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School of Mathematics and Statistics

For the first time, scientists detected gravitational waves caused by mergers between black holes and neutron stars. Researchers from RIT’s Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation (CCRG) helped identify key characteristics about the merger events.

RIT mathematician Tony Wong helped develop a new modeling method to explore the relationship between the Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and surface temperature over hundreds of millions of years.

Scientists have developed new models that show plastic waste is accumulating differently in oceans than previously believed. A new study illustrates that far more plastic pollution than previously thought remains near the coast or ends up on beaches.

Mathematical modeling has been a powerful tool for policymakers grappling with COVID-19 to help predict how targeted actions can impact the rates of infections, minimize the risk of exposures, increase recovery rates, and much more. Fifteen seniors who took the Senior Capstone in Math course this spring put their modeling skills to the test to help officials evaluate past policies and predict future outcomes.

Undergraduates aren’t the only students taking advantage of RIT’s co-op and internship program. Across the university, Ph.D. students are securing prestigious work experiences to provide important gateways to careers in industry, foundations, and government.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented annually by each of RIT’s nine colleges and the School of Individualized Study to alumni who have performed at the highest levels of their profession or who have contributed to the advancement and leadership of civic, philanthropic, or service organizations.

Quinn Kolt, a fourth-year applied mathematics and computer science double major from Solon, Ohio, has been awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate research scholarship in the fields of math, natural sciences, and engineering in the United States.

Embracing experimentation in the classroom has worked well for Associate Professor Nathaniel Barlow, who is receiving an Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching—RIT’s highest honor for tenured faculty—in just his first year as tenured faculty.

Bridget Torsey, a Ph.D. student in RIT’s mathematical modeling program from Buffalo, N.Y., has received the Provost’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. Along with taking rigorous courses, Torsey has been teaching at RIT for eight semesters and working part-time as an engineer at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in Rochester.

Essay by Amanda Ziemann ’10, ’11 MS (applied mathematics), a remote sensing scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, published by Space.com.

RIT is continuing to refine the way it monitors wastewater to assess the prevalence of coronavirus on campus.

WHEC-TV talks to Nathan Cahill, associate professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences and director of the mathematical modeling Ph.D. program, about potential exposure to COVID-19.