SPRING 2026
FROM THE CHAIR
I thank our department for giving me the opportunity to serve as the chairperson since summer 2025. Our department continued to demonstrate high quality in teaching, research and service. Thomas Gilsdorf was a proud recipient of the 2025 CMU Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the Student Choice Award. In Spring 2025, Jonathan Gregory, Mathematics Major, was awarded the CMU President’s Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments. His accomplishments include research in mathematics with a publication titled Bergman kernels of monomial polyhedra under supervision of Debraj Chakrabarti. I am very pleased to share Dmitry Zakharov’s achievement in securing Simons Foundation Travel Grant. Last year, the Fleming Lecture Series was back with Steven Bell visiting CMU. Steven Bell is an outstanding mathematician at Purdue University and is known for his work in complex analysis and partial differential equations. He gave two talks on April 17 and 18. The first talk was aimed at a general audience, while the second talk was aimed at a more mathematically mature audience. This year, the department welcomed a new tenure-track faculty member, Lino Guajardo, whose research interest lie in Mathematics Education. The department office welcomed a new administrative office assistant, Traci Nelson. We thank Michelle Mowat for her wonderful service and wish her good luck for her new position in the Office of Sponsored Research, CSE. Ahmed Assaf and Sivaram Narayan retired after 37 years of their service at CMU. Ben Salisbury, who served as the chairperson of the department for 6 years, said good-bye to CMU. I am very excited to announce the launch of our new Graduate Certificate in Teaching Collegiate Mathematics. A huge thank you to Xiaoming Zheng for putting this newsletter together! Thank you to Rob Wang in the College of Science and Engineering for assembling and publishing the newsletter. Thank you to the faculty in the department and student groups for sharing about all the exciting events, activities, and successes of the last year. Finally, to our alumni, thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We hope to see you around Pearce Hall this year! Dr. Meera Mainkar
The AMS Graduate Student Chapter at CMU spent the past year bringing together math enthusiasts through events that celebrated learning, community, and a shared love of numbers. The organization, open to all CMU mathematics graduate students, continued its mission to advance mathematical scholarship and research by hosting regular meetings where students could present their work in a friendly, collaborative setting. Members also took part in outreach activities, conference trips, and department-wide celebrations designed to strengthen connections within the CMU math community.
Event Highlights: Sibs & Kids Day: Partnering with Professor Chan from the Department of Mathematics, the AMS chapter hosted a dinosaur-themed math activity room for CMU’s 2024 Sibs & Kids Day. Young visitors explored fun math games and puzzles while learning a little something along the way. Pi Day Celebration: True to tradition, the chapter marked Pi Day with an event for the entire department. Students and faculty came together for math-themed games, mini-talks, and, of course, plenty of pie. The festivities even included a pie-eating contest and a Pi recitation challenge. Integration Bee: The annual Integration Bee was another success, featuring friendly competition, laughter, and a lot of calculus. Izzy Gaidhane took home the undergraduate “Grand Integrator” title, with Jonathan Gregory as runner-up. In the graduate bracket, Joyita Banerjee earned top honors. Academic Talks and Scholarship: Continuing its focus on mathematical research, the AMS chapter hosted a series of talks throughout the year, both in person and virtually. Graduate students, faculty, and guest speakers shared insights on a wide range of topics, from advanced category theory to the growing role of AI in mathematics. Among the standout sessions was a career-focused talk by returning alumna Dr. Bridgette Russell, who spoke about life after graduation and navigating the job market. Other presentations included research highlights from Koksal Karakus and theoretical discussions led by Dr. Jordan Watts. With a full calendar of events and a strong sense of community, the AMS Graduate Student Chapter continues to make CMU a vibrant place for mathematical exploration and collaboration.
Farewell and Best Wishes to Dr. Ben Salisbury
Celebrating six years of leadership and over a decade of service to CMU Mathematics The Department of Mathematics bids a heartfelt farewell to Dr. Ben Salisbury, who served as Chair from 2019 to 2025 and has been a valued member of the CMU community since 2013. Dr. Salisbury has made lasting contributions to the department through his leadership, teaching, and research, and now embarks on a new chapter as he relocates to the Northeast to be closer to family.
Farewell party for Ben Salisbury in May 2025
Dr. Salisbury earned his B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Rhode Island in 2007, followed by his M.S. (2009) and Ph.D. (2012) in Mathematics from the University of Connecticut. He joined CMU as an Assistant Professor in 2013, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017, and Full Professor in 2020. As Chair of the Department of Mathematics (2019–2025), Dr. Salisbury championed initiatives that enhanced both teaching and accessibility. Notably, he led the department’s adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) to reduce student costs and improve flexibility. His “free-option” policy for the Calculus sequence (2019) and the establishment of the OER Committee (2021) have had a lasting positive impact on student learning experiences. He was also responsible for turning the computer lab into a space where students and faculty can now collaborate and host other events and activities. In addition to his administrative leadership, Dr. Salisbury maintained an active research program in algebraic combinatorics and representation theory, contributing to the understanding of crystals, rigged configurations, and combinatorial models for Lie algebras.
From Dr. Salisbury
It’s truly bittersweet to say goodbye to my colleagues at CMU. This was my first real professional home, and I believe I learned and grew immensely while I was here. In particular, thank you for allowing me to serve as Chair for the last six years. While it is certainly tough to say goodbye, I’m looking forward to being closer to my family in the Northeast and embarking on a new adventure. Wishing the department nothing but prosperity and success going forward! Thank you for everything. Sincerely, Ben Salisbury
Words from Teaching Interns in Spring 2025
The Teaching Internship is a vital component of our Mathematics PhD program, which provides chances for candidates to teach medium to upper level math courses under the guidance of experienced faculty members. Read on to hear what our interns have to say about their experiences.
Isaac Cinzori
In my third year at CMU, I took part in my first teaching internship! These are teaching courses required of all CMU PhD students, and also available to master’s students. For my internship, I taught MTH 332 (the introduction to proofs course) with the support of Dr. Xiaoming Zheng. This was an exciting opportunity to develop my own lectures, homework assignments, assessments, and course structure whilst being supported by an experienced faculty member. I also had a great time working with the students, all were upper-level students with math-related majors, both in and outside of class.
Riley Kench
For my teaching internship in the department of mathematics at CMU, I was given plenty of support by my internship advisors as well as enough freedom to teach in ways that I felt comfortable. I interned in Calculus 3 and Linear Algebra and Differential Equations under Dr. Lisa Demeyer and Dr. Xiaoming Zheng, respectively. The faculty advisors helped me to formulate lessons, create new strategies for teaching certain topics I had never taught before, and helped with the grading process. In addition, my in-class experience of teaching was enhanced and elevated by their daily feedback about my teaching as well as my own personal reflections. The students also made the experience fun and enjoyable by allowing me to be myself in the classroom and engage with the students in a way that fostered their learning.
Tony Sheikhnavassi
I thank Dr. Phelps-Gregory for her guidance and wisdom throughout my internship.
Brooklynn Willett
My teaching internships this school year have been some of the most rewarding experiences of my PhD program so far! Between my time teaching Geometry for Secondary Teachers (MTH 362) as well as Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory (MTH 223), I grew in so many ways and gained confidence teaching more advanced undergraduate mathematical content. It’s one thing to know mathematical content as a student - it’s another thing completely to know the content well enough to address all the different ways students approach the material and any tough questions they ask! I appreciated the opportunities these courses afforded me in getting out of my comfort zone, trying out new instructional practices and creating my own activities that engaged students in things like analyzing sample student work or manipulating geometric objects on Desmos and Geogebra. I also value the various interactions I had with a broad spectrum of different majors, which included not just mathematics, but also secondary math education, computer science, and many others! This diverse array challenged me to find innovative ways to make the content relevant, practical, and accessible to different interests and learning styles. I’ve even been lucky enough to have developed positive relationships with some studdents that continue to seek me out as a reference or write letters of recommendation. On top of it all, the content of both courses was a blast to teach, giving each semester a bittersweet end! None of this would have been possible without the mentorship of both Dr. Marcinek and Dr. Gilsdorf, two outstanding instructors whose wisdom and instructional craft are not easily matched!
Welcome to our New Faculty Member: Dr. Lino Guajardo The Department of Mathematics is delighted to welcome Dr. Lino Guajardo as our newest faculty member specializing in mathematics education. Dr. Guajardo received all of his degrees from Texas State University: a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education in 2025, a Master’s in Pure Mathematics in 2020 with a thesis in Group Theory, and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics in 2017. His research focuses on the teaching and learning of mathematical proof—particularly how undergraduate students read and understand proofs—and emphasizes inclusive and effective instructional strategies to support diverse learners. We are excited to have Dr. Guajardo join our department and look forward to the contributions he will bring to both teaching and scholarship. I am new to CMU and also new to Michigan, moving here just before the start of July. I am very excited to have opened this new chapter of my life. I am excited to have come here with my Fiancé and two cats (Mr. Bradshaw and Toffee). We look forward to experiencing a real winter having all come from Southern U.S. Having graduated with a PhD in Mathematics Education, my research interests lie in both the cognitive and equity world. In terms of cognition, I am interested in how people read and understand mathematical proof (termed proof comprehension). These people could be undergraduates, graduate students, or even mathematicians. I hope to use what I learn to develop interventions that instructors can use in their proof-based courses to help support their students in reading and understanding mathematical proof. In the world of equity, I am interested in identity work in proof-based courses. Specifically thinking about those who come from marginalized backgrounds and how they situate themselves in the mathematical community and in their proof-based class. I am currently investigating identity as it relates to the norms and values held by the mathematical community.
@CmichSE
CHRISTINE PHELPS-GREGORY This past year, I had one publication titled Examining Task-Specific Incongruous Mathematics Self-Efficacy in University Intermediate Algebra Students that was published in the International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. A former graduate student, Bridgette Russell, was the first author on this publication which was based on her dissertation work. It examines college students’ beliefs about their ability to solve mathematics problems and the relationship between those beliefs and their solutions to the mathematics problems. We qualitatively described multiple instances of incongruous beliefs, detailing how over-confident and under-confident beliefs could develop. I also have several publications under review. One is with current graduate student, Brooklynn Willett, and is based on her pilot study for her dissertation. It examines prospective secondary teachers’ problem-solving skills and the relationship with their knowledge for teaching problem solving. Another manuscript under review examines changes in students’ beliefs during collegiate discrete mathematics. This semester, I am also collecting new data that builds on this work of examining collegiate students’ learning and beliefs in discrete mathematics.
ANA DIAS My sabbatical during the 2024–2025 academic year was highly productive and centered on research in mathematics education and teacher training. It was a year marked by strong scholarly activity, including three refereed journal articles, a co-authored book chapter, three expanded abstracts, and one full paper in conference proceedings. The topics of these publications included gender in mathematics, computational thinking, educational policy analysis, and the use of technology in the mathematics classroom. I also co-edited a forthcoming book on decolonial mathematics. Throughout the sabbatical, I engaged actively with the academic community, attending six conferences and delivering five presentations, as well as conducting a workshop on the mathematics in the tile designs of Brazilian artist Athos Bulcão. A significant portion of my research focused on new empirical work. In collaboration with two researchers in Brazil, I collected data on problem solving with fractions at a public school in Brasília, involving students from grades 2, 4, and 5. Initial findings from this study were presented at the Summer Workshop at the University of Brasília. A particularly rewarding moment was the successful defense of my doctoral advisee, Dr. Ahmad Alzayyat, who completed his dissertation on May 29, 2025. Another highlight of the year was the culmination of earlier fieldwork conducted in 2023, which resulted in the paper Policy Paradoxes and the Architecture of Authority: The Case of an Indigenous Mathematics Teacher Education Program in Brazil, presented at the 2025 Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice.
Fleming Lecture Series Returns with Insight, History, and Enthusiasm The 2025–2026 academic year marked the much-anticipated return of the Fleming Lecture Series after its pandemic hiatus, and the Department of Mathematics celebrated the occasion with two days of lively discussion, learning, and inspiration. Held in Pearce Hall and the French Auditorium, the series once again brought together faculty, students, and members of the Mt. Pleasant community to explore some of the most fascinating ideas in modern mathematics. This year’s distinguished speaker, Professor Steven R. Bell of Purdue University, is a leading Mathematics analyst, Bergman Prize winner, and award-winning educator whose work in Several Complex Variables has shaped the field. Professor Bell delivered two exceptional talks during his visit: a public lecture in the French Auditorium on April 17 and a Mathematics Colloquium on April 18, 2025, both of which drew enthusiastic participation from CMU undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty. He opened the series with “Something About Poisson and Dirichlet and the Necessity of Complex Numbers in Math and Science,” a journey through the 19th century featuring the groundbreaking insights of Siméon-Denis Poisson and Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet. Blending theory, history, and humor, Professor Bell highlighted how complex numbers reshaped the way scientists understand nature and reminded the audience of the lasting impact of these early pioneers. On the second day, Professor Bell delivered “What’s So Great About the Bergman Kernel?” an engaging and accessible exploration of one of complex analysis’s most central objects. His enthusiasm for the topic was contagious, leaving many participants inspired to explore further. Beyond the lectures, Professor Bell’s visit enriched the department in other meaningful ways. He joined Dr. DeMeyer’s MTH 499 Capstone class, engaging directly with undergraduate students, and participated in a luncheon with graduate students, fostering conversation and mentorship across all levels of the CMU mathematics community. This year’s Fleming Lecture Series served as both a celebration of mathematical discovery and a reaffirmation of the collaborative spirit that defines our department. As we look ahead to future installments, we do so with renewed appreciation for the thinkers—past and present—who continue to expand our understanding of the world through mathematics.
se.cmich.edu/MTH
DEBRAJ CHAKRABARTI The last year was productive for me. I have published five research articles in peer reviewed journals. This includes the article Bergman kernels of Monomial Polyhedra, based on the undergraduate students’ research that I mentored. Apart from invitations to speak at national level conferences, I was invited to speak at the joint meeting of AMS and the Italian Mathematical Union at Palermo, Italy, and at Shenzhen International Workshop on Several Complex Variables and CR Geometry II at Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. Last summer, with my Ph.D. student Joyita Banerjee, while working on volume formula of Hermitian quadrics, we have found some interesting connections of Schur polynomials that we will continue to explore. I co-mentored (with Meera Mainkar) an undergraduate research project of Kolbi Esch studying the symmetries of edge-colored graphs. This project was funded by NSF. I continue to be a coordinator of Problem of the Week and Graduate Student Seminar in the department. I am also a co-organizer of the department’s Geometry Seminar (TAG seminar).
MEERA MAINKAR In Spring 2025, I enjoyed teaching a graduate level Lie Algebra class that ran for the first time. In collaboration with five other women mathematicians, I continue to work on a project that involves a study of sectional curvature of a nice class of Riemannian manifolds. Our project was supported by the American Institute of Mathematics’ (AIM) SQuaRE program. We spent one week at AIM for collaboration in April 2025. In Summer 2025, with Debraj Chakrabarti, I co-mentored an undergraduate research project of Kolbi Esch. We studied a class of edge-colored graphs and their symmetries. Kolbi presented the research results at Summer Undergraduate Michigan Mathematics Research Conference which was held at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in July 2025. I continue to serve as the faculty advisor to the AMS Graduate Student Chapter at CMU. I am the department chairperson since summer 2025.
DMITRY ZAKHAROV In the 2024-25 academic year, I published three papers. “A matroidal perspective on the tropical Prym variety" appeared in Versatility of Integrability, a Contemporary Mathematics issue in memory of Igor Krichever, my PhD advisor. I also published a paper titled “Chip-firing on graphs of groups” in Discrete Mathematics, together with Margaret Meyer, who was an undergraduate student at CMU and who is currently in graduate school at the University of Michigan. Finally, my paper titled “The tropical n-gonal construction” appeared in the journal Annals of Combinatorics. I also posted two preprints in 2024-25. The first is called “Critical groups in abelian harmonic quotients” and is joint work with Maria Vetluzhskikh, who graduated from CMU in 2024 and is currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland. In this paper, we consider a graph with an action of an abelian group, and derive a formula for the number of its spanning trees in terms of the quotient graph. As an example, we give an elementary proof that the dodecahedral graph has 5184000 spanning trees. Maria and I are working to extend this result to non-abelian quotients. My second preprint is titled “The trigonal construction and the second moment of the tropical Prym variety”. I presented this preprint at the 2025 Summer Research Institute in Algebraic Geometry, at CSU Boulder, supported by an FRCE grant. In this preprint, I use ideas from tropical geometry to give a partial solution to the extension problem for the Prym—Torelli map, which is a major unsolved problem in algebraic geometry.
2024-2025 MATHEMATICS GRADUATES
PhD in Mathematics Sciences Summer 2024-2025 • Alzayyat, Ahmad • Karakus, Koksal
Master of Arts in Mathematics Spring 2024-2025 • Peters, Devon Summer 2024-2025 • Owen, Tyler
Mathematics Major, B.A.; B.S. Fall 2024-2025 • Black, Matthew • Miiller, Travis Spring 2024-2025 • Dolan-Baker, Emily • Gregory, Jonathan • Jastrzembski, Aiden • Porter, Logan • Schultz, John
Mathematics Major: Applied Mathematics Concentration, B.A.; B.S. Fall 2024-2025: • Wright, Mary Spring 2024-2025: • Hughey, Matthew • Leiby, Michael
Mathematics Major, B.S. in Ed., Standard Secondary Certificate Fall 2024-2025: • Hayes, Elijah • OKane, Lily • Salsbury, Jenna Spring 2024-2025: • Analitis, Alexis • Budd, Brandon • Budd, Bryan • Falkenhagen, Desiree • Sharp, Kenneth • Schindler, Jacqueline • Schreiber, Drake • Thompson, Maleia • Weatherwax, Jessica Summer 2024-2025: • Salgat, Gavin
Mathematics Minor Fall 2024-2025: • Bottles, Nathan • Fritsma, Joel • Leonard, Tobias • Nether, Jordan • Rofe, Thomas
Spring 2024-2025: • Abraham, Shreya • Atkinson, Eliza • Baker, Luke • Burton, Andrew • Cashman, Brianna • Cook, Zachary • Dodman, Nicholas • Duesbout, Katelyn • Edgerton, Kaylie • Erlenbeck, Ian • Glover, Seth • Hook, Owen • Kashyap, Darsh • Kazyak, Jacob • Kolb, Matthew • Lee, Breanna • Limarenko, Savannah • MacKenzie, Liam • Majeske-Neal, Chloe • Manarino, Madeline • McKenna, Joshua • Middleton, Austin • Noguera, Daniel • Nowicki, Ashley • Palasty, Merrick • Sanday, Kyle • Sherman, Joshua • Sikora, Dawid • Stasiuk, Luke • Timmons, Robert • Wiedyk, Jacob Summer 2024-2025: • Bloomfield, Simon • Groothuis, Hannah • Rauscher, Bennett • Thompson, Tyler
Mathematics Minor, B.S. in Ed., Standard Secondary Certificate Fall 2024-2025: • Kamminga, Hailey • Spring 2024-2025: • Dobson, Erynn
JORDAN WATTS I am a geometer studying diffeology, Sikorski spaces, and groupoids. My main motivation is to understand the structure of orbit spaces of Lie group actions. This is an exciting field with connections to many different areas of mathematics. I am also the department Graduate Coordinator. I enjoy working with graduate students and helping them to succeed in their programs. Outside of CMU, I am also active giving talks and being involved in the greater mathematical community. I have recently co-organized a workshop at the Fields Institute in Toronto, and an AMS Special Session that was supposed to be in Savannah, Georgia. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Helene, the AMS Sectional Meeting was canceled. However, we organizers ported the session online, which was a great success. My sabbatical last Spring was also productive: two projects were finished up and submitted for publication, while two more are now in the works and close to being done.
LISA DEMEYER During the spring 2025 semester, Dr. Lisa DeMeyer’s MTH 499 Capstone in Math class dove into the study of Math and Art. We analyzed a wide variety of visual art using algebra, analysis, and geometry The semester began with the study symmetry groups of border and wallpaper patterns, including tiling patters in architecture and the artwork of M. C. Escher. We learned about Portuguese tiling and the contemporary and urban installation art of Athos Bulcão during a guest presentation by Dr. Ana Dias. The mathematical analysis involved linear transformations of the plane, orientation, finite groups, and Euclidean geometry. We studied fractal art where symmetry of scale gave an opportunity to apply sequences and series skills from calculus and inspired us to learn some complex variable theory, including the Cauchy-Riemann equations and mappings of the complex plane.
THOMAS GILSDORF I was very honored to be awarded the CMU Student Choice Teaching Award in Spring, 2025. Of course, receiving such a reward motivates me to continue to look for ways to be a quality teacher in the department. Also, I recently co-authored a research paper on the topic of cultural mathematics. The title is “Textile pattern design and mathematical aspects of backtrap weaving by traditional Karen weavers in Northern Thailand.” The subject of the paper is about how some traditional weavers in northern Thailand use a phone app to generate symmetric patterns (called frieze patterns) and then weave those patterns on cloth. The co-authors are Thai professors Disaya Chudasri and Patison Palee.
XIAOMING ZHENG In Summer 2025, I worked with two talented students: Nader Alhomsi (a math graduate student) and Akram Moustafa (a computer science graduate student). The work is supported by an NSF grant. We worked on two things: one is a spectral method for Navier-Stokes equations, where we significantly improved a paper by Huang and Shen in 2023 SIAM Journal of Numerical Analysis. The purpose of this work is to develop a new numerical method to solve turbulence flows with high Reynolds numbers. Another one is an AI-method of partial differential equations, where we investigated several learning operators, such as DeepONet and neural operators. The so-called learning operator is like the math operator: it maps between functions, except that the learning operator is constructed from the AI process. That is, it is indeed a neural network with certain number of neurons whose parameter values are optimized with data from traditional numerical methods such as spectral methods. Thus, these two projects are tightly integrated. On July 14, 2025, we used our achievements to present in the Discover CMU Day events. In this event, high school students and their families visited CMU. We presented one AI technique to predict stock market price oscillations, which shows how well the neural network can fit existing data and predict future values. We also showed some fun mathematical questions, such as forming 4 equilateral triangles with 6 match sticks and what would happen if cutting a Mobius strip at one-third its width. About one dozen families attended our activities and they were fascinated by the power and beauty of math.
Congratulations to the following 2025 and 2024 Award Recipients Brannan Family Scholarship
• 2025 – Madison Babbitt, Isabella Tucker • 2024 – Katelyn Lyon, Rachel Swiderek
Nikoline A. Bye Endowed Scholarship • 2025 – Paige Baker • 2024 – Maleia Thompson
KATELYN LYON
Frank & Rita Jozefaciuk & Aunt Irene Rutkowski Endowed Scholarship • 2025 – Cassandra Verellen • 2024 – Nick Green, Sophia Tali
Jennie Master Endowed Scholarship in Mathematics Education • 2025 Sydnee Allen • 2024 Rachel Swiderek
William & Delores Miller Endowed Award • 2025 – Gerald Schneider • 2024 – Emily Dolan-Baker
CASANDRA VERELLEN
Arnold Hammel KME Endowed Award • Kaitlyn Brandon
EMILY DOLAN-BAKER
Narayan Mathematics Scholarship • 2025 - Rayen Aouadi • 2024 - Jonathan Gregory
Cleon C. Richtmeyer Mathematics Scholarship
• 2025 - Madison Babbitt, Paige Baker, Ruvarashe Musasiwa, Matthew Sonnenscshein, Daniel Thanasiu • 2024 - Kaitlyn Brandon, Emily Dolan-Baker, Julia Hoffman, Michael Leiby, Ruvarashe Musasiwa
RUVARASHE MUSASIWA
Lester H. and Jack D. Serier Endowed Memorial Scholarship • 2025 - Gerald Schneider • 2024 - Emily Dolan-Baker
Richard & Karen St. Andre Endowed Award JULIA HOFFMAN
• 2025 - Karlie Ketelaar • 2024 - Julia Hoffman
KARLIE KETELAAR
Edward, Bertha, & Stephen Whitmore Mathematics Scholarship
• 2025 - Lelaina Beauregard, Rachel Swiderek, Joscelyn Whelton • 2024 - Madison Babbitt, Lelaina Beauregard, Melaia Thompson
LELAINA BEAUREGARD
Richtmeyer-Foust Mathematics Award
JOSCELYN WHELTON
• Recipient: Jonathan Gregory • Finalists: Alexis Analitis, Kailyn Brandon, Emily Dolan-Baker, Matthew Hughey, Michael Leiby, Maleia Thompson
Three Minute Thesis Competition • Brooklynn Willett
Outstanding Tutoring Award
• Undergraduate: Lelaina Beauregard, Maleia Thompson • Graduate: Edgar Santos Vega, Tony Sheikhnavassi
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
BROOKLYNN WILLETT
• Isaac Cinzori, Riley Kench
EDGAR SANTOS VEGA
Michigan Autumn Take Home Challenge Exam
• Spencer Hodges, Taylor Peless, Matthew Stegeman, Daniel Thanasiu
AMS Graduate Student Chapter Integration Bee
• Undergraduate: Winner: Jonathan Gregory, Runner Up: Gehrig Sayers • Graduate: Winner: Riley Kench, Runner Up: Koksal Karakus
Putnam Mathematical Competition • 2025 - Daniel Thanasiu
2024-2025 President’s GEHRIG Award for SAYERS Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishments • 2025 - Jonathan Gregory
Dr. Chakrabarti and Jonathan Gregory
Celebrating the Remarkable Career of Dr. Sivaram K. Narayan Honoring Dr. Sivaram Narayan on His Retirement after 37 Years at CMU
Dr. Sivaram K. Narayan retired in May 2025, following 37 years of service at the university. Dr. Narayan completed his B.Sc. in Mathematics, with a minor in Statistics, at the University of Madras, India, in 1974, followed by an M.Sc. in Mathematics from the same university in 1976. He then participated in the Applied Mathematics Program at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India, from 1976 to 1978. Continuing his academic journey, he earned an M.S. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1981, and subsequently received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Purdue University, West Lafayette, in 1988. Over his career, his research areas have included operator theory and matrix analysis. He has published extensively, supervising twelve Ph.D. dissertations and mentoring many graduate and undergraduates in research—more than 140 students. He also directed programs funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), including REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) sites, facilitating research opportunities for students both within and outside CMU. Dr. Narayan’s work has been recognized for research, teaching, and service excellence. Among numerous awards, he is the first faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering to receive all three awards in Teaching, Research and Service, and he is a recipient of CMU President’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activities. One of the legacies of his influence is the Narayan Mathematics Scholarship at CMU, established in 2020, which supports mathematics majors who demonstrate strong academic performance and financial need.
Dr. Narayan is holding the academic family tree photo in the retirement party PhD students Year Al-Aqtash, Ansam 2014 Al-Rawashdeh, Waleed 2010 Dennis, Kevin 2000 Diaz Navarro, Pedro 2014 Egleston, Patricia 2001 Jansrang, Monsikarn 2018 Karthikeyan, PalRamani 2008 Matar, Nancy 2019 Sadir, Dawn 2003 Sarker, Animesh 2008 Sharawi, Yousra 2011 Soller, Katherine 2015
NEW PH.D. STUDENTS Sierra Nicols
Mohammad Al-Saqqa
mimic human intelligence.
Mohammad AlSaqqa is a PhD student and Graduate Assistant from Philadelphia University in Amman, Jordan. He is particularly interested in applied mathematics, specifically models that
CMU has been a catalyst for my intellectual and social growth since day one. I’m inspired by the students I teach as a TA and challenged by my professors and peers in my graduate classes. I can’t wait to join the world of applied math research when I join Dr. Zheng’s team as an RA next semester.
I moved to Michigan this summer to attend CMU’s PhD in Mathematics program. I’ve earned my bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education Mathematics from Ottawa University, my master’s degree in Education in Instructional Design and Technology from Purdue University Global , and my second master’s degree in Mathematics from Grand Canyon University. I’ve been teaching at the college level for about 4 years, but am interested in focusing on the mathematics involved in modeling in virology and epidemiology. I am excited to be welcomed into the CMU mathematics department and am so grateful to have the chance to study and learn here.
KAPPA MU EPSILON UNDERGRADUATE MATH CLUB
Who are we? We are the Beta Chapter of KME at Central Michigan University! We have meetings every other Friday from 12:00 - 1:00PM in Pearce 226. The KME meeting dates for Spring 2026 are January 16th, January 30th, February 13th, February 27th, March 13th, March 27th, April 10th, and April 24th. Anyone is welcome to join KME no matter their major/minor!
From Advisor Dr. Zakharov KME met several times during Fall 2024 for math game nights, a math movie night, and several talks. Dr. Jordan Watts gave a talk about diffeologies, which are his research subject. Bob Townsend gave a talk about slide rules and showed how to use them to perform many advanced calculations. Finally, we formally inducted two new KME members: Kaitlyn Brandon and Kimberly Wilson. Dr. Sivaram Narayan gave a talk at the induction ceremony. KME was on hiatus during Spring 2025, and started meeting again in Fall 2025.
Our Goals: To further the interests of mathematics in those schools which place their primary emphasis on undergraduate programs To help undergraduate students realize the important role that mathematics has played in the development of civilization To develop an appreciation of the power and beauty possessed by mathematics, due, mainly, to its demand for logical and rigorous modes of thought To provide a society for the recognition of outstanding achievement in the study of mathematics at the undergraduate level To disseminate the knowledge of mathematics and familiarize its members with the current progress in this important area of human interest
2025-26 Executive Board:
President: Nicholas Stanlis
Why Should You Join? Partake in game nights Learn more about mathematics by participating in unique lectures and other learning events Get volunteer hours Fascinating talks
Vice President: Kimberly Wilson
Treasurer Isabella Tucker
Advisor: Dmitry Zakharov
Who can join?
Questions?
Anyone can join regardless of major/minor, but we have requirements for members:
Email us at Stanl1nr@cmich.edu
Full Member Regularly enrolled student Completed three semesters of college classes (at least one at CMU) Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher Average of B or Higher in math classes Taken three college courses in mathematics Attended at least three meetings each semester Associate Member Regularly enrolled student Good academic standing Interested in mathematics
For More Information Give us a look at https://www.kappamuepsilon. org
Congratulations to the recipients of the Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematical Sciences Dr. Ahmad Alzayyat
Dr. Koksal Karakus
Dissertation: Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors through the lens of Models, Technology, APOS Theory, and Three Worlds of Mathematical Thinking.
Dissertation: Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Applications: (1) Dynamics of Glassy Thin Films (2) Blood Flow Under Normal and Abnormal Conditions
Advisor: Dr. Ana Dias
Advisor: Dr. Leela Rakesh
Dr. Ahmad Alzayyat is working at Northwood University at Midland, MI, as an Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Data Analytics.
Dr. Karakus is working in Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus (METU NCC for short) in Turkey as an Instructor Doctor.
“In my years at CMU, I had the pleasure of meeting wonderful graduate students and professors. During this time, I was able to share culture, background, and knowledge with others in an environment that was both diverse and welcoming. It was a rewarding place to spend a few years, full of lessons learned and experiences that shaped me personally and professionally.
