By Whitney Harder

(March 2, 2015) — Many agree that an environment can shape the learner, and in a field like mathematics, an environment that fosters active learning and engaged teaching with no appointment necessary may be the key to success for some students. That environment has been on the University of Kentucky campus in some capacity for many years, but was recently upgraded for present-day students in math courses; encouraging them to take a seat, or move around with mobile workspaces; raise their hand for a tutor, or work on their own; open their laptops, or write on one of many chalkboards.

With new renovations completed over the winter break, the UK Mathskeller is ready to unveil those and other features at an open house from 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, (

By Whitney Harder

(Feb. 24, 2015) – Ingrid Daubechies, the first female full professor of mathematics at Princeton and first woman president of the International Mathematical Union, will deliver the 2015 van Winter Memorial Lecture in Mathematical Physics at the University of Kentucky Thursday, Feb. 26.

Her lecture, "The Master's Hand: Can Image Analysis Detect the Hand of the Master?" will take place from 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building.

Daubechies, the James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics at Duke University, will describe wavelets, a mathematical tool used for the analysis and compression of images (including for digital cinema). She will also explain

By Sarah Schuetze

Despite differences in subject matter and methods, students in disciplines like biology and English have some common ground: they are part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Recently, this common ground connected two University of Kentucky alumni who graduated over 30 years apart.

Bob Burke graduated from UK with a degree in sociology in 1970 and Casey Robinson with a degree in Mathematical Economics in 2014. Their shared ties to A&S led to a valuable opportunity for Robinson, made possible by Burke. On a sunny day last spring, Robinson and Burke met for lunch

By Whitney Harder

(Jan. 26, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics, within the College of Arts and Sciences, is proud to announce the appointment of Benjamin Braun to the Wimberly and Betty Royster Research Professorship, and Uwe Nagel to the Ralph E. and Norma L. Edwards Research Professorship. 

The Royster and Edwards professorships serve to recognize the Department of Mathematics' most active researchers and to support their research. Both positions are three-year terms and include a stipend to support salary or research expenses.

Recommendations for the professorships

By Whitney Harder

(Dec. 19, 2014) – The first two years of doctoral study in science and technology fields are critical to student success — particularly for underrepresented populations.

Reflecting the University of Kentucky's growing leadership in ensuring more diversity in graduate studies, President Eli Capilouto Friday announced that the university's Department of Mathematics, within the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a $559,626 National Science Foundation grant to fund the new Graduate Scholars in Mathematics program. The funding will be dispersed through July 2019.

The program will support incoming mathematics graduate students at UK, including first-

by Whitney Harder

(Dec. 18, 2014) — Thirteen University of Kentucky students took home top honors at the Kentucky Academy of Science 100th Annual Meeting in November, where hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students from Kentucky colleges and universities participated in research competitions.

Winners included graduate and undergraduates from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, College of Arts and Sciences, Gatton College of Business and Economics, College of Health Sciences and College of Public Health.

Matthew Fahbach was recognized with an Oswald Creativity Award in Physical and Engineering Sciences for his paper "Historical permutation statistics and Andre's theorem". Matthew is pursuing a double major in mathematics and computer science. His paper began as a project in MA 330, History of Mathematics, taught by Ben Braun.

by Jenny Wells

(Dec. 17, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Office for Undergraduate Research has presented 17 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards.

"There is so much high quality research being done by UK undergraduate students," said Diane Snow, director of the Office for Undergraduate Research. "We're very grateful for funding through the Oswald Awards to be able to recognize and reward these exceptional individuals!"

Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who

(Nov. 20, 2014) — As University of Kentucky freshmen settle into life as college students, a new resource on campus has been helping them adjust to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs, known for difficult coursework. Undergraduate instructional assistants (UIAs) within one of the university's newest Living Learning Programs, STEMCats, use their past experiences to mentor incoming UK students.

The College of Arts and Sciences recently produced a podcast about the STEMCats community, featuring many STEMCats UIAs explaining what they enjoy about the program and their connections with younger STEM students.

"You get to

Heide Gluesing-Luerssen along with Ashish Khisti (University of Toronto), Joachim Rosenthal (University of Zurich), and Emina Soljanin (Bell Labs Research) is organizing a week-long workshop titled Mathematical Coding Theory in Multimedia Streaming. The workshop will be held at the Banff International Research Station on 11-16 October 2015.

Peter Hislop and Peter Perry along with Richard Froese (University of British Columbia) and Rafe Mazzeo (Stanford University) are organizing a week-long workshop on Geometric Scattering Theory and Applications. The workshop will be held at the Banff International Research Station on 2-7 November 2014.

Katherine Thompson who received her undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Biology from the University of Kentucky in 2008, has returned to UK as an assistant professor in Statistics.  Katherine received her Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 2013. Her research interests include statistical genetics and bioinformatics.

Martha Yip joined the Department of Mathematics as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2014. Visit http://math.as.uky.edu/podcasts/new-faculty-2014-meet-martha-yip to hear a short podcast that introduces her research.  

The Department of Mathematics is pleased to announce the availability of fellowships for graduate students through the Graduate Scholars in Mathematics program. Interested students should visit http://www.math.uky.edu/gsm to find out more about the program.

The Department of Mathematics plans to fill several faculty positions for the fall of 2015. We are searching for candidates in core areas of mathematics including analysis and partial differential equations, topology, and algebra. We also are interested in mathematicians with an interest in applications to economics or biology. In addition to these tenure track positions, we are searching for a post-doctoral scholar and several lecturers. Candidates should apply through mathjobs.org.   For more information, follow the links below to our advertisements:

by Jenny Wells

(Oct. 7, 2014) — As the second lecture of the 2014-15 Chellgren Seminar Series, University of Kentucky professor of mathematics Carl Lee will deliver a talk titled "Stillness in Motion: The Essence of Symmetry" at 7 p.m. tonight in the William T. Young Library Auditorium.

"When we think of symmetry usually visual images come to mind (butterflies, crystals, etc.).  But there is symmetry in music, physics, dance, mathematics, art, and many other unexpected places," Lee said in his abstract about the talk. "Its presence, or desired presence, can sometimes be powerful and compelling.  Or simply pleasing.  But underlying the essence of symmetry is that something remains unchanged while something is in motion.  I will share some varied examples to

by Gail Hairston 

(Sept. 30, 2014) — More than an “s” has been added since the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Science was created in 1908 with only seven faculty members. In fact there was a College of Arts and Science even before the institution was named the University of Kentucky; the institution was called the State University, Lexington, Kentucky (previously Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky and State College) until 1916.

In those 106 years, several of today’s largest colleges were birthed from the original College of Arts and Science’s former programs, including today’s College of Education, College of Communication and Information, College of Social Work and College of Fine Arts.

The college grew quickly under the inspiration and commitment of President James Patterson, whose statue now graces the plaza next to

The American Mathematical Society (AMS) recently started a blog titled On teaching and learning mathematics. The chief editor of the blog is Ben Braun of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kentucky. Visit the AMS website for more information and a podcast featuring Braun.

by Jenny Wells

(Aug. 26, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its newest class of Chellgren Fellows this past weekend.  Benefactor Paul Chellgren, along with Chellgren Endowed Chair Philipp Kraemer, recognized and congratulated the students on being named Fellows.

The Chellgren Fellows Program is for students with exceptional academic potential and aspirations, who are eager to participate in a special learning community designed to cultivate extraordinary achievement. Outstanding faculty members from across campus serve as individual mentors for the Fellows.

The students selected as 2014-15 Chellgren Fellows include: