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Undergraduate Search |
Cryptology Program
What is Cryptology?According to legend, when Julius Caesar sent messages to his trusted associates, he did not trust the messengers. So he devised a cryptosystem or cipher; that is, a method of disguising the messages so that only certain people that understood the method could decipher them. (The rule was to "shift" the alphabet by three: A becomes D, B becomes E, C becomes, F, and so on.) Those who attempt to create and use such systems are practicing cryptography. Those who attempt to intercept and break such systems are practicing cryptanalysis. Those who study both cryptography and cryptanalysis are practicing the art and science of cryptology. The impact of both cryptography and cryptanalysis on recent world history is no more evident than in the successes during World War II in our breaking of both German and Japanese codes and in our use of the Navajo language (for which a monument stands on the campus of Northern Arizona University). Excellent accounts exist in books such as The Codebreakers (Kahn).
Program in CryptologyStudents in this program complete a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree. Various requirements of the degree are satisfied by completing recommended courses in the branches of mathematics most relevant to cryptologic studies. Required courses are:
MAT 270-272 Calculus covers the fundamentals of differentiation and integration, sequences and series, and vector-valued functions of several variables. Students obtaining a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics must choose 2 courses from the Advanced category, 2 courses from the Depth category, and 3 courses from the Additional category. Students in the Cryptology Program use MAT 447 as one of those seven courses (in the Additional category). The remaining 6 courses are typically chosen from the list of courses below. Elective courses include:
MAT 372 Advanced Calculus II Students also complete at least 10 hours of coursework chosen from the Related Fields Course List.
Employment OpportunitiesThe most obvious employment for students in the Cryptology Program is with the National Security Agency. The NSA is one of the largest employers in the state of Maryland and is the largest employer of mathematicians in the world. Its mathematicians contribute directly to the two missions of the Agency: designing cipher systems that will protect the integrity of U.S. information systems and searching for weaknesses in adversaries' systems and codes. The NSA offers a summer program for undergraduates, during which students are paid and can earn credit hours in MAT 484, as well as a paid graduate program leading to a Master's degree. (The NSA also offers other summer programs in computer science, electrical engineering, operations research, physics, intelligence analysis, and languages -- especially, Farsi, Arabic, and Chinese.) Students in our Cryptology Program will also be well prepared to enter graduate schools across the country that specialize in Cryptology. In general, the communications industry is always in need of mathematicians with skills in the cryptographic sciences. Several such companies exist right here in the valley, including Intel and Motorola, among others.
Advising and InformationFor additional information, see an advisor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. You make an appointment by visiting the Undergraduate Math Office in PSA 211, or by calling 480 965-1167. |