Message from the Department Head
See how the University of Tennessee is shaping the future of mathematics, investing in strategic hiring, and building interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dear Friends of the UT Department of Mathematics,
As we reflect on the academic year behind us and look ahead to the future, 2024-2025 was another banner year for the math department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
We continued to have phenomenal growth along with the university’s rise. We added three tenure-line faculty, with one full professor, one associate professor, and one assistant professor, plus 10 new full-time teaching assistant professors.
The added teaching power allowed our department, for the first time in many years, to cover our service course teaching responsibilities without pressing the panic button. We are grateful to the college’s unwavering support.
Moreover, the department welcomed another large class of 32 new graduate students to our program. This brings the total number of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to 107, plus about 15 graduate research assistants (GRAs). The total number of graduate students in our program is over 120. Furthermore, math majors have also steadily increased, with close to 200 total math majors, including more than 30 in our honors program.
Finally, 2024-2025 was the inaugural year for our department’s actuarial science program. In one year, the enrollment in the program has reached 20, showing a healthy demand and interest in the program.
Our department continues to prepare for further growth. We successfully conducted four assistant professor and six lecturer/teaching assistant professor searches during the 2024-2025 academic year, and all joined UT in fall 2025.
Among four assistant professor positions, one was a regular search in differential geometry, and the other three were through the university-level cluster hire initiative, in Science-Informed Artificial Intelligence (AI), Foundational AI, and Precision Health and Environment.
These cluster programs are the university’s strategic investments in future growth for cutting-edge and impactful research areas, as well as their applications.
While continuing to strengthen our research in both theoretical and applied mathematics, our department has been collaborating on interdisciplinary research and projects and exploring new opportunities with other departments within the College of Arts and Sciences (such as the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) and units across the university and beyond (e.g., the university’s industrial engineering and mechanical engineering programs, Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UT Institute of Agriculture, UT Health Science Center, College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies, UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute and its Bredesen Center, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory). The university’s cluster hiring program provides a catalyst for further collaborations.
The Department of Mathematics continues to serve its unique role for the university and the society at large by wholeheartedly embracing and actively contributing to the realization of UT’s strategic vision. Through outstanding research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and unwavering commitment to transformational education, our goal is to continue to shape the future of mathematics and inspire new generations of scholars.
In 2023-2024, our department underwent a comprehensive Academic Program Review (APR), which occurs once every ten years. The APR carried out a thorough assessment of the department’s performance and well-being in teaching, research/creative activity, and service. It also provided the department opportunities to plan for future adjustments, improvements, and growth.
With the college’s strong support, the department has been implementing some of the recommendations outlined in the External APR Committee’s report, including improving the efficiency of making teaching and service assignments, introducing policies for differential teaching load, and developing innovative pedagogies to help UT students succeed in their math classes.
Looking ahead, although there are many uncertainties and challenges, the department now has the strongest position in the past 10 years, and the future looks bright. The department will continue to rise as the university is on the rise.
In the rest of this newsletter, you will find achievements and profiles of selected faculty, students, and alumni. I hope you enjoy reading about the many wonderful things that happened in our department over the past year.
With gratitude and best wishes,
Xiaobing Feng
Department of Mathematics
Professor and Head