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Mathematical Modeling Ph.D.

The Amazon rainforest is a unique region where climatologists have studied the effects of warming and deforestation for decades. With the global climate crisis becoming more evident, a new study is linking the Amazon to climate change around the rest of the world.

Four RIT faculty members are opening up soft matter physics, sometimes known as “squishy physics,” to a new generation of diverse scholars. Moumita Das, Poornima Padmanabhan, Shima Parsa, and Lishibanya Mohapatra are helping RIT make its mark in the field.

RIT will confer a record 69 Ph.D. degrees during commencement May 12, marking a 53 percent increase from last year.

Professor Ernest Fokoue from RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences is teaming up with the Rochester Police Department (RPD) to use statistical machine learning to analyze body-worn camera footage and help improve police training.

From fireworks to woodburning to modeling fire behavior, Jenna Sjunneson McDanold’s love of fire has fueled her growth as an artist and a mathematician. As part of her studies as mathematical modeling Ph.D. student, Sjunneson McDanold has been working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

RIT is growing its Ph.D. offerings, adding one new program in the fall of 2023 and two in 2024. This fall, Saunders College of Business will offer a Ph.D. in business administration. In 2024, the College of Liberal Arts will introduce a new doctoral degree in cognitive science and the College of Science will launch a Ph.D. in physics.

Assistant Professor Olalekan Babaniyi is developing new mathematical techniques that could lead to improvements in applications ranging from medical imaging to predicting how fast ice flows into the ocean.

Dean Sophia Maggelakis will be leaving RIT to become the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Maggelakis joined RIT as an assistant professor in 1990, became head of the School of Mathematical Sciences in 2001, and became dean of the College of Science in 2010.

Scientists from RIT and Cornell University have teamed up to explore cartilage tissue’s unique properties with the hopes of improving osteoarthritis diagnosis and treatment. The team published a new paper in Science Advances outlining their findings.

Kimberly Dautel, a mathematical modeling Ph.D. student, is undertaking COVID-19 modeling research thanks to a fellowship from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Crain's Detroit Business interviews Matthew Hoffman, associate professor of mathematical sciences, about how microplastics are appearing in a disturbingly wide range of places in the Great Lakes Basin. 

From her early days in school, Nicole Rosato realized that math was one of her favorite subjects. This past May, Rosato, who is from Paramus, N.J., became the first student to graduate from RIT’s new Ph.D. program in mathematical modeling.