About the Department

The Department of Mathematics is an undergraduate department with five full-time faculty members and about 40 undergraduate majors.  We are characterized by our excellent teaching, research productivity, diversity, and interdisciplinary connections.

Why Study at Andrews?

Andrews University provides a big-university experience in a small-college atmosphere. In particular, our department offers:

Exceptional Faculty: At Andrews, your professors are not only active in their respective specialties and nationally recognized for their research contributions, but also deeply interested in helping you find the best professional opportunities. Moreover, you will study in a Christian setting under professors who are dedicated to furthering your personal and spiritual development.

Research Environment The mathematics faculty have attracted over a million dollars of external research grants and published more than 60 research papers in the last 10 years. Furthermore, many students have coauthored research papers with faculty since the department encourages majors to participate in undergraduate research, both here at Andrews and in summer research programs and internships elsewhere. Students are able to give presentations and even have their work published in peer reviewed journals, which is not typically something that undergraduates can achieve. This helps distinguish our students when they apply to graduate programs and begin their careers.

Diversity and Camaraderie: Andrews is the most internationally diverse university in the US, and it is consistently in the top 10 most ethnically diverse university in the US. The atmosphere here is richly multicultural, and many of our majors are from under-represented groups. Three of the five full-time mathematics faculty and about one quarter of the majors are women. As a mathematics major, you will automatically become involved with eigen* (the Mathematics and Physics club). Eigen* sponsors functions such as the Friday eigen*Talks and eigen*Vespers, where you can enjoy food, intellectual stimulation, and worship. No matter what your background, the diversity and camaraderie in our department will make you feel at home.

Pi Mu Epsilon: Andrews University is home to the Michigan Gamma Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society. Students who qualify for membership may receive travel money to attend the summer MathFest conference and rub shoulders and exchange ideas with top math students from all over the country. Our students have won national recognition for their outstanding research presentations.

Interdisciplinary Connections Many mathematics majors choose second majors. Recent examples include physics, computer science, biology, engineering, chemistry, and English. The Department of Mathematics has strong ties to the Departments of Physics and Biology. Physics and Mathematics faculty and students meet every Friday for eigen*Talk, which features guest lectures and student research presentations. In addition, our department participates in a National Science Foundation funded knot theory research led by Professor Anthony Bosman and an interdisciplinary research group (the Seabird Ecology Team) with the Department of Biology. 

Undergraduate Research:  Rarely do mathematics students gain significant research opportunities at the undergraduate level, but that's exactly what math majors do at Andrews. All of our professors offer opportunities for students to join in their research and to give presentations and publish papers.  For example, the Seabird Ecology Team, a research group funded by the National Science Foundation, gives opportunities for mathematics and biology students to engage in interdisciplinary research in mathematical ecology. Student members of the group help with data analysis and mathematical modeling of the system and give presentations and coauthor papers with Professors Shandelle Henson and James Hayward.  Students have also been accepted into internships and REUs at other institutions, demonstrating the quality of our students and giving them the chance to interact with the larger mathematics community.

Scholarship and Student Work Opportunities: Math majors typically win substantial academic scholarships based on their ACT/SAT scores, and the Department offers six named scholarships. Also, mathematics majors are given preference in filling the numerous employment opportunities in the Department, including work as tutors in the Mathematics Center, as graders, and as supervisors for lab sections of certain courses.