It has been another busy year for our undergraduate mathematics programs, with many exciting changes on the horizon. This year, our Undergraduate Program Committee is leading teams of faculty members in a review of all four of our majors – Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Analytics and Operations Research, and Scientific Computation – with a view towards modernizing and improving what our current programs offer. The intent is to both add breadth to our current course offering, and to add support to mathematics students in the form of discussions across all of our classes.
On a Sunday morning in September 2023, UC Davis mathematician Roger Casals Gutiérrez was entranced by something he saw in his kitchen.
As sunlight filtered through the kitchen window, it cast its rays in a beautiful pattern on the wall. Comprised of lines, curves and points of varying illumination, the projected pattern appeared both circular and triangular, a hodgepodge of intersecting, nebulous shapes with various spots of brightness.
Our undergraduate math programs are thriving! Last Winter, undergraduate programs underwent its seven-year Program Review. The external reviewers described our Department “to be dynamic, welcoming and a great place to study Mathematics” and said that our program’s strength was centered around “committed faculty, lecturers, staff and TA’s that come together to deliver a strong program to incoming students through to graduate education.”
This past academic year, the Department awarded 184 degrees!
I started my Lectureship in the Department of Mathematics at UC Davis in 1982 and reluctantly retired in the spring 2021. During that time I also spent 18 years as a member of the UC Davis Men’s Basketball coaching staff, highlighted by a Division II National Championship in 1998, an exciting four-year transition from Division II to Division I, and becoming a member of the Big West Athletic Conference. It was a long, busy, and rewarding journey with many ups and downs.
