Student Resources

Course Repeat Waivers:

Undergraduate students are subject to the University's course repeat policy. You will require a Repeat Waiver from the Office of Undergraduate Studies (UGS) to repeat a course if you have already attempted that course two (2) or more times or if you have already used four (4) or more repeats across all courses at UMass Boston.

Note: Withdrawing from a course or receiving a non-attending (NA) grade does not count as an attempt for the purposes of this policy.

Those needing to repeat a mathematics course who believe they require a Repeat Waiver should follow the steps below:

Determine Eligibility: Use our interactive form to determine whether a Repeat Waiver is needed. If not, you should be able to repeat by enrolling on your own in WISER. Please contact us at math@umb.edu if you require assistance with enrollment.
Complete Letter of Support Request Form: If you require a Repeat Waiver, the form will have a link for you to click on to start the Letter of Support Request Form. This is done using DocuSign, and you will need an updated Degree Audit in order to submit the form.
Obtain Departmental Support: If support is granted, you will receive a signed document from DocuSign. You should review that document and save it for your records.
- IMPORTANT! You are NOT DONE once you have received departmental support. Only UGS can determine whether your Repeat Waiver is approved. Please keep reading for more information.
Complete Repeat Waiver Request: Once you have departmental support, you can complete the Repeat Waiver Request Form through UGS. Where prompted, upload the document you were sent in step (3).
- Note: You may do this step first, but your Repeat Waiver Request may not be considered if there is no evidence of departmental support.
UGS Review: UGS will decide whether your Repeat Waiver is approved -- the Department can only indicate support for your request. If approved, they will communicate next steps and provide any necessary contact information. More information on ALEKS is available from the Student Success Center.

Mathematics Department Policies

Common Coordinated Course Policies (Spring 2026, Upd. 1/16/2026) - These are the common Mathematics Department policies that apply to all sections of our coordinated courses (i.e., MATH 114QR, MATH 115, MATH 125, MATH 130, MATH 140, and MATH 141).
Mathematics ALEKS Score Policy - ALEKS scores must be earned within one (1) calendar year of the first day of classes.
- For Summer 2026, Session 1, ALEKS scores must have been earned on or after 6/1/2025.
- For Summer 2026, Session 2, ALEKS scores must have been earned on or after 7/13/2025.
- For Fall 2026, ALEKS scores must have been earned on or after 9/8/2025.
- For Spring 2027, ALEKS scores must have been earned on or after 1/25/2026.
- For Summer 2027, Session 1, ALEKS scores must have been earned on or after 5/25/2026.
- For Summer 2027, Session 2, ALEKS scores must be earned on or after 7/5/2026.
- For Fall 2027, ALEKS scores must be earned on or after 9/7/2026.
- For Spring 2028, ALEKS scores must be earned on or after 1/24/2027.
Mathematics Course Permission Policy - In MATH 114QR - MATH 242/R, MATH 260, and MATH 345, students must wait to be admitted via the WISER waitlist system if they wish to join a full course section. Instructors will not issue permission numbers to allow you entry into those courses. As noted in WISER, students looking for information on registering for a course (including a full one) should contact the Mathematics Department (email: math@umb.edu, phone: 617-287-6440, in-person: W03-154)
Mathematics Advanced Placement (AP) Score Policy: The following Advanced Placement (AP) examination scores are recognized by the Mathematics Department, provided that a minimum score of 4 is earned, the score report has been sent by Collegeboard to UMass Boston and the results have been posted in WISER:
- AP Precalculus confers credit for MATH 130 (Precalculus).
- AP Calculus AB confers credit for MATH 140 (Calculus I).
- AP Calculus BC confers credit for MATH 140 (Calculus I) and MATH 141 (Calculus II).
  - A score of less than 4 on the AP Calculus AB exam with a score of 4 or 5 on the AP Calculus AB subscore confers credit for MATH 140 (Calculus I).
Mathematics Remote/Online Course Examination Policy - REMOTE (i.e., synchronous) courses must give their exams in-person on campus, including midterm and final examinations. ONLINE (i.e., asynchronous/via Canvas) courses must have live virtual proctoring for all exams (e.g., Honorlock, Respondus, or another Department-approved alternative).
Mathematics Faculty Advising Guidelines: Faculty advising assignments are chosen so that students can meet with a faculty member with compatible research, teaching, and/or professional interests. Students who wish to change their concentration but not their advisor should write to math@umb.edu.
- Please see our Tutoring & Advising Page for the most up-to-date information on advising, including the deadline to declare a concentration for an up-to-date faculty advising assignment.

