Department of Mathematics and StatisticsNews and Achievements

2026

July

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  New Chair for the Math Department

  The Texas Tech College of Arts and Sciences has offered the position of Chair to present Interim Raegan Higgins, who has accepted and will be officially installed September 2026.  Besides having served as Acting and Interim Chair for the past year, Dr. Higgins brings a wealth of experience working with upper administration in her role as Associate Vice Provost the last 5 years.  She understands how to make things happen with her successful academic career marked by the involvement and management of millions of dollars in grant awards, navigating the assistant, associate, full professor ladder, all while engaged in outreach programs, which includes serving as president for one, the Association for Women in Mathematics, as well as an officer in several others.  Her knowledgeable, forthright direction toward positive results bodes well for Mathematics and Statistics as she takes the reins to steer the Department forward.  2026 is the Year of Math.  Texas Tech Mathematics and Statistics is headed in the right direction.

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  Two PhD students receive travel grants

  Hoang Nguyen and Huy Quang Pham each received $2,400 travel awards for the AMS-sponsored 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians conference in Philadelphia July 23rd to the 30th — a summer of travel, learning and wide exposure to mathematicians of all stripes for these young, inquisitive PhD candidates.

June

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  Hung Tran obtains grant

  Dr. Hung Tran has been awarded a DOE-Los Alamos National Laboratory two-year grant worth $66,000 beginning in June.  Another outstanding achievement from this productive professor.

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  PhD student receives dual travel grants

  Van Hoang Nguyen has been selected to attend a double conference, the 2026 Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling Camp at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE, and Mathematical Problems in Industry Workshop at the Drexel University in Philadelphia.  Mr Nguyen's award includes travel, dorm and meal accomodations.  Both events are sponsored by SIAM and run from June 9-12 and 13-18, respectively.  Professor Vu Thai Luan's encouragement to pursue travel grants has certainly born fruit.

May

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  Academic publications

  Professor Kirill Golubnichiy has had his first paper published in a Physics journal, Gravitation and Cosmology, Stationary Multiple Euclidon Solutions to the Vacuum Einstein Equations, arXiv:2502.03675.  And his Corruption via Mean Field Games is published in the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications.

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  Grant

  Assistant Professor Asim Dey was awarded a $15,0000 grant from the Casualty Actuarial Society for the project Bayesian Spatio-Temporal Modeling of Extreme Snowfall in Texas Using Extreme Value Neural Network (EVNN).  Dr. Dey makes his fourth entry in these announcements having been in the Department less than two years.

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  2026 President's Excellence in Teaching Award

  For the second time this semester, Professor Álvaro Pámpano is being recognized for his remarkable teaching abilities with the 2026 President's Excellence in Teaching Award.  Given at the Faculty Honors Convocation on May 5th, this recognition comes from the Provost's Office and demonstrates the commitment of the Texas Tech Math and Statistics Department to great research communicated to the student body in a clear, concise manner.

April

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  Math Undergrad Research Award 2026

  James Irwin received a 2026 Undergraduate Research Award for his work Meta-Learning Segmentation and Classification for Lung Cancer Decision Support at the April 23rd 2026 Undergraduate Research Awards Ceremony at the Museum of Texas Tech, given by the Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences (TrUE). Professor Lourdes Juan's Deep Neural Networks in Medical imaging group in her Artificial Intelligence in Medical Mathematical Modeling (AIM-cubed) Laboratory has served to shepherd his efforts. Further, AIM-cubed Pulmo, Mr. Irwin's specific group, earned a 2026 Top 5 Outstanding Commercialization Award for $1,000 from the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance.

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  Travel grant awarded to grad students

  Professor Vu Thai Luan has two Ph.D. students, Van Hoang Nguyen and Huy Quang Pham, who both received $700 travel awards to attend the Midwest Numerical Analysis conference held April 11-12 at Notre Dame University.

March

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  Professor sponsors winning Team in Texas Tech Innovation Hub competition

  Professor Lourdes Juan has mentored the Deep Neural Network Models in Medical Imaging group, which received the Red Raider Startup Award from the Texas Tech Innovation Hub competition.  The team was recognized for their project, Early Lung Cancer Detection (Early LCS), which applies machine learning to CT scans for early lung cancer detection.  Contest judges praised the team’s strong problem validation and clear pathway toward implementation.

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  Associate Professor promotions

  The Board of Regents has granted tenure to Professors Ruiqi Liu and Álvaro Pámpano, effective September, 2026.  Both professors have been successful in their respective fields, having received recognition and now granted tenure for their efforts.  The Department's intellectual quotient has risen.

