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Annual Survey conducted by the Ame rican Mathematical Society
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  • Conducted by the American Mathematical Society

Annual Survey Groupings of Doctoral Departments

Starting with reports on the 2012 AMS-ASA-IMS-MAA-SIAM Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences, the Joint Data Committee has implemented a new method for grouping the doctorate-granting mathematics departments formerly in Groups I, II and III.  These departments are first grouped into those at public institutions and those at private institutions.  These groups are further subdivided based on the size of their doctoral program as reflected in the average number of Ph.D.’s awarded annually between 2000 and 2010, based on their reports to the Annual Survey during this period.  Furthermore, doctorate-granting departments which self-classify their Ph.D. program as being in applied mathematics will join with the other applied mathematics departments previously in Group Va to form their own group.  The former Group IV will be divided into two groups, one for departments in statistics and one for departments in biostatistics.  The October 2012 issue of Notices contains an article that provides additional background on this new method for grouping the doctorate-granting departments. The NRC data for Ph.D. programs in the mathematical sciences, which is mentioned in this article, is available here.

The remaining mathematics departments in the US will continue to be grouped according to the highest degree they offer in the mathematical sciences.

The links below are for the new 2012 departmental groupings; current department grouping are here.

The doctorate-granting mathematics departments at public institutions are grouped as follows:

  • The Public Large Group consists of the 26 departments with the highest annual rate of PhDs ranging between 7.0 and 24.2 per year.
  • The Public Medium Group consists of the 40 departments with annual rate of PhDs ranging between 3.9 and 6.8 per year.
  • The Public Small Group consists of the remaining 64 departments.

The doctorate-granting mathematics departments at private institutions are grouped as follows:

  • The Private Large Group consists of the 24 departments with the highest annual rate of PhDs ranging between 3.9 and 19.8 per year.
  • The Private Small Group consists of the remaining 28 departments.

The doctorate-granting Applied Mathematics Group consists of 31 applied mathematics departments.

The doctorate-granting Statistics Group consists of 58 statistics departments.

The doctorate-granting Biostatistics Group consists of 44 biostatistics departments.

The Master Group consists of 177 mathematics departments granting a master’s degree as the highest degree awarded through the department.

The Bachelors Group consists of the remaining  mathematics departments (1,007) granting at most a baccalaureate major in mathematics.  

Table A shows the movement between the 2011 Annual Survey Groups and the new groups being  introduced  with the 2012 Annual Survey.

Table A: Re-grouping of Ph.D.-granting Mathematics Departments1

 

    2011 Survey Groups (column headings)

2012 Survey Groups (row headings)

Group I
Public

Group I
Private

Group II

Group III

Row Total

% of Ph.D.s
Awarded2

Public Large

20

0

6

0

26

36%

Public Medium

5

0

25

10

40

23%

Public Small

0

0

13

50

63

13%

Private Large

0

22

1

1

24

20%

Private Small

0

0

11

16

27

5%

Applied Mathematics

0

1

0

4

5

2%

Column Total

25

23

56

81

185

100%

1 Based on Groups I, II and III during the 2011 Annual Survey
2 Total Ph.D.s awarded from July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2010