Student Aids

Instructor Office Hours - This spreadsheet shows our office hours for the current semester.
ALEKS Placement Test Expiration Grid - This chart provides a visual example of when an ALEKS placement test result can be used depending on when the result was achieved.
- For an accessible version of this document, check out our ALEKS Placement Test Expiration List.
Mathematics Course Prerequisite Guide - This chart provides detailed information about the prerequisites for all math courses from MATH114QR through MATH242.
- For an accessible version of this document, check our our Course Prerequisite List.
Course Availability Chart - This chart provides a visual representation of which courses are provided during each of the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters (we do not offer Winter courses).
Course Availability List - This document lists the Mathematics Department courses in groups based on which semester(s) they are offered. This document provides the same information as the Course Availability Chart and is recommended for those using screen reading technology.
Sample Syllabus Directory (Last Updated: Spring 2026) - This document has links to sample syllabi for many core Mathematics Department courses. A great resource for current students looking to learn more about a course and for guest students to have a document to provide to a home institution evaluating a course.
- For an accessible version of this document, feel free to check out our Sample Syllabus Directory (accessible version).
Measurable Outcomes: Measurable outcomes are common learning expectations that have been implemented in many of the Mathematics Department's 100-level courses. Information on measurable outcomes is available for the following courses:
Information for Math Majors Slideshow - This slideshow provides some information for aspiring mathematics majors about our programs, future career opportunities, and tips to help you find success as a mathematics major.

Student Forms (Including Advising)

Advising Forms: Use these forms to help you ensure you are on track to complete your mathematics program. You should complete your form before your scheduled advising meeting. For more information on our programs, check out our Math Tutoring & Advising page.
Transfer Credit Appeal Form (Link)- Use this to initiate an appeal of a course that has been transferred in for credit. Note: This is currently done through Admissions.

Math Text Editors

Below are free software solutions for producing mathematical and scientific documents:

LaTeX is one of the most used software for producing scientific documents. Common TeX distributions like MikTeX and TexLive are available on all computing platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux). For those using Mac OSX, TeXShop is highly recommended. Additional LaTeX packages can be downloaded on the CTAN (Comprehensive Tex Archive Network).
WinEdit is a powerful text editor for Windows geared towards LaTeX.

Math Instructional Software

Below are free resources for mathematical computing:

Mathematical software like Mathematica and Matlab is freely available through the University.
CloudPC is a new service that gives streaming access to a cloud-based PC machine. CloudPC makes it possible to use software like Matlab, Mathematica, SAS, STATA, and SPSS remotely.
Python is a widely used (free) programming language for all-purpose scientific computing.
R is a popular free programming environment geared towards statistics. RStudio provides a convenient interface to base-R with additional features.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Math Associations

American Mathematical Society (AMS). The AMS is the primary professional organization in mathematics in the USA. Its offerings are vast. The link above takes one directly to pages for students; we encourage exploration of other aspects of the AMS, including conferences, employment guides and free publications.
Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The MAA works together with the AMS and places particularly strong emphasis on students, especially college mathematics students.

Math Conferences

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst hosts an annual undergraduate research conference. For more information, click here.
The Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (HRUMC) is an annual conference where undergraduates can present their mathematics research. For more information, click here.
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has valuable resources on meetings and conferences accessible to students, for example MathFest.

Math Journals

Quanta Magazine - This is a relatively new magazine, offering articles on recent developments in mathematics and various sciences. It is distinguished in offering material covered in depth and, at the same time, in a widely accessible format.
Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12 - This is a publication from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) that chronicles practices and policies related to mathematics education.

Math Tutoring

The Taffee Tanimoto Mathematics Resource Center is our own in-house tutoring service. For more information on the Tanimoto Center, contact TanimotoCenter@umb.edu or visit our Math Tutoring & Advising page.
The Office of Student Equity, Access, and Success (SEAS) offers a variety of services to support student learning. Check out their tutoring programs page for more information.

Math Club

Spring 2026: The Math Club will be meeting on Tuesdays from 12:00 - 1:00pm in the Mathematics Department Seminar and Common Room (W03-154-28)

Recent Math Club Activities and Resources

Here are math challenges for this week - courtesy of the Riddler at fivethirtyeight.com:

The Fibonacci sequence begins with the numbers 1 and 1,2 with each new term in the sequence equal to the sum of the preceding two. The first few numbers of the Fibonacci sequence are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on. One can also make variations of the Fibonacci sequence by starting with a different pair of numbers. For example, the sequence that starts with 1 and 3 is 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76 and so on. Generalizing further, a “tribonacci” sequence starts with three whole numbers, with each new term equal to the sum of the preceding three. Many tribonacci sequences include the number 2023. For example, if you start with 23, 1000 and 1000, then the very next term will be 2023. Your challenge is to find starting whole numbers a, b and c so that 2023 is somewhere in their tribonacci sequence, a ≤ b ≤ c, and the sum a + b + c is as small as possible.
Every Christmas, Gary’s family has a gift exchange. There are 20 people in the gift exchange. In the first round, everyone writes down the name of a random person (other than themselves) and the names go in a hat. Then if two people randomly pick each other’s names out of that hat, they will exchange gifts, and they no longer participate in the drawing. The remaining family members go on to round two. Again, they write down the name of anyone left, and again, any two people who pick each other exchange gifts. This continues until everyone is paired up. And yes, if exactly two people remain, they still go through the process of selecting each other, even though they know who their partner will be. On average, what is the expected number of rounds until everyone is paired up?

