Mathematics and Statistics
Welcome to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics! Our department is a leader in high-quality, student-centered, community-engaged instruction in mathematics and statistics. We offer the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Master of Science in Data Analytics. In order to specialize their education to best suit their career interests, students majoring in Mathematics are required to choose a minor in one of the following fields: Actuarial Science, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Environmental Science, Geology, Geophysics, Meteorology, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Public Health, Secondary School Mathematics, or Statistics.
As a student in our department, you will enjoy a strong sense of community through our many student clubs, activities, and dynamic study spaces. You will also have opportunities to interact closely with our dedicated faculty, who are committed to excellence in teaching and eager to get to know you as an individual. We are proud to report that the SRU math program is ranked #1 in Pennsylvania for best value in 2022.
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Why Choose Us?
Our Bachelor of Science in Math degree with its variety of Special Interest Areas provides a framework where you can develop the knowledge and characteristics vital to meet the demands of any mathematically-related career. Our approach has led to very successful career opportunities for our graduates. Our faculty are dedicated to your success and committed to your development.
Mathematics is unique among the sciences and consists of much more than number crunching. A degree in math shows an ability to think critically and conveys an intellectual maturity sought by many employers. It demonstrates that you've learned how to solve complex problems. It indicates flexibility and creativity in reasoning. A math degree says you have the ability to handle abstractions.
Mission and Outcomes
Mission Statement
Our mission is to offer high-quality, student-centered, community-engaged instruction and research in mathematics and statistics.
Vision Statement
The SRU Department of Mathematics and Statistics will be a leader in high-quality instruction and scholarship, and a pioneer of modern programs in emerging fields.
Program Outcomes
Students graduating with a degree in Mathematics will:
Use mathematics knowledge to solve theoretical and applied problems.
Apply rigorous deductive reasoning to prove mathematics results.
Use technology to perform and interpret mathematics analyses.
Communicate mathematics knowledge to both expert and non-technical audiences.
Demonstrate professional integrity and accountability in the use and communication of mathematics.
Careers in Mathematics
An SRU mathematics degree can prepare you well for various career opportunities in the following areas:
Actuarial science
Finance
Business
Insurance
Government
Statistics
Industry
Education
Our graduates are employed in diverse occupations such as:
Operations research analyst
Consulting actuary
University professor
Engineer
Statistician
Information analyst
Auditor
International account executive
Senior computer analyst
Senior commercial loan officer
Manager of performance monitoring
Public and private school teacher
Many students go on to do graduate work in various disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, and business.
Student accomplishments
[March 2023] Kelli Galbraith, a Mathematics and Statistics student, earned an internship with the Department of Energy at the Oakridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN. She will be investigating advanced signal processing and machine learning algorithms to detect and classify disturbances in the electrical power grid.
[January 2023] Eponine Farber, Kelli Galbraith, Samuel Lowery, and Elijah Saesan attended the 2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) in Boston, MA. Elijah presented his research on 3-manifold topology, and Sam presented on the effect of vitamin D on cancer incidence and mortality. They were accompanied by Drs. Boris Brimkov, Kirk McDermott, Jeffrey Musyt, and Shukhrat Usmanov, who also presented their research. JMM is the largest annual meeting of mathematicians in the world.
[October 2022] Sam Lowery was accepted into the prestigious Budapest Semesters in Mathematics study abroad program in Hungary for Spring 2023. The program is considered one of the best study abroad programs in mathematics, and was founded by eminent mathematicians Erdos, Lovasz, Babai, and Sos.
[October 2022] Maddy Terrill has accepted an offer from Erie Insurance for an Actuarial Internship for Summer 2023. Through this internship, she will get to learn more about the company and also about the actuarial career field.
[August 2022] Elijah Saesan and Dr. Kirk McDermott were awarded a Summer Collaborative Research Experience grant to study geometric aspects of three-dimensional manifolds constructed from face pairings on polyhedra.
[June 2022] Meghan Pfieffer passed the Society of Actuaries Financial Management Exam. Meghan is also an officer on the eboard for Gamma Iota Sigma and is attending the GIS leadership symposium with Hannah Wildman in August.
[April 2022] Elijah McClymonds has been accepted into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sustainability of Civil Infrastructure REU program for the Summer of 2022.
[April 2022] Emma Yoder was this year's winner of the Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award.
[April 2022] Sam Lowery presented the poster "Coloring Intersection Points of Line Segments" at the 2022 Joint Math Meetings.
[March 2022] Adriana Gonzalez-Sanchez was awarded two of the 2022 College of Engineering and Science Scholarships: the Coen Family Foundation Scholarship and the Cindy and Craig Fraser Science Scholarship.
[March 2022] Adriana Gonzalez-Sanchez, Nuria Martin-Lopez, and Rose Resnick joined Jana Asher at the 2022 Woman and Ally of Distinction Mentoring Dinner. The dinner is jointly hosted by the President's Commission on Women and the Gender Studies Program, and it celebrates the mentoring relationships between female faculty and students.
[March 2022] Adriana Gonzalez-Sanchez [March 2022] Sam Lowery has been accepted into the Summer 2022 Clarkson University Mathematical Biology Team Science Research Experience for Undergraduates Program (MBioTS REU). Within that program, he will participate in a 10 week research program on metal pollution and will receive a $5,000 stipend plus food, housing, and travel costs. [February 2022] Alyssa Hilliard, Aran Bybee, and Sam Lowery took the Putnam Exam; Alyssa scored 6 points, Aran and Sam each scored 4 points. [February 2022] Elijah McClymonds passed his first SAS certification exam, SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4. [January 2022] Emma Yoder was SRU's 2021-22 winner of the Syed Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence, and is recognized at the 2022 Celebration of Achievement event. [December 2021] Kelli Galbraith was selected as a SRU Student Employee of the Month. [Summer 2021] Megan Vommaro completed a summer internship in actuarial science at Highmark.
[Summer 2021] Ethan Bartos completed a summer internship in actuarial science at TransAmerica.
[June 2021] Hannah Wildman and Josh Zigarovich passed the Society of Actuaries Financial Mathematics exam in their freshman year (much earlier than this is usually done!)
[April 2021] Michael Zirpoli received the College of Engineering and Science award for Outstanding Student in Research, Scholarship or Creative Activity. [April 2021] Michael Zirpoli and Samuel Lowery presented talks at the SRU Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity. [April 2021] SRU math graduate Andrew Mayle was featured in an article by PA Distance Learning Charter School.
[March 2021] Kelly Smith attended the Long Island Mathematics Conference, an annual all-day meeting of K-12 math teachers.
[March 2021] Hannah Wildman attended the first Allegheny Mountain MAA virtual colloquium on using random forests to predict fracking activity in nearby PA counties.
[Aug 2020] Adam Majewski, an SRU Actuarial Science Student, was interviewed by AdvisorSmith, a leading online resource for business insurance. Read Adam's interview here .
Faculty accomplishments
[January 2023] Dr. Kirk McDermott's paper titled "Shift dynamics of the groups of Fibonacci type" was published in the Journal of Group Theory. [December 2022] Dr. Woosuk Kim passed the Society of Actuaries Exam on Investments and Financial Markets. This is his fifth passed exam on his way to become an Associate of the Society of Actuaries. [November 2022] Dr. Jeffery Musyt and Mr. Jim Anthony demonstrated an intersection between mathematics and art at the Carnegie Science Center's SciTech Days in Pittsburgh. They helped more than 300 local middle school students create fractals by manipulating various functions and altering the resulting fractal's symmetry. They were assisted by SRU math majors Candace Corvino and Ty Baker. [November 2022] Dr. Jana Asher was certified by the Board of Directors of the American Statistical Association as an Accredited Professional Statistician. This accreditation is a testament of Dr. Asher's expertise and knowledge acquired through formal education, work experience, and ongoing professional development activities. [November 2022] The American Mathematical Soceity awarded Dr. Boris Brimkov and Dr. Shukhrat Usmanov a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Faculty Travel Grant to support their participation in the 2023 Joint Math Meetings. [September 2022] Dr. Boris Brimkov had a peer-reviewed article published in INFORMS Journal on Computing titled "Computational and theoretical challenges for computing the minimum rank of a graph". [July 2022] Dr. Jana Asher had a peer-reviewed article published in the International Journal of Learning in Higher Education titled "A Transformative Approach to Collaborative Learning for Higher Education". [June 2022] Dr. Jeffrey Musyt published a paper titled "Equivariant cobordisms between freely periodic knots" in the Canadian Mathematical Bulletin. [June 2022] Ms. Amanda Goodrick was promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor. Dr. Jana Asher was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. [May 2022] Dr. Jana Asher was elected as the Council of Sections Representative to the ASA Board of Directors for the 2023-2025 term.
[May 2022] Dr. Boris Brimkov had a peer-reviewed article published in the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra titled "Constructions of cospectral graphs with different zero forcing numbers".
[May 2022] Dr. Jana Asher was awarded the Caucus for Women in Statistics Societal Impact Award for her work combating societal injustice through quantitative measurement and teaching civic responsibility through statistical practice.
[April 2022] Dr. Jana Asher was appointed Chair of the International Statistics Institute Committee on the History of Statistics.
[April 2022] Dr. Josh Ballew was elected to the University Curriculum Committee through 2024. Dr. Boris Brimkov was elected to the SRU Global Engagement Advisory Committee through 2024.
[April 2022] Dr. Jana Asher wrote an essay for the "JEDI Corner" section of Amstat News, the membership magazine of the American Statistical Association on her experiences infusing diversity, equity and inclusion themes into an elementary statistics class.
[March 2022] Dr. Boris Brimkov presented the talk "Constructions of cospectral graphs with different zero forcing numbers" at the AMS Spring Central Sectional Meeting, and the talk "Coloring intersection points of line segments" at the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing.
[February 2022] Dr. Jana Asher has been accepted as one of 19 ambassadors in the Pennsylvania STEM Ambassador Program, which aims to shape the future of STEM education in the commonwealth.
[January 2022] Dr. Boris Brimkov's paper "Optimizing the trade-off between number of cops and capture time in Cops and Robbers" was published in Journal of Combinatorics .
[January 2022] Dr. Jana Asher wrote an essay for the "My ASA Story" section of Amstat News, the membership magazine of the American Statistical Association
[October 2021] Dr. Jeffrey Musyt and Dr. Jana Asher were guests on the Allison Loves Math podcast , discussing how community engagement projects can improve how to teach statistics.
[July 2021] Dr. Kirk McDermott's paper "On the topology of groups of type Z" was accepted for publication in the journal Topology and its Applications .
[July 2021] Dr. Elise Grabner received the Wilma Cavill Service Award in recognition of her contributions to our department and the University.
[April 2021] Dr. Boris Brimkov and student researcher Samuel Lowery received a 2021 Summer Collaborative Research Experience (SCORE) grant.
[April 2021] Dr. Lyn Miller received the 2020 Allegheny Mountain Section Award for Distinguished Teaching. The Allegheny Mountain Section is a subgroup of the Mathematical Association of America that represents math faculty in the western half of PA and all of West Virginia.
[March 2021] Dr. Lyn Miller received the President’s Award for Outstanding Academic Advising (Experienced Category) for the 2020-2021 Academic Year.