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  Associate Professor promotion; Chancellor's Council Award; Grant

  And the Board of Regents also granted tenure to Professor Amanda Laubmeier, likewise effective September 2026.  Dr. Laubmeier earned the 2025-2026 Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award, and in the spirit of this accolade, is the co-Investigator, with PI Biology Professor Joseph R. McMillan, on a $2.978 million NIH grant, Population dynamics at an invasive front: Aedes aegypti in the American Southwest.  Her substantial achievements raise her status as well as the recognition of TTU Math in Biomathematics.

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  Professor Wei Guo granted leave for distinguished appointment

  Dr. Wei Guo has been granted leave from the Board of Regents after being named a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics for the spring of 2026.  Professor Guo is taking part in the Multi-Fidelity Methods for Fusion Energy program from March 9 to June 12, 2026.  Dr. Guo's invitation from such a prestigious group enhances the Department's image in the field of Applied Mathematics.

February

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  Álvaro Pámpano receives Hemphill Wells New Professor Award

  Professor Álvaro Pámpano has been recognized by the Texas Tech Parents Association with the Hemphill Wells New Professor Award for his positive impact on our Red Raider family community.

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  Yancy Nuñez receives College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Academic Advising Award

  Undergraduate Program Director and Instructor Yancy Nuñez has received this accolade in recognition of his attention to our undergraduate students, their issues, problems and successes.  He walks the walk and has been noticed.

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  Erandy Garcia receives College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Support Award

  The TTU College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Support Award has gone to Math Administrative Business Assistant Erandy Garcia, recognizing her helpful, can-do attitude she puts into practice for the Department.  She came to Tech from the Marines, and the "Semper Fi" sign in her office lets you know she's a go-getter.

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  PhD in Mathematical Finance highlighted in AI-generated Top 20 comparison

  Texas Tech University’s PhD in Mathematical Finance is listed at No. 11 in an AI-generated Top 20 PhD Programs (Quantitative Finance / Financial Engineering / Financial Mathematics) comparison produced using GPT-5.2 Thinking.

2025

December

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  Huy Quang Pham receives AMS travel grant for JMM 2026

  GPTI in good-standing Huy Quang Pham is being awarded a travel grant from the AMS worth $1,430 to attend the 2026 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC.

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  National Board Certified Teacher designation

  Texas Tech Math Instructor Laura Juarez, who also teaches at Monterey High School, has earned the designation National Board Certified Teacher from the NBCT.  This bespeaks her dedication and professionalism in the field.

September

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  Dimitri Volchenkov awarded $339,811 DoD Army/AVX grant

  Dr. Dimitri Volchenkov has been awarded a $339,811 grant from the US DoD Army/AVX Aircraft. The Department has a long-standing relationship with AVX Aircraft

June

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  Amanda Laubmeier earns NSF CAREER award

  Dr. Amanda Laubmeier is the PI for an NSF CAREER grant worth almost $495,000 for Parameter Estimation and Identifiability for Ecological Models with Seasonal Disruption.

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  Fangyuan Zhang secures DoD funding with TTUHSC collaborators

  Professor Fangyuan Zhang has secured funding for the DoD project Role of TBX2 in the establishment of the Prostate Cancer Pre-Metastatic Niche.

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  Vu Thai Luan receives NSF award for time integrators research

  Associate Professor Vu Thai Luan has received $172,450 from the NSF for Innovative Time Integrators for Stiff and Highly Oscillatory Systems.

May

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  Two PhD students receive NSF travel awards for Computational Mathematics Meeting

  Van Hoang Nguyen and Huy Quang Pham each received NSF-funded travel awards (~$1,200) to attend the NSF Computational Mathematics Meeting 2025 in Salt Lake City.

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  Huy Quang Pham

  The May travel award announcement.

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  Faculty secure $572,682 award with Blink Thermal collaboration

  Professors Katharine Long, Yasuki Sekiguchi, and Jeffrey Belding secured a $572,682 award for Texas Tech on the BlinkThermal XTEMP project.

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  Kirill Golubnichiy paper accepted; new book forthcoming

  Professor Kirill Golubnichiy has a paper accepted in AIMS Communications on Analysis and Computation and a new research book coming out in August.

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  Mohammadi Ain presents at 2025 AWM Research Symposium

  TTU AWM Chapter President Mohammadi Ain presented a poster at the 2025 AWM Research Symposium at UW–Madison.

April

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  Two math majors named Distinguished Undergraduate Students

  The TTU College of Arts and Sciences recognized four people for the 2025 Distinguished Undergraduate Student Award—two earning BS degrees in Mathematics.

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  Three faculty recognized as 2025 Professing Excellence awardees

  Three of the twelve 2025 Professing Excellence awardees—Jianna Davenport, Álvaro Pámpano, and Giorgio Bornia—represent Mathematics and Statistics.

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  Giorgio Bornia

  The Professing Excellence announcement.

