Message from the chair

The 2004-05 academic year will be remembered for the wonderful recognition and support given to the Department by the mathematical community, by our colleagues on campus, and by the Department's alumni and friends. The support we experienced on a daily basis is crystallized in the prizes received by Branko Grünbaum and Jim Morrow for work they have done over decades, the awards to our students, the Brotman Award presented to the Department for its instructional excellence, and the endowments that were established during the year. The significant increase in the involvement of our alumni, in particular, is most encouraging. And, yes, a team of our students was again selected Outstanding Winner in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, for the fifth time in four years. Watch out, Lance Armstrong, here comes UW Math!

We have over 90 students in our graduate program this year, and they are an amazing group. The majority of them serve as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses. Having doubled the size of the Department's undergraduate degree programs during the past three years, we are working to absorb the additional students while maintaining – actually increasing – the quality of the educational experience we offer to our students. We have significantly expanded the involvement of our undergraduate majors in research projects with faculty and graduate students, for example. In addition to grants that fuel our research, we have been fortunate in attracting substantial federal funding, through our VIGRE, GK-12, and REU grants in particular, for our educational and outreach efforts. It is critical that we recruit excellent faculty members together with the strongest graduate students, and encourage and support them as they continue to create, as everything we do rests with them. It is here that private support, on top of state and federal funding, allows us to take that extra step in innovation and leads to excellence in education, research and outreach.

Every UW department is reviewed on a decennial basis. We had our turn recently. In this year-long review, as well as in many other ways, our department was commended for its achievements in education and research. The extent and effectiveness of our involvement in outreach was singled out as being remarkable for a major research department. Indeed our outreach programs, thanks to the efforts of Ginger Warfield, Jim Morrow, Jim King and many others, now cover the full K-12 span as indicated by the following (partial) list of acronyms you may be familiar with or encounter for the first time in this Newsletter: Math Fairs, GK-12, WaToToM, NWMI, SIMUW, and Math Day. Our K-12 efforts reflect our realization that the seeds of mathematical thinking and appreciation are most effectively sown early in life. In addition, through programs such as the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates and workshops for graduate students, our department is fully engaged in serving the national mathematical community. We look forward to the continuing involvement of our community in the department as we further our work at every educational level.

Selim Tuncel