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About the Department

The Mathematics and Statistics department at Wichita State University is known for its teaching, research, and outreach.

The department offers both graduate and undergraduate degrees. Our graduate degree programs include a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, a Master's Degree in Mathematics, a Master's Degree in Data Science, and a Certificate in Data Science. We also offer BA and BS programs in Mathematics; a student pursuing a BS degree in Mathematics may additionally add a concentration in Computer Science, Data Science, or Statistics.

We offer many activities for undergraduate students at Wichita State including Math Club, Pi Mu Epsilon, the Mathematics competition team, and the Problem of the Month.

Known internationally for its research in Theoretical Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics, our department organizes regular seminars and colloquia to discuss and promote our research. We also work on real-world problems with partners in industry.

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics is committed to serving our community through public outreach. We promote Mathematics through programs such as: the Math Circle, an annual Sonia Kovalevsky Day for K-12 students, a Directed Reading Program, a Math for Everyone Lecture Series, and the AMC 10 contest.

 

 

 
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Upcoming Events

Math For Everyone Lecture Series

Title: How Mathematics is making Hollywood movies better

đź•’3pm-4pm, Friday, November 14, 2025

📍Jabara Hall 127, Wichita State University

AbstractWhat’s your favorite movie? Star Wars? Avatar? The Avengers? Frozen? What do these and all the highest-earning Hollywood movies since 2000 have in common? Mathematics! You probably didn’t think about it while watching these movies, but math was used to help make them. In this presentation, we will discuss how math is being used to create better and more realistic movies. Along the way, we will discuss some specific movies and the mathematics behind them. We will include examples from Disney’s 2013 movie Frozen (how to use math to create realistic-looking snow) to Pixar’s 2004 movie The Incredibles (how to use math to make an animated character move faster). Come and join us and get a better appreciation of mathematics and films.

 
 