Professional Development

Students pursue mathematics at UMass Boston to engage their love for the subject when they choose it as their major, to support their work in other disciplines, to prepare for careers in teaching, to satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning requirement, or to meet college distribution requirements.

Careers in Mathematics

The American Mathematical Society (AMS) provides resources on careers in Mathematics. See also mathjobs.org.
The American Statistical Association (ASA) offers information on careers in Statistics. See also thisisstatistics.org.
Information on Data science careers can be found or example on kdnuggets.com and 365datascience.com.

Undergraduate Awards

The Taffee Tanimoto Award for Outstanding Service in Mathematics

This prize is awarded annually to a graduating senior who has particularly distinguished him or herself by being of service to classmates and the department. The prize honors Professor Taffee Tanimoto, who founded the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at UMass Boston in 1965 and was its chair for 11 years.

2025: Emilia Morgan, Duy Nguyen
2024: Kayla Vu, Dov Ellenbogen
2023: Jackson Pierce
2022: Paul F. Maynard
2021: Oghosa Ohiomoba
2020: Shuha Liu
2017: Rory Martin-Hagemeyer
2014: Phong Truong
2013: Shira Kaminsky
2012: Yuting Zeng
2011: Doris E. Gilbert
2010: Deanna Marie Crocker
2009: Gregory Walsh Loftus
2007: Alla Shved
2005: Omid Fallahazad
2004: Judith Freedman
2003: Jovica Vuletic
2002: Sarkis Daghlian, Naing Naing Maw
2001: Angela Lilleystone
1999: Eric A. Rich
1998: Eric Michael Martin
1996: Lara Kristin Wolf
1995: William P. Perry
1994: Shoshana Kostant
1993: Tho Dinh Can
1991: Yasuhiro Endo

The Juan Carlos Merlo Memorial Prize in Mathematics

This prize is awarded annually to a graduating mathematics student for outstanding achievement. The prize honors the memory of Professor Juan Carlos Merlo, a distinguished teacher and scholar who died in 1974 while in the service of the University of Massachusetts Boston.

2025: Emilia Morgan, Tim Grace
2024: Dov Ellenbogen
2023: Jackson Pierce
2022: Paul Rampino
2021: Alexander Scott Killian
2020: Jordan Cudmore Boswell
2019: Jonah Stanley Greenberg
2018: Isabel Frances Hancock, Yu Ling, Brian K. Lynn
2017: Devon Elizabeth Hand, Rory Martin-Hagemeyer
2016: Vincent Timothy Luczkow
2015: Xuezhu Luan
2014: Rob Moray
2013: Shira Kaminsky, Michelle Grace Benoit
2012: Joshua R. Rosenberg
2011: Shosha Kamholtz, Aaron M. Welles
2010: Jessica Gregory
2009: Andrew Kenneth MacLeay, Maryam Madhavi
2008: Ian J. Maxwell
2007: Evan Lowell Ray
2005: Omid Fallahazad
2004: Judith Freedman
2003: Dalcione Marie Reis
2002: Nicole Michelle Perez
2001: Thomas G. Capizzi
2000: Francesco Peri
1999: Joseph S. Churchman Jr., Anna L. Varvak
1998: Victor Tecson Abaya
1997: Bruce U. Romano
1996: Randall G. Malbone
1995: Alexander M. Fraser
1994: John A. Gmelch
1993: Chrysanthe Spyropoulos
1992: Masashi Nemoto
1991: Mark Edward Zimarowski
1990: Long Nguyen
1989: Sidney Sterling Atwood
1988: Trung T. Dung
1987: Photini Anastopoulos
1986: Jane-Sarah O'Brien
1985: Christina Maria Crawford
1983: Douglas Hayden
1982: Jean Ruth Elrick
1981: Richard S. Palmer
1980: Terry N. Turner
1978: Emily Miriam Stone
1977: Jelena Z. Blumenberg
1975: Shirley A. Hayden, Elizabeth C. Lee

Senior Honors in Mathematics

Senior Honors in Mathematics is given to an undergraduate senior who has completed their bachelors program with excellent grades and who has prepared and defended a senior honors thesis.

Past Winners:

2023: Jackson Pierce, Constrained Motion Spaces of Robotic Arms, Advisor: Oleg Lazarev
2014: Rob Moray, Modeling the Post-Transcriptional Regulation of the Tumor Suppressor Gene PTEN and It's Role in Cancer, Advisors: Kourosh Zarringhalam, Rahul Kulkarni

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