Claremont Colleges Form New Center for Mathematics

CLAREMONT, Calif., April 9 2008 – The Claremont College Consortium has formed a new joint venture—the Claremont Center for Mathematical Sciences (CCMS)—which will be led by Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and include math professors and students from CGU, Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College and Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). The center becomes one of only a few similar centers in the nation, and one of three in California.

“KGI is proud to be a part of this new center that will serve to elevate math education in the United States,” said T. Gregory Dewey, KGI’s senior vice president, dean of faculty and Robert E. Finnigan professor. “The collective talent of the Colleges’ mathematics faculty and students will make the CCMS a positive force for change in this vital academic discipline.”

KGI will be represented at the CCMS through faculty members Ali Nadim, PhD,and Alpan Raval, PhD. Both professors hold joint appointments with KGI and CGU’s School of Mathematical Sciences.

The Claremont Colleges, as a whole, have had much success in math, having won numerous awards and received many grants from prominent organizations, such as the National Science Foundation, the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. The goal of the new center is to promote new collaborative initiatives, utilizing the more than 300 math students and 50 math professors in the Consortium.

The center’s mission statement states, “The CCMS aims to promote excellence in research and teaching in mathematics by combining the resources of the individual members of the Claremont Consortium for the benefit of the extended mathematical community.”

Numerous studies have shown that the U.S. faces critical problems in mathematics, including: shortage of trained math teachers and reduced math understanding at the high school level; low representation of students of color in math; and low numbers of US-born math students in graduate school. The CCMS hopes to make an impact on the state of affairs in math, by fostering:

• Improvement in regional math education
• Sponsored research projects, where corporations, government agencies and foundations bring their difficult problems to campus
• Seminars and workshops
• Research projects by Claremont College math undergraduates
• Expanded research collaboration among the math faculty and the various users of math on and off campus, such as the expanding areas related to biological problems

Much of the work will be handled by Claremont Colleges math faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. In this respect, this new math institute will be distinct from the six national math institutes established over the past 30 years, which are devoted to research and staffed by temporary visitors. After hiring a full-time director, the main focus of the CCMS will be to tackle regional problems.

More information about the CCMS is located at http://ccms.claremont.edu.

KGI Background
Educating the future leaders of the bioscience industry, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) offers an interdisciplinary graduate education through its Master of Bioscience (MBS) degree program and its Ph.D. program in Applied Life Sciences. Using team-based learning and real-world projects, KGI's innovative curriculum seamlessly combines applied life sciences, bioengineering, bioethics and business management. KGI also has a robust research program concentrating on the translation of basic discoveries in the life sciences into applications that can benefit society. KGI is a member of The Claremont Colleges, located in Claremont, California.

Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences is dedicated to education and research aimed at translating into practice, for the benefit of society, the power and potential of the life sciences.