We are so excited to have revitalized a graduate chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics in our Department this year! At my undergraduate institution, both undergraduate and graduate AWM chapters existed and frequently collaborated, but it was also valuable for each group to have its own space and events tailored to their experiences and needs. After talking with other graduate students at Davis, it quickly became clear that there was a strong interest in creating a similar community here.
Hello, UC Davis Math Department! I spent four years at UC Davis and completed my Ph.D. with Thomas Strohmer on applications of Compressive Sensing (CS) in 2009. Due to my previous time spent in industry, I was a non-traditional student. This gave me more focus because I basically knew what I was interested in. I had experience in electrical engineering and physics, so CS was a good fit for me. (Fun fact: the Math Dept used to be in Kerr Hall. In my second semester we all moved to the newly constructed MSB!)
As we approach the end of the Spring quarter, let's take a moment to look back over our accomplishments from the past year. During the 2024–2025 academic year, 11 GMAT students completed their Ph.D., and four students were awarded a Master's degree. So far during the current academic year, two GMAT students have received a Ph.D. and four have been awarded a Master's degree, with more expected at the end of the Spring quarter.
The last time UC Davis saw me was when graduated in the summer of 2018 with a Ph.D. in Mathematics. My dissertation was in low-dimensional topology under Abby Thompson, focusing on Heegaard splittings of knot complements in the 3-sphere (with additional mentorship of Javier Arsuaga in the application of knot theory to molecular biology, particularly the folding of chromosomes in yeast). Only a few months prior to that, I had accepted an offer to join the faculty at University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, CA, as a tenure-track assistant professor of applied mathematics.
It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of Joshua Sumpter, who obtained his Ph.D. from our Department under the direction of Sasha Soshnikov in 2021. Josh is remembered by his fellow graduate students for his inquiring mind, and as a conscientious teaching assistant and promising colleague by his professors. He had gone on to a postdoc at the University of Rochester. He is survived by his wife, Erica.
Josh’s memorial service was May 16 at 11 am with a celebration of life to follow at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Cloverdale, CA.
Wein and Iyer's NSF CAREER awards. Krener recognized with Quazza Medal. Shkoller and Fraas speak at ICMP 2024. Jacob et al win 2024 Frontiers of Science Award. Vazquez elected AAAS Fellow. De Loera, Schilling, and Thomas recognized for teaching and leadership. Xu wins INFORMS award. Casals awarded MCA Prize. Shkoller to lead COMPASS team.
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.
I spent 10 wonderful years at Davis, completing both my B.S. and Ph.D. in the Department. During my final year of grad school, I interned as a Pathways intern at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and after completing my Ph.D. in 2021, joined NASA as a full time research scientist.
We are welcoming 11 new graduate students to the Mathematics Ph.D. program this year, and we have 75 Ph.D. students in total in the program. Last year, 11 of our students completed their Ph.D.’s and have continued their journeys in careers in academia and industry.
This also is the start of my second year as vice chair of graduate affairs. Over the last year, I have tried to approach challenges with empathy and a problem solving mentality. Here are some of the initiatives and challenges from the past year.
Swati Patel and Axel Saenz Rodriguez are Assistant Professors in the Mathematics Department at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, OR. Saenz Rodriguez and Patel were both graduate students in the Math and Applied Math Department at UC Davis, where they first met. They are now married and have two beautiful and energetic children. Patel works in math bio, modeling systems arising from evolution, disease dynamics and ecology. Saenz Rodriguez works in probability and math physics, analyzing universal probabilistic objects for one-dimensional interacting particle systems.
