Applied Mathematics

Concentrations

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Concentrations

Have questions about course planning and APMA concentrations?
Spring 2024: Stop by one of our open advising sessions to speak with an APMA faculty member! Open advising sessions are held every Tuesday and Thursday when classes are in session from 12-1 pm in Room 217 at 170 Hope St. No registration is required. Feel free to drop by anytime!

Concentrations

  • Applied Mathematics (APMA)
  • Applied Mathematics & Biology (APMA-Bio)
  • Applied Mathematics & Computer Science (APMA-CS)
  • Applied Mathematics & Economics (APMA-Econ)

Concentration Advisors

All APMA faculty can serve as APMA concentration advisors. Visit our Faculty page to learn more about the APMA faculty.

APMA-CS concentrators may choose advisors from either APMA or Computer Science, and APMA-Econ concentrators may choose advisors from either APMA or Economics (see Declaring a Concentration below for instructions on selecting an advisor).

Declaring a Concentration

  1. Fill out the declaration program plan in ASK. This is easy to change later, so it is fine if you put something that you are unsure about.
  2. Select a preferred advisor in ASK or choose Matthew Harrison if you have no preference. We try to honor advisor preferences, but we cannot always do this because we need to distribute the advising load among several faculty. If you have a strong advisor preference it can be helpful to connect with your preferred advisor before submitting your declaration (and let Matthew Harrison know about this prior to declaring).
  3. Submit your declaration in ASK and we will be in contact with you.
  1. Fill out the declaration program plan in ASK. This is easy to change later, so it is fine if you put something that you are unsure about.
  2. Select a preferred advisor in ASK or choose Matthew Harrison if you have no preference. We try to honor advisor preferences, but we cannot always do this because we need to distribute the advising load among several faculty. If you have a strong advisor preference it can be helpful to connect with your preferred advisor before submitting your declaration (and let Matthew Harrison know about this prior to declaring).
  3. Submit your declaration in ASK and we will be in contact with you.
  1. Decide whether you want to be advised within APMA or CS. This decision has no real bearing on your concentration (and you can change it in the future), but may be important to you if you feel more at home (or want to feel more at home) in one of the departments.
  2. If you want to be advised within CS, then follow the instructions for declaring a CS concentration here. Indicate a faculty member from CS as your preferred concentration advisor, or contact Professor Thomas Doeppner to discuss the choice of concentration advisor.
  3. If you want to be advised within APMA, then follow the instructions above for declaring APMA or APMA-Bio. Make sure you choose a preferred advisor from APMA.
  1. Decide whether you want to be advised within APMA or Econ. This decision has no real bearing on your concentration (and you can change it in the future), but may be important to you if you feel more at home (or want to feel more at home) in one of the departments.
  2. If you want to be advised within Econ, then follow the instructions for declaring an Econ concentration here. (In short: Prepare your declaration in ASK and then visit the office hours of an Econ concentration advisor.)
  3. If you want to be advised within APMA, then follow the instructions above for declaring APMA or APMA-Bio. Make sure you choose a preferred advisor from APMA.

Concentration requirements

The official concentration requirements are detailed in the University Bulletin (click below to view each concentration's Bulletin page):

APMA  APMA-Bio  APMA-CS  APMA-Econ

We try to implement these requirements in ASK as faithfully as possible, but sometimes there are requirements in the Bulletin that are not easy to implement in ASK. Please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies at apma-dus@brown.edu if you find a discrepancy between the Bulletin and ASK.

Course substitution considerations

  • Course substitutions are approved by concentration advisors on a case-by-case basis taking into account a student’s entire course plan. Just because a course substitution is approved for one student does not mean that it will be approved for another, because those students may have different course plans.
  • For joint concentrations, concentration advisors must also confer with the other department regarding substitutions for the other department’s courses.
  • As a general rule, concentration requirements that list specific courses tend to be inflexible. The main exception to this is for calculus and linear algebra.
  • Calculus and linear algebra substitutions: If students have taken a required calculus or linear algebra course prior to matriculating at Brown and they cannot obtain transfer or AP credit for this course, then many concentration advisors will allow the calculus or linear algebra course to be replaced with a higher level APMA or Math course that builds on calculus or linear algebra, respectively, and that is not used elsewhere in the concentration. Calculus or linear algebra substitutions still require concentration advisor approval, though.

Writing requirements

  • University writing requirements are detailed here.
  • APMA, APMA-CS, and APMA-Econ require that students satisfy both writing requirements using approved courses as detailed here.
  • APMA-Bio allows students to satisfy the 2nd writing requirement using either an approved course (see here) or by submitting a writing sample in accordance with the policies for other Biology concentrations. The details of how to submit a writing sample are detailed here. Note that using a writing sample requires pre-approval from the concentration advisor prior to doing the writing.
  • Whenever possible, we encourage students to satisfy the 2nd writing requirement within the concentration. APMA 1971 (Independent Study) is always WRIT designated. Some upper-level APMA courses and senior seminars are also WRIT designated, depending on instructor preference.

Honors

  • Each of the APMA-related concentrations allow exceptional students to pursue honors. Honors requirements and guidelines can be found here.

Double concentrations

  • Information about double concentrations can be found here.
  • APMA-related concentrators are allowed at most two courses of overlap with a second concentration, excluding calculus and linear algebra.

Transfer credits

  • Pre-matriculation concentration credits: Courses must be approved for equivalency and Brown course credit, but the number of courses that can be used for concentration credit is unlimited.
  • Post-matriculation concentration credits: Courses must be approved for equivalency and Brown course credit. 
    • APMA - no limit
    • APMA-Bio - no limit
    • APMA-CS - limit of 2 (A.B.) or 3 (Sc.B.) total in the concentration (see here for details)
    • APMA-Econ - limit of 2 per semester and 1 per summer (see here for details)

Professional tracks

  • All APMA concentrations have options that allow students to pursue professional tracks. Professional tracks require the integration of full-time work experiences into your studies at Brown. Detailed requirements can be found on the Bulletin pages for each of our concentrations.

Graduation

  • The Registrar's Office coordinates graduation and there are important graduation-related deadlines for seniors throughout the spring semester. 
  • APMA and APMA-Bio concentrators participate in the APMA departmental ceremony.
  • APMA-CS concentrators can choose to participate in either the APMA or the CS departmental ceremony. For students who do not choose, the default is CS.
  • APMA-Econ concentrators can choose to participate in either the APMA or the Econ departmental ceremony. For students who do not choose, the default is Econ.
  • Double (or triple) concentrators can choose which departmental ceremony to attend.
  • The Registrar will send emails to graduating seniors with instructions on how to choose among different departmental ceremonies. The deadline is usually mid-March.
  • Seniors (usually 7th semester or later) can participate in graduation even if they will not finish all requirements by the May deadline. This includes mid-year completers who plan to finish the following December, or students who do not pass a required course in their final semester. The Registrar does not send emails to students who are not scheduled to graduate, but look for an email in ASK in early May from the department with instructions on how to participate in graduation ceremonies.