A new undergraduate major in mathematics and computing will launch next fall, led by a joint effort between the School of Mathematics and the College of Computing. The new major offers comprehensive and interdisciplinary training in advanced mathematical theory and sophisticated concepts of computer science.
The new program is designed for students who seek to understand not only how computational systems and algorithms work, but also why they work — how to prove their properties, adapt them to new challenges and drive innovation at the intersection of mathematics and computing.
“Mathematics and computer science are heavily entangled. The math informs the computing applications, and the computing applications drive developments in math. You don’t intellectually do one without the other,” said Michael Wolf, chair of the School of Mathematics, in an interview with the Technique. “The idea is to center the curriculum where the content is, which is in between the two subjects, to understand the synergies of mathematics and computer science, the way those fields come together.”
This degree aims to equip graduates with strong mathematical reasoning as well as practical computing skills, positioning them for a variety of cutting-edge interdisciplinary jobs, such as artificial intelligence, data science, quantitative finance and algorithm design.
“We’ve had employers at a number of industries write to us and say this is exactly the sort of hire that they wish to have,” Wolf said. “Someone who not only knows the applications, but knows why they work and how to change and adapt them.”
The proposal for this new program, designed by a task force organized by Wolf with faculty from the School of Mathematics and the College of Computing, has been in the works for almost two years. The idea was first pitched in response to strong student interest in studying both computer science and mathematics, alongside the limitations of existing options to do so.
“The current setup is that either you do a math and computer science double major — then it becomes substantially more challenging in terms of how long you have to stay here — or you do a minor in either subject — then there’s not enough depth,” said Haomin Zhou, professor in the School of Mathematics and member of the degree proposal task force.
The new interdisciplinary major received favorable responses in a survey sent out to students in several math and computer science upper-level courses in February of 2024 — 45% of the respondents “definitely prefer this major to current major,” and 32% of the respondents “possibly prefer this major to current major.”
Rather than simply combining mathematics and computer science curricula to form a hybrid of existing programs, the task force envisioned creating something new.
“Just do[ing] half of one major and half to the other, and… stick[ing] them together — that was never the plan here,” Wolf said. “It was always to have something that was a thoughtful, coherent curriculum on the topics that existed between the two disciplines.”
The curriculum consists of three concentrations and a thoughtful combination of math and computer science courses, along with eight new courses specifically designed to integrate these two fields, including the introductory course required for all concentrations — MATH/CS 2740 Foundations of Mathematics and Computing — which will be available in Spring 2026, ahead of the launch of the major.
“The starting point was basically taking one [computer science] thread and seeing what area in mathematics matches up well with that thread to make a compelling [combination],” reflected Will Perkins, associate professor in the College of Computing and member of the task force.
The new major’s concentrations will include: Theoretical Computer Science and Discrete Math, which equips students with the advanced mathematical reasoning needed to address foundational problems in theoretical computer science; Modeling, Simulation, Data, and Applied Math, which introduces computational tools widely used in industrial and scientific applications; and Mathematical Intelligence and Data Science, which connects artificial intelligence applications with the mathematical foundations essential for developing and implementing advanced algorithms. These concentrations serve as broad frameworks encompassing the major areas at the intersection of the two fields.
As technology continues to advance, particularly in fields driven by data and intelligent systems, there is a growing demand for individuals well-versed in both mathematical theory and computational practice.
“A lot of the easy problems have been solved. The hard problems that are coming up are going to involve mathematics like data analytics, statistics [and] probability,” said Mary Hudachek-Buswell, interim chair of the School of Computing Instruction. “You need mathematics to go to that next level.”
Specifically, with the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence, literacy in these systems is more important than ever — a need addressed by the mathematics and computer science program.The same mathematical and algorithmic principles that underpin AI applications are also crucial in other data-driven fields.
“When it comes to quantitative finance, for instance, you are developing algorithms that are supposed to be quick at making decisions about what’s happening in the market in real time,” said Olufisayo Omojokun, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Computing and task force member. “So [that involves] algorithms. That’s a very computer science domain. But if you want to optimize them, if you want to think about all the randomness that happens in the markets and make sense out of that to create algorithms, there’s a significant amount of math that will be required to understand that space.”
From theoretical foundations to applied algorithmic problem-solving, graduates will be equipped with the skills to innovate across a range of fields, from artificial intelligence to quantitative finance.