Statistics graduate, Aili Toyli, was featured in an article in the Unscripted Research blog. The article discusses Aili’s research into cardiovasular disease, which was recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. This is her third publication to date. Congratulations on all your hard work, Aili!
The Department of Mathematical Sciences hosted A Workshop on Applied and Numerical Mathematics, sponsored by generous gifts from Igor Kliakhandler and the Applied Mathematics Department at University of Colorado Boulder. The workshop was held June 8 – 10, 2026 in the U.J. Noblet Forestry Building. Held to celebrate the 80th birthday of renown mathematician, Bengt Fornberg, the workshop brought together leading international experts from across the field of numerical analysis, with a central focus on high-order methods for solving partial differential equations. The workshop was structured with a strong educational emphasis, particularly aimed at graduate students and early-career researchers across STEM disciplines. The mornings were devoted to lectures on modern high-accuracy numerical techniques, while the afternoons featured research talks covering a broad range of topics, including, but not limited to, recent advances in the discretization of differential and integral operators, as well as methods based on rational functions, radial basis functions (RBFs), and finite difference approaches.
Check out this week’s College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog. Aili Toyli, who is completing her Undergraduate degree in Statistics, was featured in this week’s article.
Congratulations, Aili!
Dr. Robert Schneider is featured in the most recent edition of the Michigan Tech Magazine. The article, published earlier this month, highlights Dr. Schneider’s background, how he came to teach at Michigan Tech, and some of his research. Make sure to check out the article!
Michigan Tech’s College of Sciences and Arts welcomes Rodica Curtu as the new chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, effective July 1. Curtu comes to Michigan Tech from the University of Iowa, where she recently brought the math graduate program into the Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences and served as faculty senate president.
“As the new chair of mathematical sciences, Professor Curtu leads a department with a strong record of accomplishments in research and teaching,” said LaReesa Wolfenbarger, dean of the College of Sciences and Arts. “I look forward to working with Rodica as she leverages her skills and experience with interdisciplinary and multi-institution research collaborations to lead the department to even greater accomplishments as MTU moves forward as an R1 institution.”
Curtu’s expertise is in mathematical biology and computational neuroscience. She earned her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003 and worked during her informal postdoctoral studies as a visitor exchange scientist with researchers from the Center for Neural Science at New York University.
She said she looks forward to stepping into a leadership role where she can guide the math department toward further growth by developing online courses and expanding existing master’s degree and PhD programs.
Curtu said she’s passionate about student-focused teaching, championing the approach at the University of Iowa, where it was well received by students. Having worked on teams with neuroscientists, biologists, and engineers to apply math to real-world problems, she was drawn to Michigan Tech’s interdisciplinary research opportunities.
“I love working on interdisciplinary teams,” said Curtu. “In order to solve complicated problems we need to talk more with each other and share perspectives from different fields. Michigan Tech is a great place to come for that collaboration.”
“Mathematics is everywhere!” Rodica Curtu, Chair, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Tech College of Sciences and Arts
As chair, Curtu plans to work with the department, dean’s office, and across the University to facilitate dialogue and help align goals. She describes her approach to leadership as “working at the speed of trust” with the intention to start by listening. Her goals include growing the department’s graduate programs and embracing Michigan Tech’s R1 classification. She looks to support students through more diverse training opportunities, interview preparation, and guidance in pursuing industry and government jobs and internships. Curtu will also encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematical sciences and other departments on campus.
The Math Department’s own Tim Wagner, Assistant Teaching Professor, was awarded Michigan Technological University’s 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award. Read the full article for more information. Congratulations, Tim!
The Math Department’s own Teresa Woods, Associate Teaching Professor, was awarded Michigan Technological University’s 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award. Read the full article for more information. Congratulations, Teresa!