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The University of New Mexico

SMLC Building

The Department of Mathematics & Statistics

Support the Department

Give to the Math General Fund. This discretionary fund is used to purchase supplies and equipment, provide program and activities support, and to meet urgent needs of the Mathematics & Statistics Department.
 

About UNM

UNM is New Mexico's flagship university and is designated both a Minority Serving and an Hispanic Serving Institute.
UNM is one of only eight Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the U.S. that is also classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as R1: Doctoral Universities with very high research activity.  It is also one of two R1 Minority Serving Institutes in the US. Here is UNM's Mission Statement.
 

About the Department

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers undergraduate students Bachelor of Science programs with concentrations in Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics, Computation Mathematics, Mathematics Education, and Statistics. Graduate level programs lead to a Master's or Doctorate degree with options in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Applied Statistics. Students planning undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of New Mexico will find a congenial department and a faculty of international stature.
Why Mathematics?
Mathematics is fundamental to the formulation and analysis of scientific theories, is a rich and independent field of inquiry, and its study is excellent preparation for life in our highly specialized society. Active research throughout the mathematical sub-disciplines, spurred on in part by advances in computing technology, leads to new perspectives and applications. The major in mathematics combines broad study of fundamental theories with in-depth investigation of particular subjects chosen from pure, applied and computational mathematics. A degree in mathematics, either alone or in combination with study in another field, is excellent preparation for careers in industry, academia, and research institutes.
Why Statistics?
Statistics is the science of collecting and analyzing data. Statisticians interact with researchers in all the various disciplines of science, engineering, medicine, social science and business to develop scientifically sound methods in those areas. Most course work in the department is devoted to understanding current methods and the reasoning behind them. A degree in statistics prepares students for careers in industry, government, academia, and research institutes, as well as being excellent preparation for professional programs in medicine, law, business administration and public policy and administration.

Our Mission

The UNM Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNM is committed to preparing our students for a variety of careers in industry, government and the teaching professions; and to advance fundamental knowledge in the areas of Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics through world class research.
 
Key components include:
  • A comprehensive curriculum ranging from introductory, core and service courses to upper-division and graduate courses to prepare future mathematicians, statisticians, scientists, engineers and teaching professionals.
  • A vibrant research agenda in mathematics and statistics advancing the fundamental knowledge in mathematical and related sciences through professionally recognized scholarship.
  • A commitment to professional and community service through participation in national and international societies, New Mexico institutions and organizations, and through sustained support of colleagues throughout the University.

Our People

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics represents a cross-section of cultures and backgrounds. This diversity is well represented among the Department's faculty, student body, and our dedicated staff.
 
Our continuing faculty includes tenure-stream Assistant, Associate, Full, and Distinguished  Professors in applied mathematics, pure mathematics and statistics in charge of the undergraduate and graduate programs; Lecturers overseeing and teaching our large pre-calculus and calculus programs, including in the Math Learning Lab  (MaLL) with the help of a large cadre of Term and Part Time Instructors and graduate Teaching Assistants. It also includes Adjoint and Visiting Research Professors,  National Laboratory Professors, and Emeriti Professors still active and contributing to the University's and Department's missions.
 
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNM boasts an outstanding faculty that  includes Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics  (SIAM), and of the American Statistical Association  (ASA). Our faculty have received national research awards as well as UNM and national teaching awards.
 
Our faculty publishes in major refereed professional journals and have been supported by multiple research and educational grants from national and state agencies. Of note are NSF  research grants and large DOE grants over a span of multiple years lead by various faculty members including  one of seven multimillion DOE grants  to Improve Supercomputer Model of Earth's Climate System (2022), an NSF CAREER grant (2016-2021), and two consecutive NSF education grants Mentoring through Critical Transition Points (NSF-MCTP) (2008-2017) that supported activities at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral level. Our faculty also collaborate with other units (Biology, North Campus, Mind Research Network) as coPIs or senior personnel in large NIH grants.
 
Our students (undergraduate and graduate) have gone on to successful careers in the mathematical sciences: in academia, industry, national laboratories, government, as teaching professionals: K12 education, colleges, and universities across the US and the world; as data analysts: working in hospitals, insurance companies and start-ups. Notable Alumni include Jack Dongarra, who received his  PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1980 and  the recipient of the  2021 Turing Award (referred as the "Nobel prize of Computing").
 
Our staff includes a Main Administrator, an Accountant I, a Department Advisor/Program Specialist, a MaLL Administrator, a Building Manager, and student employees, who are always willing to help visitors, students, and faculty.

Research

Our faculty research areas include
  • Pure Mathematics research in algebra, differential and algebraic geometry, number theory, operator theory, topological physics, and harmonic analysis/Fourier analysis.
  • Applied Mathematics research in numerical methods, scientific computing, partial differential equations, nonlinear waves, fluid dynamics, mathematical physics, and mathematical biology.
  • Statistics research in linear models, Bayesian methodology and its various applications to biology and other fields, genetics and evolutionary biology, multivariate data modeling including applications to ecological foodwebs and human brain imaging, survey sampling, nonparametric regression, statistical computing, Bayesian nonparametrics, Bayesian model selection, and complex lifetime modeling.
Many of our faculty are  formally involved with other research units on campus. The formal affiliations, joint appointments and membership on boards, include: Departments of Biology and of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Advanced Research Computing, Mind Research Network, Nanoscience Microsystems Engineering Program, and National Security Studies Program. The department has close connections with both Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
 
Our undergraduate and graduate students engage in research with our faculty and faculty from other units or the National Labs, through undergraduate and graduate research projects, Honor's thesis, MS Thesis and PhD Dissertations. Graduate and undergraduate students have been leading a Directed Reading Program (DRP) that pairs interested undergraduates and graduate students for independent study projects.

Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics:
  • Supports BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Mathematics and Statistics, an Undergraduate Honors Program, Undergraduate and Graduate Minors, and a graduate Certificate Program in Computational  Science and Engineering.  The Math BS has Concentrations in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics Education, and Mathematics of Computation.
  • Offers courses that serve many campus departments - Computer Science, Engineering, and Physics, as well as the BA/MD program. Mathematics and Statistics courses required by these departments form an integral part of their majors. Moreover, most departments on Main and North Campus have a data science component, making statistics vital for them.
  • Is also a service department that offers gateway courses taken yearly by thousands of undergraduate students and is responsible for UNM Core Courses in Mathematics and Statistics.  We run the MaLL (Math Learning Lab)  to help prepare hundreds of students per year for the Core Courses.
  • Delivers courses in various modes: self-paced (MaLL), traditional lecture style, coordinated, with Peer Learning Facilitators (PLF), flipped classrooms,  Freshman or First year Learning Community  (FLC including Calculus and Yoga, Atomic Algebra, Statistics and American Politics), online, and ITV courses.

Outreach

Our department supports and has supported multiple outreach activities including  the UNM-PNM State-wide Mathematics Contest (1966-present) --a mathematics competition for middle and high school students from NM reaching from 800-1200 students each year--, the Albuquerque Math Teacher's Circle and teacher training workshops and minicourses, as well as the Statistics Clinic.
 
The department has hosted multiple AMS meetings, most recently the 2021 Fall Meeting of the AMS Western Section. It has hosted local/national/international conferences in Algebra, Number Theory, Geometry and Topology, Operator Algebras, Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Scientific Computing, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics, as well as multiple Southwest Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conferences (SUnMaRC).

Our Location

Since 2011 the Department of Mathematics and Statistics has been housed in the Science and Mathematics Learning Center (SMLC), a building shared with Biology, Chemistry and Earth and Planetary Sciences. The building houses the main office, faculty and graduate students offices, an auditorium, classrooms and seminar rooms, a computer server room, a room for tutoring tables, a computer lab, as well as a lounge with a small library where social gatherings occur. Since its inception the Math Learning Center has been housed in Centennial Library, the Science and Engineering Library on campus.