SAC Report

The Study Advisory Committee (SAC) report is designed to demonstrate you are on track to satisfy the requirements of your chosen concentration. You should begin a draft of this report as soon as you arrive at UMD, and you should submit a final copy as soon as you have chosen a scientific application. With this discipline in mind, design a study plan satisfying the degree requirements outlined on the AMSC website. This plan should detail the semesters during which you will take the specific core science and applications courses, as well as any other coursework relevant to your discipline. Once you have completed the SAC report, available at the AMSC office, it must be signed by the three AMSC faculty members. At least one of these faculty members must be from your area of application. If you have an advisor, ask them to help you choose your committee. If you don't have an advisor, ask a senior SC graduate student to help you. The function of this committee is to ensure that your plan of coursework will satisfy your degree requirements. The report will then be evaluated by the AMSC Graduate Committee during their next meeting. If the report is approved, it becomes a contract ensuring the outlined course of action will satisfy the preliminary qualifications of the SC concentration.

In the event that your area of interest should change after your SAC report has been approved, the report can be resubmitted. It is important that you attempt to draft a SAC report as early as possible, even during orientation with the help of your mentor. Samples of SAC reports that have been approved by the AMSC Graduate Committee will be available on the SC student website. These are examples of successful paths, but are by no means the only route to qualifying. Be creative.

Each SC student must also apply computational methods in a scientific discipline outside of AMSC/MATH by way of completing two core science and two applications courses.