Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students
- Directory Information
- Faculty Directory
- Graduate Faculty Directory
- Emeritus Faculty Directory
- Staff Directory
- Graduate Student Directory
The department welcomes new people!
Please welcome our new front desk person, Luna Bulger. Luna replaces Amber Stotts who has taken a position in California. Luna comes from California, and is looking forward to working in the department. Welcome Luna!
This fall, Erica Sawyer has joined the department as a lecturer! Welcome Erica!
In January of 2023, we welcomed Peterson Chiliromango Moyo to the department as an assistant professor, career track. Moyo received a PhD in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics and a master of science in mathematics from the University of New Mexico. He received a bachelor’s degree from Lakeland University in Plymouth, Wisconsin.
His research interests are in mathematics education, especially teacher preparation. He has worked with elementary, middle school, and high school teachers for 12 years and taught in the K-12 system in Wisconsin, New Mexico, and his native Malawi. He is interested in mathematical knowledge for teaching, recognizing that teachers need to understand mathematics and statistics to teach it. As a result, he is committed to helping students attain a better understanding of mathematics and statistics and helping them effectively teach. He is interested in working with both teachers and students to improve the transition from high school to university mathematics and statistics.
Moyo is very enthusiastic about the opportunity to build on the department's strong commitment to pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers in Washington state and beyond. He will be a very positive influence on our students, faculty, and community, and we are pleased to have him join the department.
In August of 2023, we will be welcoming Anne Wilhelm to the department as an associate professor. Wilhelm earned a a PhD in mathematics educations in 2013 from Vanderbilt University, and from 2013 until 2019 she held the position of assistant professor at Southern Methodist University. She was promoted to associate professor at SMU in 2019, the position she currently holds.
Wilhelm is highly respected in the U.S. and internationally for her research on teacher learning and the development of tools to assess teachers’ development. Notable is Wilhelm’s recent work on the interpretation and use of a set of rubrics focused on instructional practice that promotes equity and access in mathematics classrooms.
Previous to earning a PhD, she earned a master’s in mathematics at the University of Washington. While there, she developed a love of teaching, and subsequently taught for four years at two high schools in the Seattle area. Wanting to learn more about mathematics education, she then pursued a master’s in curriculum and instructional leadership.
Wilhelm will also be serving as the department’s director of mathematics education. In this role she will oversee the department’s teacher preparation courses and lead the department’s research and graduate education efforts in mathematics education. Several faculty members in mathematics education have retired in recent years, and one of Wilhelm’s goals will be to rebuild this group, which has traditionally been a strength of the department.
For the past year, Abby Higgins ('17 PhD Math.), has been teaching in an instructor position in the department. After earning her PhD, she headed to California to an assistant professor position at California State University, Maritime Academy, before moving to an assistant professor position at California State University, Sacramento the next year. While on leave from that position, she has been working in our department.
Beginning in August, Higgins will have a more formal and permanent position in the department as an assistant professor, career track. In this position she will be able to continue her research in mathematics education, teach, and participate in curriculum development. She especially enjoys working with students in foundational courses and is excited to implement some strategies developed in her research in our classrooms.
Chencheng Cai, currently a postdoctoral researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia, will be joining us in August. Cai earned a master's degree in financial statistics and risk management in 2015, and a PhD in statistics in 2020, both from Rutgers University. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Department of Statistics, Operations and Data Science at Temple University.
Since earning his PhD, he has authored or co-authored over a dozen papers and given invited lectures at several institutions across the U.S. Cai has had experience working as a statistical consultant at Rutgers and had a summer internship at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
In addition to research, Cai greatly enjoys teaching and has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses.
Madison Neyland Receives 2023 WSU Top Ten Senior Award and CAS Outstanding Senior Award
Graduating mathematics senior Madison Neyland has received a WSU 2023 Top Ten Senior Award in Academics, as well as a CAS Outstanding Senior Award. Read about Madison.
Judi McDonald Nominated for Global Campus Award
Professor Judi McDonald has been nominated for the Global Campus Excellence in Online Teaching Award. Read more.
Sergey Lapin Receives President's Award for Leadership
Professor Sergey Lapin, associate director of the program in data analytics at WSU Everett, has received a WSU President's Award for Leadership for 2023. This honor recognizes top leaders at WSU. Meet past award recipients.
Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta Receives Excellence in Teaching Award
Professor Jan Dasgupta has received the Yang Liu Award for Exellence in Teaching International Students. More about the award.
Four Department Members receive 2023 CAS Awards
- Assistant Professor Daryl DeFord has received the Early Career Achievement Award for Tenure Track Faculty.
