• October 3, 2018
    (CM Life) University of Haifa professor Sfard lectures on strategies to teach mathematics
    Anna SfardUniversity of Haifa math education professor Anna Sfard discussed different aspects of mathematics in two lectures over two days for the 7th annual Fleming Lecture Series. Her first lecture was Oct. 1 in Bioscience Building Room 1010. Her second was a day later, Oct. 2 in Pearce Hall room 127. Part I: Mathematics Learning: Does Language Make a Difference? Sfard can speak Polish, Hebrew, and English, but the language she’s most interested in is math. “When you look at what people say about mathematics you find things like: ‘mathematics is the language of nature. It is the only true universal language. [Mathematics] springs from the soil of basic human experience,'” Sfard said. Sfard doesn't entirely agree. She sees math as a multicultural language, rather than a universal language.

    Read the rest of this story here in CM Life
  • May 9, 2018
    CMU Mathematics Professor Awarded National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical Science Grant
    Olivia DumitrescuDr. Olivia Dumitrescu has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation's, Algebra and Number Theory for the project titled "Enumerative Geometry of Hitchin Systems and Topological Quantum Field Theory".

    The award supports research in mathematical physics. The topological and geometric structures of various kinds of spaces have captivated mathematicians and physicists for many years. The project lies at the interface between algebra, geometry, combinatorics and analysis. The goal of this project is to study the interplay between topological recursion, Mirzakhani recursion of Weil-Petersson volumes, the classification theorem of CohFT for semi-simple Frobenius algebra and character varieties.

    In recent years the Dr. Dumitrescu has organized several workshops that have specifically facilitated interactions between different research communities. She will continue to promote interactions between enumerative geometry, algebra and the theory of quantization in the direction emphasized in this project.

    More information can be found here https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1802082&HistoricalAwards=false
  • May 9, 2018
    Dr. Mainkar Receives Summer Research Funding
    Dr. Meera Mainkar was awarded summer funding for the project: "Almost Inner Automorphisms on Nilpotent Lie Groups", with collaborators Carolyn Gordon (Dartmouth College), Tracy Payne (Idaho State University) and Cynthia Will (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina) at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkley, California.





  • May 9, 2018
    Dr. Chakrabarti teaching at Berkley this summer
    Dr. Debraj Chakrabarti will teach a summer graduate course at MSRI, Berkley this summer. The ∂-Problem in the Twenty-First Century”, organized by Debraj Chakrabarti and Jeffery McNeal (Ohio State University).







  • May 3, 2018
    Mathematics Graduate Student Wins Award
    Sibbir AhmadMathematics graduate student, Sibbir Ahmad, recently won first prize in the 4th Annual Douglass International Student Essay Competition organized by the CMU Office of International Affairs.


  • April 26, 2018
    Mathematics Annual Awards Ceremony Recipients Mathematics Department Annual Awards Ceremony
    Honoring Outstanding Students
    The Mathematics Department recently held their annual awards ceremony honoring outstanding mathematics students at Central Michigan University.


    Hammel KME Award
    Yejean Han, Natalie DeVos, and Madison McEachern

    Miles Actuarial Award
    Michael Abruzzi, Julie Dukovich, Megan Dwyer, Garrett Goniea, Kara Hughston, Ashley Kerr, Austin Lord, Charles Morrell, Nick Olechnowicz, Tyler Steinhaus, Emma Welch

    Outstanding Tutoring Awards
    Ph.D. Recipient: Jordan Gill
    Ph.D. Honorable Mention: Matt Barco
    Masters Recipient: Travis Wheeler
    Masters Honorable Mention: Anand Panduranga
    Undergraduate Recipients: Madison McEachern and Riley Kench
    Undergraduate Honorable Mention: Andrea D'Amour

    Outstanding Teaching Assistant 2nd Year
    Anand Panduranga

    Outstanding Teaching Assistand Beyond 2nd Year
    Recipient: Christal Schoen
    Honorable Mention: Daniel Ntiamoah

    AMS Graduate Student Chapter Integration Bee Certificates
    Graduate Champion & Grand Integrator: Anirban Dawn
    Graduate Champion & Grand Integrator Runner-Up: Pranav Upadrashta
    Undergraduate Champion: Bridget Parker
    Undergraduate Runner-Up: Jacob Hart

    Michigan Take Home Challenge Exam Certificates
    Natalie Devos, Harry Fu, and Yejean Han finished in 40th place
    Paul Cappaert, Minjeoung Kim, and Savannah Swiatlowski finished in 48th place
    Jacob Barry, Jacob Briskey, and Grant Raymor finished in 62nd place

    Richtmeyer-Foust Mathematics Award
    2018 Recipient: Michael Abruzzi
    Finalists: Kirsten Domagalski, Megan Dwyer, Ashley Kerr, Dustin Stevens

    Edward H. Whitmore Mathematics Award
    2018 Recipient: Laura Vaccaro
    Finalists: Jennifer Becker, Chelsea Bourdon, Kelsey Schmitz

    Department Scholarships
    Brannan Scholarship: Samantha Ellis and Jenna Oetman
    Nikoline A. Bye Scholarship: Madison McEachern
    Jozefaciuk & Rutkowski Scholarship: Shelby Jayne
    Dr. Frederick C. & Lois M. Kabbe Scholarship: natalie DeVos and Gabrielle Konyndyk
    Master Scholarship: Sara Fisk, Kaidlin Jones, Rachel Pung
    Miller Scholarship: Ashley Kerr
    Richtmeyer Scholarship: Megan Engels, Jayda Sykora, Danni Chen, Zachary Honiss, and Nathan Stempky
    St. Andre Scholarship: Michell Kubiak and Austin Konkel
    Serier Scholarship: Emma Welch
    Whitmore Scholarship: Rebecca Bell and sarah Choate
  • February 9, 2018
    Math Grad Student Earns Outstanding Thesis Award
    Christopher GrowMathematics graduate student, Christopher Grow, was recently awarded the 2017 Outstanding Thesis Award for his project "Geometry of Symmetric Powers of Complex Domains". First established in 1984 as a way to recognize exemplary scholarly efforts by CMU graduate students and to foster professional relations among graduate students and faculty.
  • November 10, 2017
    Integration Bee 2017 a huge success.
    Integration Bee WinnersThank you to everybody to competed in and attended this year's Integration Bee. We had 22 undergraduate and 13 graduate contestants, but when it was all over our winners were:




    Anirban Dawn and Bridget ParkeUndergraduate Winners:
    1st Place - Bridget Parke, Runner-Up - Jacob Hart
    Graduate Winners: 1st Place - Anirban Dawn, Runner-Up - Pranav Upadrashta
    Grand Integrator: Anirban Dawn





  • September 12, 2017
    CMU math professor awarded Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant
    Olivia DumitrescuOlivia Dumitrescu, Assistant Professor of Mathematics has been awarded a Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant for her project entitled "Holomorphic Quantization of Hitchin Spectral Curves''. The grant will enable Dr. Dumitrescu to collaborate with other researchers on projects related to different areas of geometry: Hitchin theory, enumerative problems, moduli spaces and birational geometry.





    More information on the Simons Foundation Collaboration Grants for Mathematics can be found by clicking here
  • June 21, 2017
    Math brain drain begins early
    Negative stereotypes push 'great minds' to go elsewhere
    Persistent negative stereotypes about mathematicians keep talented students away from high-paying jobs and slow technological advances, a Central Michigan University researcher says. Women and members of certain ethnic groups take the biggest hit, said Katrina Piatek-Jimenez, a faculty member in CMU's mathematics department. The result for society as a whole: a big minus sign.

    Read the rest of this story here
  • April 27, 2017
    Student group brings home awards
    The CMU student chapter of the American Mathematical Society was recently awarded Best Programming Venture for their event "The Fall 2016 Integration Bee" at the CMU Student Engagement & Leadership Awards. Current Treasurer and new Chapter President, Sarah Hayes was also awarded the Emerging Leader Award.

  • June 27, 2017
    Mathematics professor receives Simons Foundation Grant
    Ben Salisbury, assistant professor of mathematics at CMU, has been awarded a Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant for his project titled "Crystals and Combinatorics". The grant will enable Dr. Salisbury to collaborate with other researchers on projects related to algebraic combinatorics and representation theory; primarily, crystal bases, rigged configurations, Young tableaux, and combinatorial statistics.

    Learn more about the Simons Foundation here
  • May 20, 2017
    Mathematics senior, Rachel Domagalski, receives 2016 Honors Academic Excellence Award
    The Honors Program Academic Excellence Award is the highest academic Honor granted from the University Honors Office. This award is given to a graduating senior annually in recognition of exceptional academic success and commitment to scholarship while at Central Michigan University.

    The recipient of this award not only stands out among the 20,000 member study body of CMU, but also stands out amongst peers within the Honors Program. As you can imagine, selecting this recipient is particularly challenging given the quality, quantity, and diversity of accomplishments represented in our Honors graduating class.

    Rachel is completing a major in Mathematics with a concentration in Pure Mathematics. She will complete her senior year with a 3.97 GPA even as she is taking graduate level dual enrollment classes to complete her masters degree next year.

    In addition to her Honors capstone project completed under the supervision of Dr. Narayan, Rachel had previously completed two separate summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates during her undergraduate career. The first in 2014 was at CMU where she focused work on mathematical frames in finite dimensions. The second program completed in the summer of 2015 was hosted by the University of Hawaii at Hilo where she, and I quote, "completely characterized the catenary degree of numerical monoids generated by a generalized arithmetic sequence of embedding dimensions in three."

    In addition to a variety of campus presentations, pieces of Rachel's research have already been presented in symposiums and conferences in Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, Seattle Washington, and Washington DC.

    Beyond these professional presentations, Rachel's work has also been published in conference proceedings with a co-authored manuscript also currently submitted and under review for publication.

    In addition to her research, Rachel's passion and skill for all things mathematical have also been reflected in her service as the President of Kappa Mu Epsilon – the Mathematical Honors Society, her work as a math grading assistant, and her role as a supplemental instructor for pre-calculus classes. Because of Rachel's overall academic strength and experience in mathematics, Rachel was one of only two students to be named a CMU Goldwater Scholar nominee in 2015.

    As is true with most of our top academic students, however, Rachel's experiences reach beyond one narrow area of expertise. We appreciate that she did participate in a faculty led study abroad program, has been an active member of the CMU running club and film society, and even competed as a Division I student athlete in the pole vault during her academic career.

  • May 6, 2016
    CMU professor awarded Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for research and teaching
    Central Michigan University statistics professor Felix Famoye​ has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program​grant to Nigeria in mathematics from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Famoye will research and lecture at the University of Lagos as part of a project to conduct research and implement hands-on activities and technology in statistics courses.​​

    Read the rest of this story here
  • April 14, 2016
    NSF grant received to help study complex analysis
    Debraj Chakrabarti, assistant professor in the department of mathematics at CMU, was just awarded a grant of over $100,000 under the National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical Science. A portion of the grant will be used for undergraduate research in two area of mathematics…complex numbers and calculus. Complex numbers include quantities such as the square root of negative one. Calculus studies how physical or geometric quantities vary in space or time. The combination of these ideas (called complex analysis) leads to far-reaching and beautiful results about smoothly varying complex quantities (called holomorphic functions). These ideas can be used to model various natural phenomena such as electrical attraction or the motion of liquids. These considerations also have surprising consequences in other parts of mathematics, such as the properties of prime numbers, the geometry of higher dimensional spaces, and the study of equations (called partial differential equations) used to describe many physical processes such as heat conduction and the propagation of waves. This research project studies the behavior of holomorphic functions as one approaches the boundary of the region in higher dimensional space where the function is defined.

  • March 14, 2016
    Calculating March Madness
    CMU student crunches the numbers on NCAA tournament
    Central Michigan University actuarial science​ major Elizabeth Jackson is pairing her knowledge of statistics and love of basketball to calculate what it takes for a team to succeed in the NCAA Championship Tournament.​

    Read the rest of this story here