March

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  Bradley Vigil awarded Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship

  After receiving the 2024 Charles S. Peirce and Quad Fellowships, Bradley Vigil has been awarded a TTU Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

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  Faculty fund five graduate summer research assistantships

  Assistant Professors Asim Dey and Travis Thompson are supporting five graduate students through summer research assistantships.

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  Travis Thompson

  Photo accompanying the research assistantship announcement.

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  Álvaro Pámpano supports three graduate students through startup funds

  Assistant Professor Álvaro Pámpano is supporting three graduate students from his startup funds for Summer 2025.

February

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  Faculty awarded $31,608 for Blink Thermal project

  Professors Katharine Long (PI), Yasuki Sekiguchi (co-PI), and Jeffrey Belding received $31,608 from DOD Air Force/Blink Thermal for a rapid contactless temperature measurement project.

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  Anh-Khoa Vo receives NSF award for inversion research

  Professor Anh-Khoa Vo received an NSF award for Deep Quasi-Reversibility Inversion for Source Localization Oncological Problems.

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  Ignacio Tomas secures $50,000 Sandia grant

  Dr. Ignacio Tomas secured a $50,000 Sandia National Laboratories grant for work on plasma model hierarchy for high energy density systems.

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  Asim Dey receives NSF grant for Digital Twin neuroimaging work

  Assistant Professor Asim Dey has been awarded an NSF Grant for Aspects of Digital Twin Studies for Neuroimages.

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  Wei Guo awarded $42,239 contract

  Professor Wei Guo has been awarded a $42,239.00 contract from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (contract B668841).

2024

December

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  Asim Dey awarded $43,500 JPL/Caltech grant

  A JPL/California Institute of Technology grant of $43,500 has been awarded for Open Climate Workbench.

November

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  Bari Hridoy and Jagdish Gnawali win travel grants for JMM 2025

  Bari Hridoy and TTU SIAM Chapter President Jagdish Gnawali won travel grants to the AMS 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle.

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  Jagdish Gnawali

  Photo accompanying the JMM travel grant announcement.

October

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  Rifat Rejuan earns “outstanding” poster recognition

  Graduate student Rifat Rejuan presented a poster at the 7th Annual SIAM Conference Texas–Louisiana Section and was deemed outstanding by organizers.

September

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  Magda Toda named AWM 2025 Fellow

  Department Chair Dr. Magda Toda was selected as an AWM 2025 Fellow for outstanding leadership supporting women and girls in mathematics.

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  Angela Peace recommended for promotion to Full Professor

  Dr. Angela Peace has the departmental recommendation for promotion to Full Professor.

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  Leif Ellingson promoted to Full Professor

  Dr. Leif Ellingson earned promotion to Full Professor for substantial contributions in Statistics and service to the Department.

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  Dmitri Pavlov recommended for tenure and promotion

  Dr. Dmitri Pavlov received a departmental recommendation for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor.

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  Ignacio Tomas earns NSF award and Simons travel support

  Dr. Ignacio Tomas won NSF award DMS-2409841 and was selected for a 2024 Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians grant.

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  Dermot McCarthy wins Simons Travel Support grant

  Associate Professor Dermot McCarthy won a 2024 Simons Travel Support for Mathematicians grant worth $42,000.

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  Bradley Vigil named 2024 Quad Fellow

  PhD student Bradley Vigil has been named one of only fifty 2024 Quad Fellows.

April

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  Math faculty earn four 2024 Professing Excellence awards

  Of the twelve 2024 awards given, Mathematics garnered four. Congratulations to Georgia Thompson, Clayton Paget, Abu Yillah and Jennifer Wang.

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  Zari Rachev wins 2024 Barnie Rushing Distinguished Research Award

  Professor Zari Rachev is the recipient of the 2024 Barnie Rushing, Jr. Faculty Distinguished Research Award (STEM disciplines).

March

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  Bradley Vigil receives Charles S. Peirce Fellowship

  PhD candidate Bradley Vigil was awarded a Charles S. Peirce Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship for work in Topological Data Analysis.

February

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  Raegan Higgins begins term as President of the AWM

  Full Professor and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Success Raegan Higgins has been elected President of the Association for Women in Mathematics and began her four-year term February 1.

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  Travis Thompson joins Brain Multiphysics editorial board

  Assistant Professor Travis Thompson was named to the editorial board of the journal Brain Multiphysics.

January

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  Hung Tran named SLMath program member

  Dr. Hung Tran has been named a Simons Laufer Mathematical Research Institute member for the program New Frontiers in Curvature.

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  Juntao Huang recommended for Office of Naval Research award

  Assistant Professor Juntao Huang (PI) and Andrew Christlieb (Co-PI) are recommended for approval of a $322,100 ONR award for a shallow water moment models project.

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  Volchenkov team receives AVX Aircraft contract

  Dimitri Volchenkov (co-PI) and collaborators in CS and IMSE received an AVX Aircraft contract concerning data fusion, data analytics, and AI methodologies.