The Department of Mathematics of the University of Wisconsin -
Madison has a tradition of excellence in graduate education that goes
back more than 100 years. For over 25 years it has had a successful
postdoctoral program in which recent PhDs have interacted and
collaborated with faculty and graduate students, extending and
enhancing their PhD training in research and education. In May of
1997 it celebrated its PhD Centennial with a conference that
attracted more than 200 of its 900 Wisconsin Math PhDs and 80
postdoctoral fellows (Van Vleck Assistant Professors).
Although traditional mathematics graduate education in the USA has
had enormous success, fundamental developments in the physical,
technological, and biological sciences are introducing deep and
challenging problems which require the need for a new type of
mathematician, one who is broadly connected with other disciplines
and who has computational knowledge and skills. Our general research
theme is {\it New Applications of Mathematics}, encompassing
important topics such as wavelets, B-splines, turbulence,
cryptography, geophysical modeling, multi-scale materials modeling,
new topological techniques for dynamical systems analysis,
interfacial materials dynamics, and stochastic modeling.
The components of our program integrate research and education in
pure and applied mathematics at the undergraduate, graduate, and
post-graduate level. Its aim is to produce mathematicians who can (1)
interact and communicate with scientists and engineers, (2) carry out
mathematical research at a very high level, while avoiding
fragmentation and isolation of one's work, and (3) appreciate the
role of computing in the mathematical sciences, and when appropriate,
perform computations and make effective use of available algorithms
and hardware.
Our program seeks to sustain, strengthen, enhance, revise, and
integrate the five areas of mathematics education at UW-Madison: (1)
Mathematics Undergraduate Education, (2) Applied Mathematics,
Engineering, and Physics Undergraduate Program, (3) Mathematics PhD
Program within the Department of Mathematics, (4) Applied
Mathematical Sciences Interdisciplinary PhD Program within the Center
for Mathematical Sciences, and (5) Postdoctoral Training in Pure and
Applied Mathematics.