Welcome

"Solving a problem for which you know there's an answer is like climbing a mountain with a guide, along a trail someone else has laid. In mathematics, the truth is somewhere out there in a place no one knows, beyond all beaten paths. And it's not always at the top of the mountain. It might be in a crack on the smoothest cliff or somewhere deep in the valley."

                                                                                    - Yoko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor

Mathematics has always allowed people to model, understand, participate in, and transform the world around them.  Developments in Mathematics have further pushed Mathematics into the realms of economics, environmental science, and sociology.  Mathematics even provides understanding of our own bodies and minds through applications in biochemistry, medicine, and neurology.  Mathematics is now a collaborative field where cooperation and community effort are an essential and joyous part of the process of Mathematical discovery. Both Pure and Applied Mathematics provide lenses through which the beauty in patterns and chaos allow us to better appreciate the wonder of our world.   Understanding how Mathematics informs and influences all aspects of life on the planet Earth makes it central to developing and maintaining stable, fair, and equitable governments, economies, societies, and ecosystems.  Further, experiencing how mathematics fosters in us the habits of creativity, perseverance, exploration, courage, and openness to new perspectives provides us with valuable skills for fostering healthy communities and selves.

Our goals as Mathematicians and Mathematics Educators here on the bluff are to create a welcoming community to all and ensure that our students and our majors have the greatest access to and training with these tools in order to make our UP graduates the most impactful citizens for this unfolding century.