- Professor Bala Krishnamoorthy has received the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.
- Professor Sergey Lapin has received the Interdisciplinary Catalyst Award.
- Graduate student Molly Sutter has received the Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student Award.
Hasan Mahedi Receives GPSA Award and President's Award for Leadership for a Graduate Student
Graduate student Hasan Mahedi has received the 2022-2023 GPSA Excellence Award as a top Graduate Student Instructor. In recognition of his work with the GPSA and the American Statistical Association (ASA) Club, he has also received the President's Award for Leadership for a Graduate Student, for “demonstrating exceptional leadership and service to the university and the community as well as for leadership development in WSU students.” He is advised by Daryl DeFord. More about the awards.
Judi McDonald appointed as first-ever faculty regent on the WSU Board of Regents
Professor Judi McDonald has been appointed as the first-ever faculty regent on the WSU Board of Regents. Read this WSU Insider article.
V.S. Manoranjan Receives Honors College Award
Professor V.S. "Mano" Manoranjan received the Honors College Faculty Award at the Honors College Banquet on December 9, 2022.
Bala Krishnamoorthy Receives Award
Professor Bala Krishnamoorthy has been awarded the Yang Liu Excellence in Teaching Award by International Programs.
Faculty nominated for Global Excellence in Online Teaching Award
Professor Judi McDonald and Teaching Associate Professor Eric Remaley have both been nominated to receive a 2022 Global Excellence in Online Teaching Award. Read what students are saying about them.
Dean Johnson has received the 2022 Outstanding Service Award for the American Statistical Association (ASA)
Scholarly Associate Professor Dean Johnson has received the 2022 Outstanding Service Award for the American Statistical Association (ASA) In their decision, the committee noted "Dr. Dean Johnson is the 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Service Award. He has provided many years of excellent formal service to the Section, serving on the Executive Committee, contributing to the Section’s JSM program, co-leading an initiative to develop a journal for collaborative statisticians, and encouraging collaborative statisticians to participate and join the Section.”
Eric Remaley - WSU President's Award for Leadership
One of only four WSU faculty members have received a President's Award for Leadership in 2022, and Teaching Associate Professor Eric Remaley ('02 PhD Math.) is one of them. Eric has taught in the department for twenty years. Clearly, he loves to teach and based on the outstanding evaluations he receives from students, they love his teaching. Read this WSU Insider article. Read more about Eric.
Annie Lu receives Fulbright award
National Merit Scholar and graduating senior in applied mathematics Annie Lu has received a distinguished Fulbright award to study and do research in Hungary.
Read this WSU Insider article, and read about Annie's many more accomplishments here.
WSU 2022 Woman of the Year
Professor and Director of Data Analytics Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has received the WSU 2022 Woman of the Year Award.
Read about the award here.
Faculty receive 2022 College of Arts and Sciences Awards
August 16, 2022 Faculty Promotions
Dean Johnson
has been promoted to scholarly professor.Emily Sablan
has been promoted to associate teaching professor.L. Rocio Sotomayor
has been promoted to teaching professor.
Five department members receive 2021 College of Arts and Sciences awards
Debbie Brudie – Outstanding Career Staff Achievement Award
Jan Dasgupta – Interdisciplinary Catalyst Award
Sergey Lapin – Mid- Career Achievement Award – Career Track
Jakob Streipel – Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student
Michael Tsatsomeros – Excellence in Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award
Mostafa Rezapour has received the Craft Family Scholarship from the College of Arts and Sciences
Mostafa Rezapour has been selected to receive the Craft Family Scholarship. The scholarship was established by Arnold M. and Atsuko (Onda) Craft to support hard-working students financially and help them become thoughtful and well-informed citizens who pass enlightenment on to others.
Assistant Professor Will Hall receives WSU New Faculty Seed Grant
Assistant Professor Will Hall has received a WSU New Faculty Seed Grant for proposed research in mathematics education.
The aim of Professor Hall's project is to improve preservice secondary mathematics teachers’ professional identity by (1) connecting them with education professionals via a regional mathematics education conference and (2) having them explicitly investigate their developing professional identity by conducting an autoethnography on what it means to be a mathematics teacher.
Rocio Sotomayor receives WSU Vancouver Chancellor's Award For Advancing Equity
WSU Vancouver senior instructor Rocio Sotomayor has received the WSU Vancouver Chancellor's Award For Advancing Equity. This award honors a faculty or staff member for helping to infuse equity-mindedness throughout the campus and/or helping to build and maintain a safe, welcoming campus environment.
