Release date: Oct. 7, 2002
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0640 or nseidem@emory.edu

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Dwight Duffus, Chairman

The new Mathematics and Science Center gives Emory’s mathematics and computer science department an upgrade in both space and technology, allowing the department to greatly expand it computational capabilities and advance its teaching and research missions, says department chairman Dwight Duffus.

"For the first time in the history of our department, we have spaces designed specifically for our teaching and research needs, with all the necessary supporting technology," Duffus says. With the new facilities, college and departmental resources allowed for an upgrade of all computer servers and data networks, greatly enhancing computational power. The building has two 32-seat computer labs and seven classroom spaces devoted to mathematics and computer science, each equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment.

"The building also gave us a great opportunity to completely redesign computer access for our graduate students," Duffus says. "Each graduate student now has an assigned workspace and a potent computing environment for research in an open computer lab."

The new facilities will support more extensive collaboration with other science departments using computational methods in research, such as chemistry and physics. The department’s major research areas include computer science systems and theory, and in mathematics, research covers discrete mathematics, topology, analysis, algebra and applied mathematics, with particular emphasis on computational mathematics.

"Computational mathematics is especially relevant to planned partnerships with chemistry and physics, since computational methods have become increasingly important in modeling complex phenomena," says Duffus.

The department had about 160 majors as of last spring, spread through programs in mathematics, computer science, and combined mathematics/computer science and mathematics/economics programs. There are about 26 graduate students in the mathematics doctoral program and 14 students in the computer science master’s program. The department also offers a full slate of service courses, and has diversified introductory offerings to include courses such as life sciences and business calculus in an effort to meet student needs and interests.

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