The aim of this program is to provide students with a strong background in the fundamental tools of combinatorics and optimization and in the application of these tools to practical problems. This will be achieved by a combination of academic work and work in industry on problems related to their academic knowledge and skills.
This program will have a separate admission procedure so that any student in the Master's program can choose the co-op program by the end of their first term of study. To enroll in the co-op program, the student must be currently enrolled in the Combinatorics and Optimization department's Master's program and must be in good standing with an average of at least 80%. Students will be admitted to this program only if there is a suitable co-op position. The position must be approved by the departmental Graduate Committee. (This approval will be partly based on the job description--proposals which do not provide the student with substantial opportunities to apply their theoretical knowledge will not be approved.)
The intention is that students who successfully complete this program will be as well-prepared to enter the departmental PhD program as students completing their degrees through the regular program.
Degree Requirements
Students in this program will complete two terms of course work (seven courses with an overall average of at least B [75%]), perform two terms of industry work and then write a thesis in their fifth semester. (Some other variations in the arrangement of duration of work semesters may be approved by the departmental Graduate Committee.) Students will be required to make a short visit to campus at the end of their third term to present a report and a seminar on the work they have already done. In any case, the students must register for at least three terms to be eligible for the degree.
During the fifth term, students attend an approved departmental seminar series (e.g., Algebraic Combinatorics, Combinatorial Optimization, Continuous Optimization, Cryptography, Graph Theory). Whether credit is granted is determined by the organizers of the appropriate seminar. Student are automatically enrolled for the Master's Seminar requirement during their first term in the program.
The list of seven courses (to be proposed by the student in consultation with his/her advisor) must be submitted by the end of the first semester for approval by the departmental Graduate Committee. Subsequent minor variations may be approved by the Graduate Officer. One of the seven courses is a reading course, C&O 690 (which may be a common course offered by a single faculty member). The necessary work for the reading course is to be done during the work terms. The following are three standard (already approved) ways of satisfying the seven-course requirement:
Combinatorics and Optimization (C&O) Requirement
- 2 courses from CO 630, CO 634 and CO 642
- 1 course from CO 650 and CO 652
- 1 course from CO 663 and CO 666
- 1 course from the Applied OR List [see below]
- 1 course from the AMATH/CS/PMATH List [see below]
- CO 690 (reading course)
Mathematics of Operations Research (MOR) Requirement
- CO 650
- CO 666
- 2 courses from CO 652, CO 663, CS 672
- MSCI 631, MSCI 632, MSCI 635, STAT 833, STAT 835, STAT 844
- 2 courses from the Applied OR List [see below]
- 1 course from the AMATH/CS/PMATH List [see below]
Note that the MOR requirement includes courses from Management Sciences and Statistics.
Cryptography and Coding Theory Requirement
- CO 331 Coding Theory (counts as a 1/2 course), and CO 685 Mathematics of Public Key Cryptography
- one of: PMATH 345 Polynomials, Rings and Finite Fields (counts as a 1/2 course)
- PMATH 352 Complex Analysis (counts as a 1/2 course)
- PMATH 640 Analytic Number Theory
- CS 666 Algorithm Design and Analysis
- CS 764 Computational Complexity
- CO 690 (reading course)
- CO 453 Network Design (counts as a 1/2 course)
- CO 454 Scheduling (counts as a 1/2 course)
- CO 771 Mathematics of Operations Research
- AMATH 731 Applied Functional Analysis
- AMATH 852 Advanced Mathematical Modeling
- CS 666 Algorithm Design and Analysis
- CS 672 Numerical Linear Algebra
- CS 764 Computational Complexity
- PMATH 641 Algebraic Number Theory
- PMATH 651 Measure and Integration
- PMATH 653 Functional Analysis
This will be essentially the same as the thesis requirement for the regular MMath program. It is expected that the thesis usually will involve the mathematics of a substantial problem encountered during the student's work terms. It will not be required to contain original mathematics, but it will be judged as a mathematical work. Students will be required to give a seminar once the thesis is completed. (It is anticipated that the thesis may be shorter than the regular program Thesis Option, say 50 pages rather than 70, and will be less likely to contain original mathematics.)