Home → Math/SDS Majors and Minors → Honors → Honors Thesis
To graduate with honors from the Honors College in your major area, students need to submit a prospectus outlining their proposed thesis work, and then complete and submit a thesis through the major department. Additionally, students must meet minimum GPA and honors unit requirements - see your Honors Student Success Counselor for details, and be sure to check in regularly to ensure that you are on track to graduate with honors. Details about the prospectus, thesis, and timelines are available on the Franke Honors College website.
The Franke Honors College runs a 1 unit course called "Ignite Proseminar" that is recommended for the semester prior to starting the honors thesis. This course provides support through the process of developing the thesis prospectus. Enroll in UAccess.
DATA 498H and MATH 498H are available in Fall, Spring, and even in Summer, though faculty availability in Summer is often limited. Students must enroll in 3 units of DATA or MATH 498H for two distinct semesters (6 units total) to qualify for honors. To enroll in DATA/MATH 498H, submit the independent study proposal form from the Math Academic Office; once you have completed the form and permissions have been obtained from your thesis supervisor and faculty advisor, the Academic Office staff will process the form and enroll you in the course.
There are a number of ways to get connected with a thesis advisor and find a research topic:
Office hours are not just for homework help, they are also a great time to get to know your professors, and find out what research projects (if any) they have going. Also remember that you will need letters of recommendation at some point, and professors who know you well both in and outside of the classroom will write the strongest letters for you!
Some of our faculty have submitted information about projects that undergraduates could work on under their supervision. These project ideas are posted on our website. Students may contact the faculty members directly for more information. Please note that there are many more faculty that are happy to work with undergraduate researchers; the list is by no means exhaustive. Students may also wish to consult the list of faculty by research area.
The coordinator of the Mathematics Department's Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) program, can be very helpful in connecting students with research in mathematics: ura@math.arizona.edu.