Chair's Column

Dear Members and Friends of the UNT Math Department,

About a year ago, responding to internal and external forces, the department had put in place a number of reforms and initiatives, and this seems like an appropriate time for a look back. The new bylaws took effect, with a new governing structure that appears to work well and provide more equality among the faculty. At the undergraduate level, we created the position of Early Math Support Director, who oversees all things regarding developmental Math and liaises with the relevant University offices. After much effort, a new Math Placement Test is up and running, ensuring students are taking the Math classes that are right for them. At the graduate level, we created the position of Director of Graduate Student Teaching, responsible for orientation, training and evaluation of all TAs and TFs. We also have a Graduate Recruiter who participates in grad recruitment events outside of UNT, which has demonstrably contributed to an excellent hiring season for new graduate students. Thanks to more than capable colleagues making all of this happen, I think these changes had a broad positive effect on the way we operate and on student success.

More change is on the way. As mandated by the University and still awaiting final approval, we created a new workload policy for faculty, with the goal of making the process more equitable and transparent. A new Calculus sequence and changed prerequisites aimed at addressing stubbornly high DFW rates in Calculus classes are expected to take effect the year after next. In view of this development, a Calculus Task Force has just made recommendations on how we teach and coordinate our various Calculus courses in the future. Another major impact will come from DAST, the new Department of Data Analytics and Statistics, which will be the fifth department in the College of Science. Some of our Statistics faculty and some of or Statistics courses will find a new home over there.

There are, of course, also the usual comings and goings of faculty, staff and students. While we have generally enjoyed great stability among our staff, we do have a new Office Support Associate (who is doing a great job). A small number of faculty have retired, but new colleagues are active in teaching and research and changing the face of the department. Students have received their undergraduate, Master's or PhD degrees, and new students are entering our programs every year. In addition, a new and very popular canine member of the department has been holding the occasional pawfice hours.

Thus the department is an ever-changing place, and it never takes too long before the old ways appear quaint. There is a 25-year old document called "Information for Teaching Fellows" in the chair's office. Instructors there are warned not to post student grades on their office doors in an identifiable way, but it is okay to "post grades by a portion of their social security number" - unthinkable today. Graduate students are advised to "not ask the secretaries to type your thesis or dissertation". On the positive side, "floppy disks are available in GAB 418". (Note how the location of the main office has changed as well.) It makes me wonder how what we do today will look 25 years from now.

Ralf Schmidt
Chair

37th Automorphic Forms Workshop

The annual Workshop on Automorphic Forms and Related Topics was hosted at the University of North Texas this year from April 30 - May 4. Among its organizers were UNT’s Dr. Lea Beneish and Dr. Olav Richter. The workshop is internationally recognized both for its quality of research talks and its supportive atmosphere for junior researchers. Participants presented cutting-edge research in all areas related to automorphic forms. These include mock modular forms, Maass wave forms, elliptic curves, Siegel and Jacobi modular forms, special values of L-functions, random matrices, quadratic forms, applications of modular forms, and many other topics.

UNT Scholars Day

A number of mathematics undergraduate students participated in UNT’s annual Scholars day, held this year on April 1st. The students were supervised by mathematics faculty, and presented their work either by lecture or poster. The students were Miguel Gonzalez-Carriedo (mentor: Dr. Kiko Kawamura), Dominick Ohara (mentor: Dr. Yanyan He), Pranshu Bhardwaj (mentor: Dr. Lior Fishman), Shriya Dontula (mentor: Dr. Lior Fishman), Hunter Hoinkes (mentor: Dr. Lior Fishman), Ethan Karpeles (mentor: Dr. Lea Beneish), Dipansh Regmi (mentor: Dr. Giordano Tierra Chica), Jingyuan Wang (mentor: Dr. Lior Fishman).

Travel Support Program for Postdocs

The College of Science Established a travel support program for postdocs. Postdocs can apply for up to $1,000 every two years.

Completion of the Math Gym

The Math gym was completed, and is located in GAB 505. The gym is a project the department has worked on for over a year, and serves as a research space for graduate students and faculty.

Professional Development Session for High School Math Teachers

In May, the Department of Mathematics hosted a professional development session for high school mathematics teachers. Department Chair Dr. Ralf Schmidt welcomed participants and presented certificates of completion. Dr. Walter Bridges led an engaging activity on constructible numbers, and Dr. Nirmala Naresh shared information about the department’s graduate programs in mathematics education. COS Dean John Quintanilla concluded the session with an interactive presentation on number tricks.