                                                 Undergraduate Study Inquiries Undergraduate Coordinator  How to Apply

Graduate Programs

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Department Headlines  

Latest

  • Dr. Catherine Searle has been selected by Fairmont College of Arts and Sciences to participate in the Scholars' Walk in the fall of 2026, representing the fields of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
  • Farida Ghazawneh was awarded the 2025 Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award.
  • Dr. Chris Green has received a 2-year LEAPS grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2532158) totaling $247,390 for his project "The computation of special functions in potential theory in multiply connected domains". This grant will support summer research, PhD and master's students, and travel (2025-2027).
  • Dr. Catherine Searle has received a 3-year standard grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2506633) totaling $200,000 for her project "Curvature, Symmetry, and Topology". This grant will support summer research, PhD and master's students, and travel (2025-2028). 
  • Dr. Robert Fraser has received a 3-year standard grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2453364) totaling $210,000 for his project "Algebraic Number Fields in Fourier Analysis and Fractal Geometry". This grant will support summer research, PhD and master's students, and travel (2025-2028). 
  • Dr. Mai Dao has been granted a Summer Undergraduate and Graduate Research Assistantships Grant (SUGRA) in the amount of $4,000.00 for the project "Robust classical and Bayesian estimation of the two-parameter exponential distribution." (6/1/2025 – 8/31/2025)
  • Dr. Mai Dao received an award from State of Kansas in the amount of $4,500 for the project "Assessing Prior Choices in Bayesian Parametric Failure Data Analysis." (7/1/2025 – 6/15/2026).
  • Dr. Mai Dao received an award in the amount of $6,500 for their FARE Mutal Mentoring Grant proposal "Enhancing Community Resilience Through AI-Driven Power Line Inspection," in partnership with faculty from Electrical & Computer Engineering (Arun-Kaarthick Manoharan), and the School of Computing (Lokesh Das and Fujian Yan). 
  • Dr. Yeil Kwon and Dr. Mai Dao received an award in the amount of $4,100 for their FARE Mutal Mentoring Grant proposal "From Data to Discovery: A Mutual Mentoring Model Advancing Statistical Methods for Nursing Research and Education," in partnership with faculty from the School of Nursing (Maggie Ward and Terri Shill).
  • Dr. Yeil Kwon has been granted an Award for Research/Creative projects in Summer (ARCS) in the amount of $3,000 for May 1, 2025 - August 31, 2025, for his project "An Empirical Bayes Estimator for the Probability of Infrequent Events under the Restricted Parameter Space."
  • John Hammond won the 2025 President's Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations!
  • Mark Meyer has been awarded an NSF Mathematical Science Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (MSPRF) to study convex geometry with Matthieu Fradelizi at Gustav Eiffel University. Congratulations!
  • 2024
    • Dr. Xiaolong Li has received the 2024 - 2025 Excellence in Research Award. Congratulations!
    • Dr. Yueh-Ju Lin has received a 2-year LEAPS grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2418740) totaling $239,598 for her project "Higher order partial differential equations in conformal and Riemannian geometry". This grant will support summer research, PhD and master's students, and travel (2024-2026).
    • Dr. Xiaolong Li has received a 3-year Standard Grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2405257) totaling $219,854 for his project "Sectional Curvature, Isotropic Curvature, and Curvature Operators". This grant will support summer research, PhD students, and travel (2024-2027).
    • Sarah Ghazawneh awarded the 2024 Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award.
    • The WSU Math Competition Team placed 4th in 2024.
    • Dr. Yuan Liu has been granted a University Research/Creative Projects Award (URCA) in the amount of $4500 for July 1, 2024 - June 15 2025, for her project, "Inferring biological dynamics by machine learning algorithms".
    • Dr. Mai Dao and Dr. Holger Meyer received funding from PetroPower for the project titled "IMU Data Compression and Anomaly Detection". The award carries $22,565 (11/01/2023-06/30/2024) and enables them to provide advice and support to two PhD students working on the project.
    • Dr. Mai Dao (jointly with Dr. Fujian Yan of School of Computing) has received a faculty MURPA award for their project, "Bayesian neural networks for human-robot collaboration". The award is for $7500 (May 1 - August 31, 2024).
    • Dr. Robert Fraser (jointly with Dr. Mythili Menon of English and Linguistics) has received a faculty MURPA award for their project, "A resource for English language learners in first-year mathematics courses". The award is for $7500 (May 1 - August 31, 2024).
    • Dr. Catherine Searle has been awarded a Research Professorship for Fall 2024 at SLMath. She will be participating in the semester-long program New Frontiers in Curvature, which she is co-organizing with Ailana Fraser, Lan-Hsuan Huang, Richard Schoen, Lu Wang, and Guofang Wei. The award is for a total of $23,560.
  • 2023
    • Dr. Xiaolong Li has received a 2-year LEAPS grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Mathematical Sciences (#2316659) totaling $250,000 for his project "Geometrization with Positive Curvature". This grant will support summer research, PhD students, and travel (2023-2025).

    • Dr. Yuan Liu has received a research fellowship from ICERM. This research fellowship, totaling $24,000, will enable her to participate in a semester-long research program at Brown University in Spring 2024 titled "Numerical Partial Differential Equations: Analysis, Algorithms and Data Challenges."

    • The 2023 Wichita State Collegiate Mathematics Competition team placed third in this year's competition at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. The team consisted of Kubeshavarsha Kalithasan, Kevin Nguyen, and Evan Wing.
    • Dr. Mai Dao has received the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program (KNEP) award for her Partnership Development Grant (PDG) entitled “Bayesian Calibration for Model-Based Uncertainty Quantification and Reduction in Additive Manufacturing” for May 1. 2023 to April 30, 2024. The award fund ($22,029, with $2,757 from the math department matching fund) will allow her to work with two undergraduates and travel to the NSAS Glenn Research Center with students.

    • John Hammond has received the 2023 Academy of Effective Teaching Award.

    • Dr. Mai Dao has been granted an Award for Research/Creative projects in Summer (ARCS) in the amount of $3,986.00 for May 1, 2023 - August 31, 2023, for her project "Bayesian Quantile Regresion with Unit-Bounded Responses." 
  • Archived Headlines

Contact Us

1845 Fairmount St. Box 33
Wichita , Kansas 67260-0033

math-stat@wichita.edu

Hours: M-F 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Jabara Hall, Room 355

Become More Curious - Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences