Message from the Chair

When I first came to UW twenty-six years ago, the region was struggling with an economic downturn. Our region has since turned into a hub of the software industry, while programming has become an integral part of our culture. Our department has benefited in many ways. For instance, the Theory Group and the Cryptography Group at Microsoft Research are home to a number of outstanding mathematicians who are affiliate faculty members in our department; the permanent members and postdoctoral fellows of these groups are engaged in fruitful collaborations with faculty and graduate students.

More recently, there has been a scientific explosion in the life sciences, the physical manifestations of which are apparent to anyone who drives from UW to Seattle Center along Lake Union. Researchers in the life sciences increasingly make use of mathematical, computational and statistical methods, in areas such as cancer research and genetics. We are proud of the fact that graduates of our department go on to careers in all of science and engineering as well as mathematics. For example, Jeff Eaton, Marshall Scholar and 2008 Dean’s Medalist, has chosen to pursue a Ph.D. in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College. Many of our department’s alumni contribute to the technological and scientific advancements in our region.

Another development that has had a profound effect on the mathematical sciences in the region is the emergence of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) as an international force. PIMS is a distributed institute based at the University of British Columbia that operates at nine universities, with UW joining eight universities in Western Canada as the only US site. PIMS activities include thematic research programs, collaborative research groups and summer schools. The Banff International Research Station, initiated by PIMS and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, is now an independent operation that hosts mathematical scientists from all over the world in weekly workshops and other activities. PIMS-initiated international collaborations also include the Pacific Rim Mathematical Association, whose first congress will take place in Sydney during the summer of 2009, and a scientific exchange with France’s CNRS.

These activities bring mathematicians to our area; mathematicians who come to one institution visit other institutions, start collaborations with faculty, and return for future visits. They provide motivation, research experiences, support, contacts and career options to our students. Taken together, these factors have contributed significantly to our department’s accomplishments during the past decade.

With this newsletter we look back on another exciting and productive year for the department. A record number of Mathematics degrees were awarded, for example. The awards won by the department’s faculty and students during the past twelve months include the UW Freshman Medal (Chad Klumb), the UW Junior Medal (Ting-You Wang), a Goldwater Fellowship (Nate Bottman), a Marshall Scholarship (Jeff Eaton), a Dean’s Medal (Jeff Eaton), the Haimo Award of the Mathematical Association of America (Jim Morrow), the PIMS Education Prize (Ginger Warfield), and the Centennial Fellowship of the American Mathematical Society (Chris Hoffman). Yet, as I write this we are experiencing an economic “seismic shift.” It is clear that our funding will tighten, unfortunately just as the “baby boom echo” makes its way through College. It will be a tough challenge, but we are resolved to serve these students and to minimize the effects on our research and education. We hope the department will be able to look back some years from now and once again marvel at how far we have come.

Selim Tuncel