Department news

Learn about research, awards, grants, student activities and more happening in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

A portrait of Ilya Zaliapin smiling outside of the Davidson Mathematics and Science Center.
Remembering Dr. Ilya Zaliapin

Dr. Ilya Zaliapin, a professor of mathematics, passed away on May 2, 2023

Dennis Garcia
Faces of the Pack: Dennis Garcia

NevadaTeach student turns obstacles into opportunities

A false-color satellite image shows a fractal-like coastal landmass with a river emptying into the ocean. The land is shown in red and the water is shown in blue.
How trees help a statistics professor understand rivers and earthquakes

McMinn Professor Ilya Zaliapin uses statistical methods for hierarchies to understand natural phenomena

A woman and a man stand smiling in bright sunlight.
Professors Emeriti Jerry and Jeanne Johnson give back to support students of science

A generous donation will support a legacy of mathematicians and scientists

Green, computer-generated fractal art on a purple background, with a signature on the bottom.
Math as art

Many mathematicians in the College of Science work in pure mathematics, but the field often blurs the lines between math and art.

Two side-by-side images. The left image is of a man standing with a woman and a young girl, the right image is of a man and woman sitting on a fake pumpkin.
Philanthropy under 30

Two young alums give back to the University.

Diana Moss smiles, wearing a blue top.
Paving the Wolf Pack Way: Diana Moss

Paving the Wolf Pack Way is a series of stories showcasing Wolf Pack Way alumni from the College of Science.

Three portraits of podcast participants and the Discover Science podcast identifier.
Discover Science podcast: Ken Ono and "The Man Who Knew Infinity"

Renowned number theorist Dr. Ken Ono shares his deep connection to the life and work of Srinivasa Ramanujan in the latest episode of the Discover Science podcast.

A screengrab from the movie shows the actors playing Hardy (left) and Ramanujan (right) as they walk at Trinity College.
Why does "The Man Who Knew Infinity" matter?

Mathematician Ken Ono will present his Discover Science lecture answering this question on March 10, following a screening of the movie “The Man Who Knew Infinity.”

Kyra Morgan sits at a table with a microphone in front of her.
Paving the Wolf Pack Way: Kyra Morgan '10 and '16

Paving the Wolf Pack Way is a series of stories showcasing Wolf Pack Way alumni from the College of Science.

Aerial photo of the Gayepare research Station in the Amazon jungle on the banks of the Nushino River.
Indigenous Knowledge could inform sustainability efforts in the Amazon

From wind turbines to a pepper plant: a multi-disciplinary team of University and Indigenous Amazonian researchers work to untangle a complex web of interactions

Portrait of Yinghan Chen
Psychometrics and statistical computing research funded by NSF

Assistant Professor Yinghan Chen's research will advance statistical methods for estimation in the design of educational assessment, psychiatric diagnosis techniques

President Joe Biden greets Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health during a visit at the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health on Thursday, February 11, 2021 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Discover Science Lecture Series kicks off

The College of Science welcomes an astronaut, leading COVID-19 vaccine developer and more for its 2021/2022 season

Portrait of Jonathan Beardsley.
Jonathan Beardsley Awarded Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant

Photo of Jing-Jing Huang at Lake Tahoe.
Jing-Jing Huang Awarded Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant

Photo of Blaize Abuntori with his arms crossed, standing in front of a brick wall posing for a photo.
Blaize Abuntori acts on a simple idea, makes a big impact

Statistics and data science master's student receives the Cavanaugh Community Volunteer Award for launching the Reno Burrito Project

Portrait of Anna Panorska
Anna Panorska takes a holistic approach to graduate advising

Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Anna Panorska has received the University’s Graduate Academic Advisor Award

Kyra Morgan and Paul Hurtado stand on the quad wearing masks.
Taking on COVID-19 with math and stats

Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Paul Hurtado and Nevada State Biostatistician and College of Science alumna Kyra Morgan talk COVID-19 and how they’re using numbers to make sense of it all.

Professor Geoff Blewitt sits alongside a GPS station on a mountain that overlooks the valley of Reno and Sparks, Nev.
Using worldwide GPS data to study changes in Earth’s crust, from the Ice Age to today

The University’s 2020 Outstanding Researcher award recognizes the amazing discoveries, scientific contributions and career of Geoff Blewitt

Image of a glass door with "Department of Mathematics and Statistics" etched on it.
At the Putnam Mathematical Competition and Intermountain Math Competition, the University's team showed up strong

Between the two competitions, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics brought home numerous prizes and accolades.

Portrait of Zachary Brounstein
Young alum Zachary Brounstein is moving forward and giving back

Brounstein, Class of 2016, endowed the Zachary R. Brounstein Scholarship fund.

Mathematics & Statistics Department Chair Tin-Yau “T.Y.” Tam stands in the department’s hallway.
Building it bigger

Department Chair Tin-Yau Tam on his growing Mathematics & Statistics Department

Panelli infront of a whiteboard with equations written on it
Faces of the Pack: Undergraduate student wins Goldwater Scholarship for work on dark matter detection

Guglielmo Panelli continues research with hopes of furthering his knowledge in grad school

Four high school students with hand-held tools in a makerspace
New Robotics Academy of Nevada to offer K-12 teacher trainings

University joins with DRI and UNLV to announce new Tesla-supported programs to advance STEM interest and education

BUtterfly on plant
The Promise of Chemical Ecology

The Hitchcock Center for Chemical Ecology welcomes Dr. Paul Cox at December 2018 Launch Symposium

Mihye Ahn
Decoding the mind

Mathematics & Statistics Assistant Professor Mihye Ahn on her research and rise in academia

A group of students working on computers.
College of Engineering announces big data minor

The interdisciplinary minor has valuable skills that local businesses need

Researcher in jungle
The Hitchcock Center for Chemical Ecology opens, supports collaboration across disciplines

The Hitchcock Center will formalize and enhance the highly successful interdisciplinary and international collaborations in the fields of chemical ecology and natural products chemistry.