“My years at CMU were full of learning and discovery. As a first-generation higher education student and someone who returned to Ph.D. studies after a career in teaching, the support I received from many people in the Department of Mathematics and the Office of Graduate Studies enabled the success of this journey.
The department offered a range of programs where students could grow through both research and teaching. Graduate students not only advanced their own studies but also gained valuable experience by teaching diverse mathematics classes and engaging in different committees’ work. Those opportunities helped in strengthen my teaching, connect with students, and appreciate the broader role of education in building community. Under Dr.Dias supervision, my doctoral work centered on collegiate mathematics education and focused on how students develop understanding of eigenvalues and eigenvectors within the context of principal component analysis (PCA) and using programming and visualization tools like RStudio and GeoGebra. By drawing on frameworks such as APOS , the three worlds of mathematics, and models, I was able to design instructional approaches tailored to data analytics major that connect theory with practice. I plan to present at conferences and contribute to published research. Building on the preparation from my coursework of my MS, and PhD at CMU, I also intend to expand my research into machine learning. Looking back, I’m grateful for the friendships and opportunities I found at CMU. I hope to continue combining research, teaching, and collaboration to make a lasting impact.”
During my doctoral studies, I completed three research papers, two of which have already been published. My published work focuses on the phenomenon of glass transition and includes Modeling the structure and relaxation in glycerol-silica nanocomposites, which appeared in Soft Matter and was featured on the cover, and Modeling the glass-liquid transition in thin films: A theoretical approach using the modified Allen–Cahn model, published in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. In my third project, Cardiac blood flow under normal and abnormal conditions, I explore how mathematics can help us better understand the heart’s complex fluid motion. I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Leela Rakesh, and to my collaborators, Dr. V. V. Ginzburg and Dr. K. Promislow from Michigan State University, for their guidance and encouragement throughout this journey. I am especially thankful to CMU for making this interdisciplinary and intercollegiate collaboration possible. I look forward to carrying all the lessons I have learned at CMU with me as I continue my research and career.”
CMU’s Dmitry Zakharov Awarded Prestigious Simons Travel Grant The Department of Mathematics at Central Michigan University is delighted to announce that Dr. Dmitry Zakharov has been awarded a prestigious Simons Foundation Travel Grant for this year, an honor that recognizes outstanding researchers in mathematics by supporting their research and travel. This highly competitive award provides $42,000 in support over five years. The funding will enable Dr. Zakharov to participate in conferences, visit collaborators, and broaden the reach of his work in Algebraic and Tropical Geometry. Such opportunities are essential for advancing research, building collaborations, and elevating CMU’s visibility in the national and international mathematical community. The department extends its warmest congratulations to Dr. Zakharov on this major achievement. His receipt of the Simons Travel Grant underscores both the strength of his research contributions and the growing excellence of mathematical scholarship at CMU.
“Expedite” Accelerated Master of Arts in Mathematics (E-AMAM) Welcome to the most crazy and unraveled program in human history: Expedite Accelerated Master of Arts in Math (E-AMAM) at CMU. A typical scene of this program is shown in this photo: five professors giving lectures and office hours to one single student at the same time in the same room, covering topics such as group theory, real analysis, complex analysis, optimization theory, and more. A student can finish this program in 15 minutes! Of course, this is a joke, and the word “Expedite” is just for fun. The student in the photo is Katelyn VanHaitsma, who will soon complete her MA in Mathematics. The picture was staged to commemorate the wonderful experiences shared in the true program: Accelerated Admissions to the Master of Arts in Mathematics. Here is the official description: advanced undergraduate students majoring in mathematics may want to consider an option by which they can obtain their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and their Master of Arts in Mathematics in five years. The accelerated program requirements are identical to the Major in Mathematics and to the Master of Arts in Mathematics, but allow the student to apply 15 credit hours of graduate coursework toward both the Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Science and the Master of Arts degrees. More details can be found in the University Bulletin. But, if anyone really wants to experience “E-AMAM”, the most crazy and unraveled program in human history, please contact Dr. Jordan Watts, our graduate coordinator.
LEELA RAKESH My student Dr. Köksal Karakuş defended his PhD in July 2025 on nonlinear PDEs for glassy thin films and blood flow, published two papers (including a journal cover), has another under review, presented at multiple national meetings, and accepted a faculty position at Middle East Technical University (Northern Cyprus). PhD candidate Zach Henderson is completing several manuscripts, and has been appointed Teaching Assistant Professor at Concordia University, St. Paul. Statistics & Data Science PhD student S. Ganta also presented at the 2025 ACS Meeting, reflecting strong interdisciplinary collaboration. This year included a co-authored Advanced Healthcare Materials article on multifunctional biocompatible polymers, integrating rheology, molecular dynamics, and experimental work at UPenn. I delivered a plenary lecture at the 2025 NATAS Conference on the hidden roles of rheology and thermal effects, and our U.S. Army research team presented high-temperature fuel cell modeling at the 2025 U.S. Army Annual Conference. Undergraduates Nguyen, Wilcox, and Finch won the NATAS 2025 poster competition for their project on silver-enhanced aloe gel and completed two additional studies on skincare and ultrasound gels. Students Alim and Ganta presented polymer-dynamics simulations for clean energy at the ACS Meeting, while another team presented proton-exchange membrane research in collaboration with Physics and Chemistry. As Co-PI on the U.S. Army GVSC Grant, I continue to support interdisciplinary student and faculty teams across Chemistry, Physics, Statistics & Data Science, and Engineering, advancing modeling, simulation, and application-driven research with real-world impact.
