Outreach
In addition to educating and research, our department also engages in outreach activities.
In 2023, UTD’s team rank for the 84th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition was 43 out of 471 institutions. UTD’s team ranked first among institutions in the Texas MAA Section, followed by Rice and Texas A&M. Evan Bailey, Suraj Mathashery, and Weston Miller competed for UTD. Both Suraj and Evan were ranked in the top 500 participants.
In 2022, UTD’s team rank for the 83rd William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition was 32 out of 456 institutions. Evan Bailey, Suraj Mathashery, and Weston Miller competed for UTD. Evan was ranked in the top 200 participants, and both Suraj and Weston were ranked in the top 500.
In March 2018, Dr. Nathan Williams was interviewed on WFAA about the chance of getting your NCAA Basketball Brackets perfectly correct.
The Department of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) participated in Welcome Week, organized by the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, during the first week of classes in August 2015.
For the first time, the Department of Mathematical Sciences organized a celebration of Pi Day on 3/14/16, along with similar events all over the world. The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Computer Science. More than 130 people, including UTD faculty and students together with students from nearby schools and their parents, participated in the event. The coordinator of the event was Dr. Yifei Lou.
On January 28th 2017, the department hosted Mathematics in the Galaxy … and Beyond to increase the interest of underrepresented high school students, especially female, in mathematics.
Since Fall 2015, the Department of Mathematical Sciences has posed a challenging Problem of the Week to undergraduate students. So far 14 problems have been posted, and 5-7 solutions have been submitted for each problem. Approximately 20 students have participated in this activity, which is coordinated by Dr. Maxim Arnold.
Putnam Competition
In 2016, the UTD team consisting of three students (Brendan Caseria, Artem Bolshakov and Zachary Hancock) ranked 30th out of 568 teams from colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. We also had individual competitors with very high rankings: Brendan Caseria Otto Osterman were ranked in the top 500 competitors.
In 2015, the UTD team consisting of three students (Artem Bolshakov, Brendan Caseria and Andrew Merrill) ranked 18th out of 554 teams from colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. We also had individual competitors with very high rankings out of the 4275 participating students: Georgiy Klimenko was in ranked in the top 200 competitors, and Artem Bolshakov and Brendan Caseria were ranked in the top 500 competitors. This was the best performance ever for UTD.
Texas Calculus Bowl
On March 30th 2017, the UTD Math team ws ranked 2nd out of 28 teams at the “Calculus bowl contest” during the 97th annual meeting of the Texas section of the MAA. The team members were Brendan Caseria, Russel Hart, Bereon Burns-Zimmerman, Vaughn Osterman, and Artem Bolshakov, with Dr. Maxim Arnold as the coach.
On March 31, 2016, a DMS UTD team consisting of five students Artem Bolshakov, Brendan Caseria, Asim Gazi, Iakov Rachinskiy and Caleb Spence, and with Dr. Maxim Arnold as the coach, participated for the first time in Calculus Bowl contest organized by Mathematical Association of America at S. F. Austin University. This year 32 teams participated, and the UTD team won first place.
Each spring, the department hosts the annual MATHCOUNTS competition which brings several hundred middle school students from the community to UTD.
Two DMS faculty visited Plano West Senior High School in May 2016 to talk to graduating students about the importance of mathematics and statistics and STEM careers. We have been invited to visit again in Fall 2016.
Pioneer Natural Resources Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates: DMS recruited 3 students for this program in each of Summer 2015 and 2016.
The UT Dallas Math Club plays a large role in the vigorous participation of our undergraduates in various mathematical contests and activities. Faculty mentor Dr. Paul Stanford coordinates its weekly meetings.
A Summer School on Nonsmooth Dynamical Systems was held by DMS from August 4-6, 2015 for undergraduate and graduate students from Texas and neighboring states.
Three undergraduate students and three faculty members from DMS participated in the 11th Annual Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at UT Tyler from October 9-10, 2015 to promote the EDT program and other departmental activities.
On June 8th 2016, the Department participated in a UTD Research Experience summer camp for school children