Students study with each other.
University adds 13 new academic programs

New programs range from a minor in graphic design to a B.S. in biotechnology

Professor holds a large-scale model of a molecule.
Innovation and commercialization: Chemistry research by Tom Bell has global impact

2018 Foundation Established Innovator Awardee is working with compounds that have the potential to save lives and improve health

S. James Gates, Jr.
College of Science talks with S. James Gates, Jr.

S. James Gates, Jr. talks about his career, the physics question that has become his "white whale," and what fulfills him most in life.

Students walking outside Mackay Science in the fall leaves
19 new programs join University academics

New programs include a doctorate in mathematics, a major in dance, a minor in Middle Eastern studies and more

Davidson Math and Science Center at University of Nevada, Reno
College of Science talks Diversity, Space, Superstrings, HIV

Discover Science Lecture Series begins its seventh year at Nevada

Photographer in wet suit takes photos under water in Lake Tahoe
InNEVenture Fund enters second year of ramping up ideas and technologies for commercialization

Early-stage proof-of-concept funding applications now open for Nevada Research and Innovation Corporation program

Collage includes artist's rendering of the Switch facility located east of Reno, known as The Citadel Campus, plus a laboratory work space and computer circuit board.
Major, new high-performance computing cluster to advance research and industry

Technology leader Switch provides critical data-ecosystem infrastructure to power Pronghorn, the University's new cluster, and the regional economy

Researchers_Alexis_and_Kelley_present
Ambitious, University-led effort explores mobility technologies

Coalition of partners launches Intelligent Mobility to develop and test solutions for safe, clean and efficient transportation in Reno-Sparks-Carson ‘Living Lab’

young woman teaching a dance
The University offers new undergraduate and graduate level programs

Among others, the University will offer a bachelor’s degree in dance, thanks to popular demand

2016 Douglas High Signing Day
Nevada Scholars Signing Days celebrate 8 years

The University includes 50 National Merit Scholarship Finalists and 300 Presidential Scholars - and growing

Pennington Student Achievement Center Math Center
A new place to call home: the William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center

The building, which opened in mid-February, offers students and faculty a new venue for collaboration, study and positive student experiences

Raul Rojas Autonomous Drive in Mexico
Autonomous car finishes record-setting trip in Mexico

University of Nevada, Reno math professor, researcher successfully rides from Nogales to Mexico City

Steven DelaCruz and Vaidyanathan (Ravi) Subramanian
Steven DelaCruz named University’s 2015 Herz Gold Medalist

Canyon Springs High School graduate caps academic career as top-achieving student

Raul Rojas
Robotics and intelligent systems math professor Raul Rojas joins College of Science

Sets his sights on cross-discipline and industry collaborations

University leads multi-institution team to improve public safety communications

National Science Foundation supports University networking event

Students engage with professionals for Statfest 2014

Mathematics comes to life in a musically entertaining evening of education

Award-winning professor David Kung featured in Discover Science Lecture Series.

Statisticians play “Moneyball” to accurately predict how weather impacts baseball

University of Nevada, Reno student and faculty member find temperature directly impacts Major League Baseball teams and how they perform at home, on the road and in different stadiums

Young students play at computer programming and 3D design in NCLab summer camp

Professor makes learning mathematics and logic fun for elementary, middle and high school students

summer of statistics
Award-winning summer statistics institute prepares students for graduate studies

New Math Department Chair Javier Rojo brings program to University

University’s College of Science debuts first art exhibit

Half of Nevada’s counties represented in 85 scenic photos available to public

University alumna receives prestigious mathematics research fellowship

Deanna Needell will continue her studies on signal and image processing and compression

Javier Rojo joins College of Science as new Mathematics and Statistics Department chair

Distinguished scholar comes from Rice University in Houston, Texas

Fifteen-student math team places second at Intermountain Math Competition

Team member Chris Salls places fifth overall in competition at BYU

Physics professor visits University to discuss education transformation

Noah Finkelstein will give lecture on improving student engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes

Steven Strogatz, mathematician, radio show host, author to lecture April 4

Public invited to free lecture in Discover Science Lecture Series

University of Nevada, Reno team places second at regional math competition

Math team gets competitive and shows a strong performance in the toughest Intermountain Math Competition yet

Math students succeed during Putnam Competition

Broadening the Family Tree

River network study links mathematics, statistics and science

Graduate students shine at regional software conference

Professor to present at international workshop

Researcher receives DOE grant for nuclear energy research

Girls math and technology program receives grant

Math students make grade in prestigious Putnam exam

Pfounder of Pfaffology

Gender gap still a problem in math, professor says

Bringing leaders in mathematics and statistics to our campus

World-class Mathematical research and cutting-edge topics are presented in our Department in our colloquia and seminars.