GGAM Update, 2024
During the 2023-2024 academic year, my second year as chair, I focused on getting the new degree requirements approved and on adapting the Group to the new budgetary challenges that the University is facing.
During this period, GGAM admitted eight students and graduated thirteen. The Ph.D. theses include classical topics in applied mathematics such as fluid dynamics, numerical analysis and stochastic optimization; and new topics such as machine learning, analysis of complex networks, computational imaging and optimization on Riemannian manifolds. These topics reflect the impact of applied mathematics in our everyday life, and the broad range of interest of our faculty and students. Please join me in welcoming our new student cohort and in congratulating our Ph.D. recipients.
The breadth of research of our faculty is now reflected in our new Ph.D. program. Since 2022, when I became chair, I have worked with our executive committee and faculty to redesign our curriculum. The new degree requirements were approved by the faculty and graduate council, and are now being implemented. Now students have more options to choose from for their preliminary and qualifying exams. This includes Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Data Science, Numerical Analysis, Probability, and Theoretical Computer Science. These topics provide a solid foundation for most research areas in applied mathematics. GGAM faculty considered them to be fundamental training for the new generations of applied mathematicians. I want to thank all our faculty for endorsing these changes to the degree requirements.
I also want to thank the GGAM executive committee: Professors R. Chaudhuri (Mathematics and Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior), A. Hastings (Environmental Science and Policy), M. Lopes (Statistics) and A. Wein (Mathematics). They have been instrumental in the implementation of the new degree requirements and in student recruitment and admissions. In summer 2024 professors Chaudhuri and Lopes finished their terms in the executive committee. We welcome professors S. Aviran (Biomedical Engineering) and A. Schilling (Mathematics) to our committee.
We also welcome five faculty members who recently joined GGAM: Abi Gopal (Assistant Professor of Mathematics), Qijia Jiang (Assistant Professor of Statistics), Isaac Kim (Assistant Professor of Computer Science), Jasper Lee (Assistant Professor of Computer Science) and Yupeng Shi (Assistant Professor of Mathematics).
This year our new program coordinator started, Jennifer Lehner. Jennifer came with extensive experience managing graduate programs at other universities. Her expertise has been invaluable in moving our program forward. She coordinated the graduate student welcoming event for our prospective students, orientation for new students in the Fall, and preliminary exams for both programs. She recently started a regular newsletter that includes information for our students with important university deadlines and opportunities for professional development and outreach. Her work in coordination with Department manager Tina, and staff members Marji and Shelby have ensured the smooth running of the Graduate Group.
Our faculty was widely recognized in the national and international arenas. Two of our faculty delivered prestigious lectures at the 2024 Joint Mathematics meeting: Professor A. Schilling gave the Emmy Noether invited lecture and Professor M. Vazquez (Mathematics and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) delivered the SIAM invited lecture at the same conference. Professor M. Koeppe (Mathematics) gave a plenary talk on his work on SageMath at the biennial International Congress on Mathematical Software. Professors A. Wein and H. Manikantan (Chemical Engineering) received the prestigious NSF CAREER award in their respective fields. Professor A. Wein was also awarded the ACHA Charles Chui Young Researcher Best Paper Award for his paper “Estimation under group actions: recovering orbits from invariants.” Professor S-H. Chen (Land, Air and Water Resources) received a NASA group achievement award. Professor Woodruff (Management) was named fellow of the INFORMS Computing Society and Professor K. Balasubramanian won the 2024 annual prize of the same society for his work on operations research/Computer Science Interface. Professor M. Vazquez was named fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Among our students, Camille Korbut was named Hispanic Scholarship fund Scholar. Casey Duckwall and Alaina Stockdill received the Eivind Lange fellowship. Lauren Mossman received the Hazel B. Jacoby fellowship and Greg DePaul and a team of postdocs and graduate students in STEMM won first place in the EMPOWER Data Challenge held at the Institut Pascal in Orsay, France.
I am very proud of all these accomplishments and the efforts of our members that strengthen and elevate the status of GGAM in the broader community of applied mathematics.