Congratulations to the recipients of the Master of Arts degrees Fall 2025
Spring 2024-2025
Summer 2024-2025
Isaac Cinzori
Devon Peters
Owen, Tyler (Plan B)
Thesis: The structure of the internal tangent space to a point of the orbit space of a manifold under a proper Lie group action.
Thesis: On the number of graphs on n labeled vertices with a k-clique
Brooklynn Willett (Plan B)
Advisor: Dr. Jordan Watts
Advisor: Dr. Yeonhyang Kim
New graduate certificate prepares educators to teach college-level mathematics Teaching mathematics at the college level takes more than knowing the material; it takes understanding how students learn. That’s the idea behind Central Michigan University’s new Graduate Certificate in Teaching Collegiate Mathematics, launching in Fall 2026. The 9-credit program is designed for anyone who teaches, or wants to teach, mathematics to college students or adult learners. That includes current instructors at community colleges, tribal colleges, or universities, as well as high school teachers interested in exploring the teaching and learning of advanced mathematics. “This new 9-credit graduate certificate is a unique opportunity for current mathematics instructors to learn research-based knowledge on the teaching and learning of advanced mathematics,” said Katrina Piatek-Jimenez, mathematics education faculty member. Instead of requiring years of study like a Ph.D. in mathematics education, the certificate offers a focused and flexible way to build teaching expertise. Students will dive into the latest research on mathematics education, explore active learning strategies like group problem-solving and discussion-based instruction, and learn how to use technology to engage students in new ways. The program was created in response to growing interest in improving how mathematics is taught at the college level. “Not everybody has the time or interest to pursue a Ph.D.,” said the program’s faculty team. “This certificate offers practical tools that can help instructors become even more effective in the classroom.” Students will work closely with CMU’s mathematics education faculty and may find new opportunities for collaboration down the road. Depending on their current role, graduates may earn continuing education credits, qualify for pay increases, or open doors to new teaching positions. “The mathematics education faculty within the department are dedicated to improving the teaching of collegiate mathematics,” said the department. “This certificate helps bring more educators into that mission.” Faculty member Christine Phelps-Gregory, who will teach MTH 762 in Spring 2027, added, “I’m excited to work with a new group of students who want to learn about and improve the teaching of collegiate mathematics.” The first cohort begins Fall 2026. Those interested should contact Graduate Coordinator Jordan Watts at mthgrad@cmich.edu.
@CmichSE
ART BY KATELYN My name is Katelyn VanHaitsma and I am a graduate student in mathematics. I have been a film photography hobbyist for around 20 years. As a diversion from the challenges of my studies working through the Accelerated Master’s program here at CMU, I took Alternative Photographic Processes in the Art department. Given my history with film and chemical-based photographic processes, my professor presented me with the opportunity to learn the unpredictable art form called blue Van-Dyke. This is a layering of chemicals and UV light exposure on watercolor paper with digitally altered and printed negatives that generates an image. For this photo, I took the photo of myself using a film camera and a mirror with a cable release for the shutter. I then spent hours in the dark room making the print through trial and error, as the process itself has no uniformity. The chemicals that make the blue part of the image are first overexposed and stabilized. Then the chemicals for the brown sections are painted on top, and the negative must be placed over the same image and exposed again. A final chemical treatment stabilizes the image permanently. What makes this such an inconsistent art form is that the two tones of chemistry cancel each other out – that is, the brown bleaches and replaces the blue. It takes practice to know which parts of each unique photo will take the shades better and which ones are most likely to fade, distort, and replace. Even with multiple semesters of independent study under that professor, I still have surprises. The same negative can generate remarkably dissimilar images depending on chemical dilutions, time of UV exposure, evenness of chemical coating on the papers, or even weather conditions. This photo was one of a series of blue VanDyke self portraits I made, and it was strongly recommended by my instructor to enter them into the Student Juried Art Show. I entered this one, which was accepted for exhibition and displayed in the University Art Gallery March 2025.
ROBERT CHAFFER
Professor Emeritus I have remained close to the Math Department since my (1st) retirement in 2005. A major share of this connection has been through my creative-art activities and is visible in a few of my art works displayed on walls in the Department. Upon retirement I used some of my newly-gained time to explore a couple of computer languages that were well constructed for creating visual images and in investigating image-manipulation software. I soon found myself taking input images and manipulating them to obtain outputs that were quite different than the inputs. Often, I renamed the results to describe what the new version seemed to suggest. I began thinking of this as “Stem-cell art,” where the input image was a sort of stem-cell from which one or more useful output images were grown. By 2011, I had results interesting enough to display at the Joint Math Meetings Mathematical Art Exhibit at New Orleans and have works displayed in a show at the CMU Art Gallery. My experiments have employed my background in mathematics in a wide variety of topics such as Fractal sets and fractal coloring, space-filling curves, the fourbugs problem, Truchet and Wang tile sets, Tessellations and retiling, semigroups of transformations, the Chaos Game, and dozens more. In the last several years I have focused primarily on a process I call “Retiling.” This takes input from a selected canvas and retiles the canvas with tiles cut from the input so as to foster symmetries and repetition in a continuous flow across that canvas. Those wishing to see examples of more recent output can find slideshows of these by searching for “Bob Chaffer” on YouTube.