Departments » Mathematics

In the Mathematics Department, a long tradition of excellent teaching and a supportive environment for students are paired with cutting-edge research across a broad spectrum of present-day mathematics and its applications.

The Department's size -- more than 60 faculty -- permits an unusual range of opportunities for students, as well as a high degree of personal attention. Our students enjoy a close-knit environment with all the resources of a major research university.  The interdisciplinary opportunities in our program provide students with real-world experiences that prepare them well for the workplace, or for pursuing advanced degrees.

In recognition of the Department's excellent teaching, 10 faculty members have been awarded membership in the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers.

Research strengths of the Department include the core mathematical areas of algebra, topology, and geometry, especially their connections to modern mathematical physics, symbolic computation, and computer vision; core areas of applied mathematics, including matrix analysis, numerical analysis, probability, optimal control, ordinary, partial, and stochastic differential equations, and dynamical systems; and applications of mathematics to biology, finance, and industrial problems. Annual research funding exceeds $3 million, and supports numerous research assistantships for undergraduate and graduate students.

The Department's undergraduate honors program, which graduates eight to 10 students per year, has served as a university-wide model. Since 1992, 10 graduates of this program have won National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowships to graduate school in mathematics, ranking NC State 12th in the nation.

At the graduate level, the Mathematics Department is involved in an unusually broad array of interdisciplinary activities. The Mathematics Department plays the leading role in NC State's graduate program in Financial Mathematics, one of the first in the nation.  Our faculty currently provides the leadership for the University's graduate program in operations research, and for the interdisciplinary Center for Research in Scientific Computation (CRSC).  Eight of the 26 faculty in the university's biomathematics program come from the Mathematics Department. Our faculty also shares in the leadership of the new NSF funded Statistical and Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) in Research Triangle Park, and is heavily involved in its programs.

Ours is one of the leading U.S. mathematics departments in offering opportunities for graduate students to work on practical problems with industrial collaborators.  In addition, Mathematics Department faculty, through CRSC and SAMSI, offer the Industrial Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Workshop for Graduate Students each summer, which brings about 35 graduate students to Raleigh from across the country to work in teams on problems posed by industrial collaborators.

The Department offers B.S, M.S. and Ph.D degrees in mathematics and applied mathematics.

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