UCLA's mathematics department has received the American Mathematical Society's 2007 Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department.

UCLA's department is "an outstanding model of all that a mathematics department can be," the society declared.

The award, given annually, recognizes a mathematics department that has distinguished itself by undertaking an innovative or particularly effective program that is of value to the mathematics community or to society.

"I'm telling everyone I meet," said Christoph Thiele, professor and chair of the UCLA mathematics department. "The AMS is the best mathematical society of its kind in the world. We are very honored by this award."

The society praised UCLA's mathematics department for creating "a comprehensive vision for its undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training programs that involves important interactions with the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at UCLA, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through these unusually large training programs, UCLA has become one of the biggest pipelines to mathematical careers in the United States."

IPAM strengthens the ties between mathematics and the other sciences, helps train a new generation of interdisciplinary mathematicians and scientists, brings internationally renowned mathematicians and other scientists to UCLA and hosts conferences, seminars and workshops. More than 1,000 scholars a year participate in interdisciplinary IPAM programs that bring together mathematicians and scientists from the fields of biology, the physical sciences, medicine, engineering and others, as well as from industry and national laboratories. IPAM recently won a five-year renewal grant from the NSF, with a 36 percent funding increase.

The mathematical society also lauded UCLA's "first-rate faculty of internationally recognized mathematicians" and noted the "tremendous growth" in the department's undergraduate program over the past 10 years, as well as the substantial growth in its graduate program since 2000.          

The department attracts many of the best graduate students in California, the United States, Europe, and Asia, Thiele said. It also offers opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research.

In 2000, the department's graduate program was awarded a $5 million Vertical Integration of Research and Education (VIGRE) grant by the NSF. The VIGRE program, under the direction of professor Robert Greene, initiates changes in the way professional mathematicians are trained, promoting interaction between mathematics and other fields. The program has expanded from 112 students in its first year to a projected 195 for fall 2007. In 2005, the NSF renewed the grant.

The mathematics department also runs successful K–12 math education programs and has had a decades-long relationship with California public schools.

This fall, five new faculty members will join the department.

"We have hired distinguished faculty that any mathematics department would be happy to have," Thiele said. "We are delighted they chose UCLA."

About UCLA

UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer more than 300 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Four alumni and five faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

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