Graduate students are an integral part of the research carried out in the Mathematics Department. This research may be roughly divided into the following “research groups”:
Many faculty are classified in more than one of these groups, and an important characteristic of the department is the extensive interaction between mathematicians from different groups. These research groups organize weekly seminar series in which faculty and graduate students present the results of their current research as well as the recent research of others.
In addition to the numerous seminars centered around particular research areas, the department has a weekly math colloquium in which the top researchers from across the country present the latest research. These colloquia are intended to be accessible to all graduate students. There is also a weekly colloquium in mathematics education, and the Program in Applied Mathematics has a weekly applied colloquium series which students in the department often attend. Finally, there is a statistics colloquium.
Often graduate students in mathematics must wait for several years before having a chance to learn any current research in mathematics. Students at the University of Arizona have a chance to get involved in current research much earlier through the Research Tutorial Groups. In the spring semester of their first year students attend a weekly series of lectures by various faculty on current topics. In the following fall semester students have the opportunity to pursue one of these topics in depth working in a small group with a professor. This work culminates in an RTG mini-conference in which students have the opportunity to present their work.
In addition to the all the seminars described above, there is a weekly graduate student colloquium organized by the graduate students in which students present research they are interested in. The Applied Math Program students run a weekly brown bag seminar.
From time to time there are conferences in the department or at affiliated institutions of particular interest to graduate students.