Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Collection Development Statement

Last updated July 2020

Overview

The collection’s primary function is to support research and teaching in the Whiting School of Engineering. Programs of study offered in Applied Mathematics and Statistics are a bachelor’s, master’s, PhD, and minor. The master’s degrees are MA in Applied Math and Stats; MS in Engineering, Applied Math and Stats; MS in Engineering, Financial Math; and MSE in Data Science.

• Focus areas include mathematical modeling, data-mining, machine learning, optimal decision-making, computational math, computational medicine, probability, statistics, and operations research
• This collection is heavy on statistics, given that stats is an integral part of all STEM programs, Public Health Studies, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The lower-level stats books are in constant demand by the undergrads especially, and the beginning grad students.

Departments/disciplines/programs/subject Areas Supported

This collection supports:

• Department of Mathematics (Krieger School of Arts and Sciences)
• Carey Business School (specifically the AMS’s Financial Math degree)
• Institute of Computational Medicine
• Whiting School’s Engineering for Professionals (EP) program
• Krieger School’s Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)
• All STEM programs, institutes, and centers affiliated with Homewood campus, plus patrons at East Baltimore and APL

General

This collection supports all patron groups from freshmen through research faculty.

Unlike the KSAS Department of Mathematics, there is a great deal of interdisciplinarity within AMS. In 2020, faculty research areas include facility location, inventory modeling, fixed income derivatives, quantitative portfolio strategies, computational statistics, Bayesian inference, streaming algorithms, parallel processing on GPUs, survey astronomy, shape analysis, geophysics and climate, graph theory, matrix analysis, bioinformatics, computer-assisted modeling of complex dynamical systems, data intensive computation, and statistical pattern recognition.

Because of the importance of the journal literature to research in engineering, serial subscriptions are given collection priority. Online databases and reference works are preferred over print. Monographs are purchased selectively in primarily electronic format based on relevance to departmental teaching and research, user requests, and faculty publications.

• There is no dominant call number range for AMS

Formats Selected

AMS researchers have a strong preference for online resources. Research periodicals and scholarly monographs from academic and professional society publishers are preferred. Reference works include literature databases, and occasionally math-related handbooks.

Preferred formats:

• Journals
• Conference proceedings
• Literature databases
• Books

Material acquired by request or selectively:

• Reference works
• Handbooks
• Computer manuals
• Textbooks

Material not collected:

• Biographies
• Ephemera
• Histories
• Juvenile works
• Manuscripts
• Microform
• Workbooks
• Pamphlets
• Preprints

Languages Collected

English

Chronological or geographical focus

Emphasis is on current and recent scholarship, with the understanding that AMS is also supported by the more traditional mathematical areas covered in the KSAS department.

Collaborations

Three joint graduate programs are offered:

• PhD/MSE Program with Sociology – This leads to a PhD in Sociology and MS in Applied Math and Stats
• PhD Concentration in Computational Medicine — with Institute for Computational Medicine
• Dual-degree Program — Full-time students in a full-time JHU graduate program may apply to earn a master’s degree in AMS while pursuing their primary graduate degree in another department