New Faculty Members

Walter Bridges

Walter Bridges joined the department in Fall 2024 as an Assistant Professor. Walter received his PhD from Louisiana State University in 2020. From 2020 to 2024, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cologne, Germany. Walter works in number theory and analytic combinatorics, studying the long-term behavior of combinatorial structures, using techniques from automorphic forms, probability, and hypergeometric q-series. Part of Walter’s teaching at UNT will focus on our new master's program in Mathematics with a Mathematics Education Concentration, and he is excited to share his enthusiasm for higher mathematics with active high school teachers. As an avid hobby-musician, he also feels very lucky to be in Denton and here at UNT!

Derek Levinson

Derek Levinson joined UNT in Fall 2024 as a visiting assistant professor. Derek did his undergraduate degree in math at Brown University and received his PhD in mathematics from UCLA in 2023. His research focuses on set theory, which studies different sizes of infinity and relationships between them. When Derek was an undergrad, he tried to teach himself to visualize 4-dimensional objects. It worked a tiny bit, but he says he stopped practicing and is now lucky if he can picture something in 3D.

Julie Thompson

Julie Thompson joined UNT as a Lecturer in Fall 2024. Julie is an alumni and graduated from UNT where she earned both master’s (MA) and bachelor’s (BA) degrees in pure mathematics. Julie also received her teaching certification in the state of Texas through the Teach North Texas (TNT) program at UNT. She is very excited about starting her career as a lecturer at UNT Frisco. She plans to share her enthusiasm and love for learning with students by teaching them ways of thinking about mathematics that are interesting, understandable, and enjoyable. Fun Fact: Julie has two pet birds.

Rudolf Daniel Prokaj

Rudolf Daniel Prokaj (goes by Daniel) joined UNT in Fall 2024 as a visiting assistant professor. He received his PhD in 2024 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary. Daniel’s research interest is understanding the geometry of chaos. In particular, he studies the topology and dimension theory of fractals. He teaches probability theory at UNT.

Grants

• Lea Beneish – 2 NSF grants: 1 NSF-LEAPS-MPS (Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences), 1 NSF Conference: Workshop on Automorphic Forms and Related Topics and 1 Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians (2024-2029)
• Jackson Morrow – 1 NSF-LEAPS-MPS (Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences) and 1 Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians (2024-2029)
• Giordano Tierra Chica – Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians (2024-2029)
• Nam Trang – Simons Fellowship in Mathematics (2025-2025)
• Mariusz Urbanski – Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians (2024-2029)

New Staff Members

Katherine Dunlop

Katherine Dunlop joined the Math team in June 2024 as our new Math Lab Manager. Katherine is a UNT alumna who received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance in 2022 and her Master’s degree in Analytics in 2024. Welcome to the UNT Math Department, Katherine!

Eli Malig

Eli Malig joined the department in May 2025 as our new Office Support Associate. Eli received her Bachelor's degree in Studio Art: New Media Art in May 2023 from UNT, and is currently working on a certification in 3D character animation. Welcome to the main Math office, Eli!

Awards and Promotions

Audrey Boltwood was promoted in March of 2025 and has moved to the CLASS Advising office as an Associate Academic Advisor. She set a very high standard for service and professionalism during her time in the Math Department, and we are grateful for her hard work. We wish her all the best in her new position.

Kristi Loera received here award for 5 years of service in the spring of 2025. She is an essential part of the mathematics department, and we are very fortunate to work with her. Thanks for everything you do, Kristi!

Jana Watkins was promoted to Senior Administrative Coordinator in August of 2024. Well done, Jana!!

2025 Integration Bee

The 2025 Integration Bee was held on April 4. In this contest students attempt to solve challenging indefinite integrals within a fixed period of time. This year we had 70 competitors, and as always – we had great cake! Our fearless winners were the intrepid : Sudeep Senivarapu (1st place), Brandon Doh (tied for 2nd place ), and Dipansh Regmi (tied for 2nd). Here is the photo of the winners of the Bee, the winners from left to right are Brandon, Sudeep, and Dipansh. Congratulations to all the winners and participants!

Math Club

The Math Club is devoted to promoting interest in mathematics and fellowship among students of all mathematical backgrounds. Weekly meetings are held in GAB 473 to discuss math, play games, prepare for the Putnum exam, and to plan departmental picnics. The two semester picnics take place at North Lakes Park on October 25, 2024 and April 25, 2025. The officers in this academic year's Math Club are: Seth Robinson (President), Ethan Karpeles (Vice President), and Ali Diwa (Treasurer).

Problem of the Month

Every month during regular semesters, the math department and the math club feature the Problem of the Month competition. This contest is open to all currently enrolled undergraduate students. Students who submit correct solutions receive cash prizes and certificates of excellence. The winners of the Problem of the Month Competitions from September 2024 through March 2025 were: Anirudh Mazumder (2 times), Saikiran Motati (2 times), Jingyuan Wang (2 times), Archith Sharma (2 times), and Daaivin Desai (1 time).

Texas Undergraduate Math Conference (TUMC)

A number of students went to the Texas Undergraduate Math Conference (TUMC) at UT Tyler back in November 8-9, 2024. This is the first time undergraduate students from UNT have gathered in Tyler and "the cloud" to talk about math, play games, and network with students and faculty from around the state of Texas.

Staff Awards

(E=mc^2) Award: Audrey Boltwood

Audrey Boltwood worked the front desk at the mathematics department from August 2023 to February 2025. She was awarded the January 2025 Excellence in Mastering Challenges Continuously (E=mc^2) Award from the College of Science. This award was established by Dean Quintanilla to recognize outstanding efforts among full-time staff members within the College of Science and its departments. Audrey, an alumna of UNT’s history department, has been a tremendous help to students and faculty at UNT. “Everything she touches turns out well,” says Chair Ralf Schmidt. We wish her the best of luck in her new advising position in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences!

Faculty Awards

• Faculty Research Award: Jackson Morrow
• Faculty Teaching Award: Steven Widmer and Stephen Jackson
• Faculty Service Award: Helen Elwood and Lea Beneish

Graduate Awards and Scholarships

Outstanding Graduate Student: Nathan Dalaklis

Nathan Dalaklis joined the Math Department in August of 2020. Nathan has performed at the highest levels in all of his academic and instructional duties. He was a recipient of a COS summer research stipend (Summer 2024) which allows outstanding graduates to focus on their dissertation work prior to graduation while being supported for the entire summer. He completed his dissertation under the direction of Dr. Mariusz Urbanski and successfully defended his work in the spring of 2025. Nathan has accepted a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Oklahoma. He will be working with Dr. Yan Mary and will begin at OU in August of 2025. Nathan has been an outstanding member of the department, and we thank you!!

Academic Excellence Award: Justin Swain

Justin Swain joined the Math Department in August 2019. Since then, he has performed with consistency and excellence in both academics and teaching. He completed his dissertation under the direction of Dr. Giordano Tierra Chica and defended his dissertation in the spring of 2025 and will graduate in May 2025. Justin has accepted a position at EndoSec to work as a mathematician in the cryptography industry. This summer, he will be applying his skills in mathematics to explore post-quantum cryptographic protocols. Justin is looking forward to entering this exciting area of mathematics and contributing to advancements in data security. We wish you all the best, Justin!

Outstanding Teaching Fellow: Ethan Jensen


Ethan Jensen joined the Math Department in August 2022. He is working in Noncommutative Algebra and Combinatorics under the direction of Dr. Anne Shepler. They are currently finishing up a paper characterizing the graded automorphism of skew polynomial algebras.




Graduate Scholarships

• John Ed Allen Scholarship: MaeKayla Minton
• Dan Mauldin Scholarship: Jonathan Calzadillas, Jorge Montes-Guzman, Emma Richardson
• John Neuberger Scholarship: Santhosh Selvaraj
• Alterman Bradford Scholarship: Mahfuz Alom

Undergraduate Awards and Scholarships

• Outstanding Undergraduate Student: Mary Marincel
• Outstanding Student in Actuarial Science: Noah Cobble
• Outstanding Math Lab Tutor: Sadie Chitwood

• David Dawson Scholarship: Charles Cobble
• E.H. Hanson Scholarship: Mary Marincel
• Mildred Masters McCarty Scholarship: Vanessa Bristow
• Roger L. Perry Scholarship: Huynh Nguyen
• Ram Lal Seekri Scholarship: Dipansh Regmi

Hiring

The department held three successful searches for Lecturers to start in the 2025-2026 school year: a Regular Denton Lecturer, an Actuary Lecturer, and a Frisco Lecturer.

Renovations

There are ongoing renovations occurring in GAB 406 and 418E.

It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Graeme McRae on November 23, 2024. Graeme was a sophomore Engineering and Mathematics major, who also shared a deep love for music, singing in the UNT’s Chorale and Concert Choir. Graeme often studied in the Math Department on the 4th floor of GAB. His easy smile, kindness, and enthusiasm touched all who knew him and will be sorely missed.