Prospective Graduate Students

The Department of Mathematics at UNL is a national leader in mentoring. In recognition of its success with mentoring students, providing early career training, and increasing the representation of women in mathematics, the Department was honored by the American Mathematical Society with the 2009 Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department. In the AMS Notices article about the award, it was noted that:

"An unusual synergy has taken root in the Nebraska department: the smaller, quieter day-to-day activities that nurture students and faculty provide a foundation out of which larger, more ambitious activities grow naturally, and these larger programs, in turn, provide a way to leverage the department’s enthusiasm and shared sense of purpose to increase the impact it has locally and nationally. The department has achieved this synergy by a careful integration of its three main missions: research, teaching, and educational outreach."

About the PhD, MS, and MA Programs

The Graduate Program of the Department of Mathematics has been granting PhDs for more than 100 years and has become a highly respected program nationwide. The department prides itself on the attention it pays to its graduate students by involving them in the full range of activities — teaching, outreach, and scholarship — that the department engages in. Such involvement prepares our graduates for a wide range of careers and has resulted in a very good job placement track record. A high percentage of our PhD students have gone on to successful careers in academia or industry. Three of our former students have earned prestigious National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships upon graduating from our program.


The Department has also gained a well-deserved reputation for success with female graduate students. For example, whereas nationwide only 36% of graduate students and only 25% of PhD recipients are women; in our Department, 44% of our current teaching assistants are women. Based on our outstanding success in mentoring female graduate students in the 1990s, the department received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 1998.


Our success is due to the care we take in mentoring all of our graduate students, resulting in a high success rate for those seeking PhDs. Further evidence of such student-friendliness is provided by the results of the 2000 National Doctoral Program Survey conducted by the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, in which our department ranked first out of all mathematics graduate programs included in the survey in nearly every category, including Overall Satisfaction.


Due to these nationally recognized qualities, the department was selected, in 2003, to be one of seven Departments of Mathematics to serve as a partner in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). The other mathematics department partners in the CID are Duke University, Ohio State University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan and the University of Southern California. The CID has as its goal to “support and study experiments in doctoral education with leading graduate programs, ... to help the disciplinary community create models and evidence of success to inform others in the field.”

About the MAT

  • Master of Arts for Teachers and Master of Science for Teachers (MAT and MScT)