The Undergraduate Program

Undergraduate education in mathematics is healthy and growing at UW. We are now in the sixth year since our major revision of the first two quarters of calculus (Math 124/5), and we have made adjustments to the third quarter of calculus (Math 126) to make the transition from Math 125 to Math 126 smoother. To enrich the experience of our undergraduate majors, whose number has more than doubled during the past five years, we started an undergraduate topics course, Math 480. Two sections were taught in Spring 2006, each on a different topic. We have scheduled four sections of Math 480 for Spring 2007, offering the following courses: The Theory of Knots, Numerical Solutions of PDEs, Introduction to Number Theory, and Introduction to Dynamics.

Our undergraduate degree programs in mathematics have grown in the last several years. We had over 150 students graduate last year with bachelor's degrees in our programs. At the end of last year, just before graduation, we had over 330 Math majors. In Autumn 2006, we already have almost 300 majors. (The number of majors usually grows throughout the academic year.) In addition, our joint program in Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences (ACMS, joint with Applied Math, Computer Science, and Statistics) continues to offer a variety of tracks, allowing students to study both mathematics and another discipline together in the major. There were 100 ACMS majors at the end of last academic year. The Math Club is doing well in its second year since returning last year. Undergraduate research in mathematics is growing. This is an active time for undergraduate education in mathematics at UW.

Ken Bube