The Department of Mathematical Sciences Newsletter (2025)
❝I prove a theorem and the house expands...❞
—Rita Dove, "Geometry," Selected Poems
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We're proud of the many accomplishments of our students and faculty in 2025. We hope you enjoy learning about of few of them! |
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Con-GRAD-ulations!
In the academic year ending in May 2025, 28 students earned a Bachelor’s degree in the department, 36 students earned a master’s degree, and 1 student earned a doctorate. In December 2025, an additional 4 students earned a Bachelor's degree, 9 earned a master's degree, and 3 earned a doctorate. Congratulations, graduates!
Proud of our Scholarship Winners
Derek Jollie
Goldwater Scholar
Derek Jollie is a Physics and Mathematics double major who has been named a Goldwater Scholar. His advisor in the Mathematical Sciences department, Scott McCalla, attests to his curiosity, leadership, and talent, noting his active roles in the Math Club, tutoring at the Math and Stat Center, and conducting research in both physics and mathematics since his freshman year. Jollie has pursued research opportunities at MSU and UCLA, and he hopes to continue his work in graduate school with the goal of becoming a university professor. He credits MSU’s supportive faculty and strong connections for helping him achieve this honor.
Kaylee Guajardo and Will Hammond
Crawford Wildlife Graduate Fellowship
Two students from the Department were inaugural recipients of the Crawford Wildlife Habitat Graduate Fellowship. The award is available to all MSU graduate students who are engaged in research, outreach, or creative activities related to wildlife habitat. Will Hammond has investigated new approaches for comparisons of state space models, particularly with applications to animal movement. Kaylee Guajardo applies advanced statistical analysis to evaluate population trends and support evidence-based management of bat communities.
Ahsan Ali (top left), Samuel Wirges, Bernard Yeboah (bottom left), and Eric Metzger
Taylor Brown Summer Fellowship
Many of our graduate students have benefited from participating in our summer research fellowship programs. Ahsan Ali, Sam Wirges, Eric Metzger, and Bernard Yeboah each received a Taylor Brown Fellowship to support their summer research. Ahsan spent the summer studying weighted norm spaces and key results in harmonic analysis. Sam Wirges studied how real partial flag manifolds can be broken into simpler geometric pieces, extending classical techniques used for Grassmannians. Eric’s research extends classical spectral inequalities to fourth-order problems, studying how shape affects bi-Laplacian eigenvalues. Bernard’s research examines how high school textbooks present standard deviation and how this affects student understanding in statistics.
Jacob Oram, Mary Greene, and Kevin Surya
Gary G. Sackett Summer Fellowship
Kevin Surya, Jacob Oram, and Mary Greene each received a Gary G. Sackett fellowship to support their summer research. Kevin is creating a new statistical model to study how count-based traits evolve in different species. Jacob’s research involves diagnostics for count-detection models and an R package for species classification, and he successfully defended his dissertation this fall. Mary’s research examines how elementary school students work in groups on mathematical modeling tasks. Mary successfully defended her dissertation this fall.
Faculty News
New Faculty
Jess Kunke
Jess Kunke earned her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Washington and joined the Department in Fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Statistics. Her research uses network information (for instance, social networks or river networks) to improve population size estimation in social and ecological contexts. She is interested in applying network models, survey methodology, and spacetime models to social and environmental applications, particularly in sociology and ecology. She also provides data science workshops and consulting to Tribal environmental professionals in collaboration with the Tribal Exchange Network.
Liz Arnold
Liz Arnold joined the Department as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in Fall 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics with an emphasis in Mathematics Education from our Department in 2017, and returned to Bozeman after serving on the faculty at James Madison University and then Colorado State University. Liz studies the teaching and learning of mathematics and statistics, focusing on statistics in the Pre-K – 12 mathematics curriculum and the teaching of mathematical modeling. Liz is a 2025 Alder Award winner, the Mathematical Association of America’s national teaching award for early career mathematicians. She also leads a Mathematical Association of America-funded initiative to deliver a summer math modeling camp and family math nights for Northern Cheyenne youth.
Faculty Awards
Megan Wickstrom
Megan Wickstrom was awarded the 2025 James and Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence in recognition of the quality of her research and teaching. She was promoted to Professor at the start of this academic year.
Mary Alice Carlson
Mary Alice Carlson was awarded the 2024 Provost's Award for Exemplary Service and Fidelity to the Public Land Grant Mission of MSU. In 2025, she was promoted to Professor. In October, Professor Carlson was named the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the College of Letters and Science.
David Ayala
David Ayala was recognized with a 2024 College of Letters & Science award for Excellence in Mentorship at the Undergraduate and Graduate Levels, recognizing the foundational mentorship he provides to our graduate and undergraduate students. At the start of this academic year, he was promoted to the rank of Professor.
Breschine Cummins
Breschine Cummins was awarded a 2025 College of Letters & Science award for Excellence in Mentorship at the Undergraduate and Graduate Levels, recognizing her commitment to supporting undergraduate and graduate research.
Other News
- Katie Banner, a member of the statistics faculty since 2018, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.
- Jane Crawford, our Undergraduate Program Coordinator since 2016, was recognized for her contributions to the College with the 2025 Kathy Griffith Employee Excellence Award.
- After 10 years on the administrative support staff in the department, Katie Sutich has joined the administrative staff in the College of Letters and Science as the Assistant to the Dean. We're pleased to introduce our new Business Operations Manager, Molly Patten, and our new Graduate Program Coordinator, Madison Maus, who both joined the department in July.
New Emeritus Faculty
Mark Pernarowski
Mark Pernarowski retired from the faculty in 2024. In recognition of his 32 years on the faculty, his achievements as an applied mathematician, and his teaching excellence, he has been named Emeritus Associate Professor of Mathematics.
John Borkowski
John Borkowski retired from the faculty in 2024. In recognition of his 33 years on the faculty and his excellence in scholarship, teaching, and mentorship, he has been named Emeritus Professor of Statistics.
Jack Dockery
Jack Dockery retired from the faculty in 2025. In recognition of his 36 years on the faculty and his dedication to the land grant mission of the university through his research and teaching excellence, he has been named Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
In Memoriam: John Lund
John Lund, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Montana State University, passed away on December 3, 2025. A dedicated educator and scholar, he taught mathematics at MSU for over four decades. Professor Lund was a renowned applied mathematician and numerical analyst, authoring the influential texts Sinc Methods for Quadrature and Differential Equations and The Matrix Eigenvalue Problem, and co-organizing a series of conferences that advanced research in computation and control theory. He served as Department Head from 1993 to 2001 and contributed extensively to the department’s graduate programs and statewide initiatives. John’s impact on students, colleagues, and the broader mathematical community is enduring.
How can you help the department? The Mathematical Sciences General Scholarship fund enables us to award scholarships to deserving students. The Kenneth J. Tiahrt fund lets us support the needs of graduate students. The John W. Hurst Faculty Excellence fund and the Mathematics Education Faculty Enrichment fund support faculty scholarship and research. Gifts to the Mathematical Sciences General Support fund and the Academic Improvement in Mathematical Sciences fund enable us to support a variety of programs, research and students in the department. Visit msuaf.org/give-mathematics to make a gift.
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