By the Numb3rs - Fall 2022

Letter from the Chair

Greetings, alumni and friends of Pitt Mathematics!  I am finding it harder than usual to write the introduction to this semester’s newsletter.  After some pondering, I have realized the reason:  this semester has been so normal!  It’s a huge relief to be able to write those words, especially because here in Pitt Mathematics, normal is a very good thing.  Specifically, in this case, “normal” means that this semester featured presentations by helpful alumni and distinguished visitors, a raft of new grant awards to support faculty research, success stories and interesting career paths from recently graduated math majors and from our current graduate students, and welcoming a new faculty member, Dr. Sabrina Streipert, to the department.  I hope that you enjoy reading about all of these activities and successes in our Fall 2022 edition of “By the Numbers”, along with some exciting new developments such as an outreach program, coordinated by Assistant Professor Carl-Wang Erickson and led by a team of undergraduate students, to bring mathematical enrichment to elementary school students in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, and our Association for Women in Mathematics seminar series, which allows our community to appreciate the research being done by an under-represented segment in mathematics and helps to form a support network for members of this group.

I hope that you enjoy reading this issue of “By the Numbers” and being reminded of how great “normal” can be.   As always, please do stay in touch, and hail to Pitt!!

Jonathan Rubin, Chair, Department of Mathematics, November 2022