Sophia Maggelakis Named Interim Dean of RIT’s College of Science

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A. Sue Weisler

Sophia Maggelakis was recently named the interim dean of the College of Science

Sophia Maggelakis, head of the School of Mathematical Sciences, will serve as interim dean of the College of Science, effective May 1, announced Jeremy Haefner, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Maggelakis joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in 1990 and became chair in 2000. In 2006, she was instrumental in forming the School of Mathematical Sciences, which houses three undergraduate programs in Applied Mathematics, Computational Mathematics, and Applied Statistics, a graduate program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, two research centers—the Center for Applied and Computational Mathematics and the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation—and the Summer Math Institute.

“I am honored that I have been entrusted to move the college forward during this transition period,” Maggelakis says. “I am proud of what we have accomplished as a college, and I am looking forward to working with our students, faculty and staff to promote excellence in teaching, growth in scholarship, and collaboration across departments and other colleges.”

Maggelakis is a past recipient of the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching. She has led and implemented a program that reduced student failure rates in science and engineering calculus. In addition, she acts as a mentor for the Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics Group of Rochester. She has given talks about mathematics and its applications to various groups of high school students, such as The Center for Talented Youth, the Faces of Change Conference and the Senior High School Science Exploration Day.

Maggelakis has published numerous articles in the area of mathematical biology. She has focused her research on the mathematical modeling of biological processes such as tumor growth, capillary growth, wound healing and retinopathy.