug and Professor Radu are available to meet your academic advising needs, and we look forward to meeting with you and working with you throughout the fall semester. Even though advising will continue to be virtual, we will do everything we can to support you for the fall semester.
Due to social distancing even if Doug and Professor Radu are in their offices, you will need schedule an advising appointment that will be conducted via Zoom, phone, or email or join drop-in advising on Zoom. If an in-person meeting is absolutely required, arrangements will need to be made well in advance so we can accommodate social distancing in the meeting.
Doug’s advising hours will be:
Appointments – 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays
Appointments – 8:30 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm on Wednesday and Fridays
Drop-In Advising – 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays
You can schedule an appointment with Doug by using the MyPlan system via this link, by calling the College of Arts and Sciences Academic and Career Advising Center at 402-472-4190, by calling him at 402-472-4319, or by emailing him at dpellatz@unl.edu.
For the Fall 2020 semester, Drop-In Advising will replace Walk-in Advising. For Drop-In Advising, you can enter the Zoom waiting room by navigating to https://unl.zoom.us/my/casadvising for quick questions that would not require a scheduled appointment. The College of Arts and Sciences Academic and Career Advising Center will be facilitating all drop-in advising for the fall semester.
Professor Radu’s advising hours will be by appointment only. To schedule a meeting with Professor Radu, please email her at pradu@unl.edu.