Graduate Reading Courses

In-depth, specialized learning opportunities for graduate students.

Specialized reading courses supplement our regular graduate course offerings, allowing you to go even deeper on a particular topic. Faculty members can offer reading courses on virtually any topic in the world of math—ranging from Historiography of Mathematics to Mathematical Models of Whole Genomes Analysis. These fascinating options change from term to term.

Interested in a particular reading course?

Current Math Graduate Students: first contact the course instructor to receive obtain the instructor's permission/signature, and then email Graduate Program Assistant with the approval correspondence at mathgsec@sfu.ca.

Student outside of the mathematics department: complete the Course Add/Drop Form, obtain the instructor's permission/signature, and return the form to the Graduate Program Assistant at mathgsec@sfu.ca.

CURRENT READING COURSE OFFERINGS

Summer 2023 Reading Course Offerings

Topics in Approximation of parametric and stochastic PDEs, Ben Adcock

Topics in Expansion, Lifts, and Interlacing Families, Matt DeVos

Topics in Historiography of Mathematics, Tom Archibald

Previous Reading Course Offerings

Spring 2022 Reading Course Offerings

Topics in Number Theory, Imin Chen

Fall 2021 Reading Course Offerings

Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan

Spring 2021 Reading Course Offerings

  • Arithmatic of Quaternion Algebras, Imin Chen
  • Early Modern Mathematics, Tom Archibald
  • Enumerative Geometry, Jake Levinson

Fall 2020 Reading Course Offerings

Matroid Theory, Matthew DeVos

Summer 2020 Reading Course Offerings

Math Models in the Social Sciences, Paul Tupper

Spring 2020 Reading Course Offerings

  • Introduction to the Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves Over Finite Fields, Imin Chen
  • Queuing Theory, Sandy Rutherford

Fall 2019 Reading Course Offerings

  • Algebraic Topology, Luis Goddyn
  • Elliptic Surfaces, Nils Bruin

Summer 2019 Reading Course Offerings

  • Representing Graphs with Semidefinite Programming, Matt DeVos
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan
  • Nonlinear functional analysis and variational methods, with applications to PDE, Nilima Nigam

Spring 2019 Reading Courses

  • Historiography of Modern Mathematics, Tom Archibald
  • Sheaves and Cohomology in Algebraic Geometry, Nathan Ilten

2018 Reading Courses

  • Applications of Convex Optimization in Machine Learning, Zhaosong Lu
  • Compressed Sensing, Structure and Imaging, Ben Adcock
  • Machine Learning, Paul Tupper

2017 Reading Courses

  • Represetation Theory of Lie Groups and Algebras, Nathan Ilten
  • Summer School in Probability, Marni Mishna
  • Hilbert Spaces, Approximation, and the Spectral Theory of Compact OperatorsNilima Nigam
  • Contact Processes and Disease Models on Complex Networks, Alexander Rutherford
  • Topics in Besov Spaces, Interpolation and Non-linear Approximation, Ben Adcock
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan

2016 Reading Courses

  • Wavelets, Approximation Theory and Signal Processing, Ben Adcock
  • Introduction to Measure-Theoretic Probability, Paul Tupper
  • Boundary Element Methods, Nilima Nigam
  • Non-Linear Discrete Optimization, Tamon Stephen
  • Singularity Analysis and Combinatorial Enumeration, Marni Mishna
  • History of Mathematical Analysis, 1600–1950, Tom Archibald
  • Toric Geometry, Nathan Ilten
  • Operational Research Applied to Epidemiology and Health Services, Sandy Rutherford & JF Williams

2015 Reading Courses

  • An Introduction to Compressed Sensing, Ben Adcock
  • Applied Combinatorics Field School, Karen Yeats & Marni Mishna
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan

2014 Reading Courses

  • Fast Direct Solvers for Integral Equations, MC Kropinski
  • Elliptic Curves, Nils Bruin
  • Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry, Paul Tupper
  • Further Topics in Complex Analysis, Nilima Nigam
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan

2013 Reading Courses

  • Topics in Kinetic Theory, Weiran Sun
  • Introduction to Measure-Theoretic Probability, Paul Tupper
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan
  • Spectral Methods, Manfred Trummer
  • Analytic Combinatorics in Several Variables, Karen Yeats
  • p-adic analysis, Nils Bruin

2012 Reading Courses

  • Computational Aspects of Medical Imaging, Manfred Trummer
  • Several Complex Variables and Analytical Combinatorics, Karen Yeats
  • Symbolic Dynamics, Bojan Mohar
  • Matroid Theory, Matt DeVos
  • Modelling of Complex Social Systems, Vahid Dabbaghian
  • PDE and Pseudo-Differential Operators, Nilima Nigam
  • Dynamical Systems, Chaos, and Noise, Sandy Rutherford
  • Topics in Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and Computational MHD, Steven Pearce
  • Fundamentals of Arithmetic Geometry, Nils Bruin
  • Introduction to Measure-Theoretic Probability, Paul Tupper

2011 Reading Courses

  • Historiography of Modern Mathematics, Tom Archibald
  • Modified Generalized Laguerre Functions Tau Method for Solving the Lane-Emden Equation, Steven Pearce
  • Topics in Computer Algebra, Michael Monagan
  • Geometry and Optimization, Luis Goddyn and Matt DeVos
  • The Numerical Solution of Integral Equations, Mary-Catherine Kropinski
  • Mathematical Models of Whole Genomes Analysis, Cedric Chauve
  • Mathematical Epidemiology, Ralf Wittenberg and Sandy Rutherford