The Department of Mathematics offers programs leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. There are several programs leading to the Master of Science degree, some of which prepare the student to seek nonacademic employment, others prepare the students to continue to the Ph.D. degree. The interdisciplinary Computational Science and Engineering program gives students the opportunity to study mathematics and computing in a multi-disciplinary environment. The master's degree program requires 30 hours of coursework. The other programs include the Computational Finance Program which requires 34 hours of coursework. There are no required oral or written examinations, and a thesis is not required. A student with a half-time teaching assistantship normally takes two years to complete the master's degree program. Among the requirements for the Ph.D. are a minimum of 42 hours of graduate work, passing written qualifying examinations and an oral specialty examination, writing a thesis, and passing a final oral examination based on the thesis. A student with a half-time teaching assistantship would require a minimum of four years to complete the Ph.D. program, and most students spend five or six years in the program.