Information for Prospective Students

Our Progam

The Mathematics and Computer Science department is the largest department at Macalester. It offers majors and minors in Mathematics and in Computer Science, and a minor in Statistics. There are 12 full-time faculty members in the department and approximately 30-40 graduating majors each year.

We have close ties with economics, biology, chemistry, and physics departments, the neuroscience program, and other social science departments through our work on quantitative reasoning.

Mathematics Our mathematics major has two paths that students choose between – one in mathematics and one in applied mathematics and statistics. This produces a flexible major that can be tailored to individual interests and ambitions.

Computer Science Our computer science major and minor cover the theoretical foundations of computation such as automata, algorithms, and languages as well as important areas of application: modern software development, networks, operating systems, parallel programming, databases, and artificial intelligence. Our introductory course sequence prepares students to follow either a theoretical or application-driven path.

Statistics Our statistics minor offers students the ability to develop important skills in the analysis of data from varied sources and to master the modern conceptual apparatus that influenced all areas of the natural and social sciences.

Our Students

Our students come from across the US and around the world. Many enter with substantial previous work in mathematics or experience with computers; others start with little background. We tailor our program to both kinds of students- there is a place for you here.

Collaborative Research

Math and computer science students collaborate with their professors in research. There are opportunities for paid summer research supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Keck Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. For example, during the summer of 2002, 9 students lived on campus and were paid to do research with faculty sponsors. This trend has continued for the summers since then. Some of the peer-reviewed collaborative papers that have resulted from such collaborations are:

Shoop E, Casaes P ('04), Onsongo G ('04), Lesnett L ('03), Petursdottir EO ('04), Donkor EK ('04), Tkach D ('03), Cosimini M ('05), "Data exploration tools for the Gene Ontology database," Bioinformatics. 2004 Dec 12;20(18):3442-54

Andy Cantrell ('02), Tom Halverson, Brian Miller('02), "RSK Insertion for Cyclotomic Hecke Algebras," Journal of Combinatorial Theory A, 99 (2002).

John Renze, ('01) Stan Wagon, "The Gaussian Zoo," Experimental Mathematics, 10 (2001).

Michael Schneider and Tamas Nemeth ('99), "A Simulation Study of the OSPF/OMP Routing Algorithm," Computer Networks, 4 (2002).

Chris Bremer ('02) and Danny Kaplan, "Markov Chain Monte Carlo Estimation of Nonlinear Dynamics from Time Series," Physica D, 160 (2001).

In addition to publishing, many of our students attend national meetings of mathematics, statistics, and computer science professional societies and present their work.

Internships

Math and computer science students connect with the local and national community through paid internships and volunteering. Some recent internships were with:

• Minnesota Public Radio
• the Red Cross
• Morgan Stanley (Minneapolis)
• Siebel Systems (Minneapolis)
• Cretin-Durham High School (St. Paul)
• Silicon Graphics
• The Wilson Center
• Los Alamos National Labs
• Analysis Group (Boston)
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington DC)
• M.A. Mortenson Company
• Commercial Recovery Corp
• nQuire Software, Inc.

Other Interests Besides Math and CS

Our students do more than math and computer science. Past student body presidents and vice presidents have been computer science majors. Students double major in music, art, classics, chemistry, economics, physics, neuroscience, Japanese, and political science (just to name a few). Math/CS students are dormitory resident assistants, potters, journalists for the student newspaper, members of the knitting club, and athletes (swimming, soccer, football, cross-country running and skiing, basketball, baseball, water polo, track and field).

After Mac

Many of our majors go to graduate school, often after working a year or two. Those who enter the job market work in education, government and business, such as:

Statisticians at the US Census Bureau, high-school teachers (including Teach for America), employees at firms such as McKinsey and Co, Microsoft, Honeywell, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, NCR, Deloitte and Touche, Disney, and 3M.

Some of the graduate programs where recent graduates have gone include:

Mathematics Yale, UW-Madison, UC-Davis and UC-San Diego, Rutgers, Northwestern, Washington Univ-St. Louis

Computer Science UC-Irvine, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois, University of Washington, University of Minnesota, University of Florida

Law Yale

Business Harvard, UW-Madison

Engineering Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia Tech, Washington University

Economics Princeton, Columbia, Minnesota, Chicago, UW-Madison

Other graduate programs include biophysics, biostatistics, hospital administration, geography, chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and resource management.