Elissa Schwartz receives funding from
the WSU Center for Arts and Humanities
Associate Professor Elissa Schwartz has been awarded funding for this coming summer from the Douglas J. Epperson Social Justice Fund from the WSU Center for Arts and Humanities for her proposed work on remedying the “Leaky Pipeline” of women in STEM. Her plan includes development of a workshop and forum to connect underrepresented trainees from WSU and abroad (particularly Africa) with professional development opportunities. This joint venture leverages the interdisciplinary faculty of the WSU Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, other faculty and researchers at WSU with expertise in mathematics and science, and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
Two faculty selected as members of the Provost's Teaching Academy
Professsor Bala Krishnamoorthy and Assistant Professor William Hall have been chosen as new members of the Provost's Teaching Academy. As described on WSU's website, "Membership in the Academy is limited to a select number of faculty with academic responsibilities at the university who have records of sustained excellence in teaching and are recognized for innovation and scholarship in teaching and learning. The mission of the Teaching Academy is to provide university-wide advocacy; human capital and expertise; and resources to enable the faculty of Washington State University to involve students in transformative learning experiences."
It is an honor for Professors Krishnamoorthy and Hall and an honor for the department that they have been selected to this distinguished group.
Five department members receive 2020 College of Arts and Sciences awards
Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy
has been promoted to professor.Dr. Sergey Lapin
has been promoted to clinical professor.Dr. Sheng-Chi Liu
has been promoted to associate professor.Dr. Xueying (Snow) Wang
has been promoted to associate professor.
Jave Pascual is the new director of CISER
Associate Professor Jave Pascual is the new director of The Consortium for Interdisciplinary Statistical Education and Research (CISER). Dr. Pascual replaces Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta who recently became director of Data Analytics. "I always believe that the development of statistical methodology should be motivated by questions on how to properly collect data, analyze it, and derive conclusions from it. CISER is a perfect venue for researchers across WSU campuses to discuss such issues. I am excited by the opportunity to be of assistance to WSU researchers and actively participate in such collaborative activities." Dr. Pascual received his doctorate in statistics from Iowa State University under the guidance of Prof. Bill Meeker, and his research has been mainly in reliability/survival analysis and process monitoring. He looks forward to broadening and expanding CISER's visibility and engagement within the WSU community.
Bala Krishnamoorthy gives TEDx talk on "Discovering hidden structure
TED Talks are all about "Ideas Worth Spreading," and Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy, WSU Vancouver, recently gave a TEDx Talk on, "Discovering hidden structure in big data" for the TEDxYouth in Camas, Washington. If you would like to view the talk click here.
Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta - Director of Data Analytics
Boeing Science/Math Education Distinguished Professor in Mathematics and Statistics, Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta, has been appointed by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to serve as Director of Data Analytics for the next two years. Professor Dasgupta replaces Nella Ludlow who left to take a position at Wright State University. Read the WSU Insider article for more information.
August 16, 2019 Faculty Promotions
Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy has received the WSU Vancouver Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence
WSU Vancouver associate professor Bala Krishnamoorthy has received the WSU Vancouver Chancellor's Award for Research. The Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence is given annually to a WSU Vancouver faculty member whose research quality and quantity are exemplary, and whose work has had a positive influence on the broader community. It is the university’s highest research honor. Click here to read about Dr. Krishnamoorthy.
Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has received a CAS 2019 Award
Pictured above left to right: Dean Jockers, Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta, and department chair Charles Moore.
Professor Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has received the CAS 2019 faculty teaching award for "Excellence in Graduate Advising and Mentoring."
Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta is the recipient of a 2019 WSU President's Award
Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta is the recipient of a 2019 WSU President's Award. To read about the award and Dr. Dasgupta click here.
Dr. Judi McDonald has received a CAS 2019 award and has also been named asssociate dean of the WSU Graduate School
Pictured above left to right: Dean Jockers, Dr. Dasguta, department chair Charles Moore. Professor Judi McDonald has received the CAS 2019 faculty service award for "Excellence in Institutional Service," and has also been named associate dean of the WSU Graduate School, a position she will begin on March 18. As a professor in the department since 2002, she has served as the committee chair and advisor for more than 20 graduate students, and published more than 40 peer‑reviewed papers as well as co‑authored a very successful textbook on introductory linear algebra. She has served in leadership roles in the Faculty Senate, including Chair of the Faculty Senate in the 2017‑18 academic year, and has served on countless university‑wide committees. Her responsibilities as an associate dean will overlap with those of Lori Carris as she transitions out of her administrative roles, specifically as the liaison to the Faculty Senate’s Graduate Studies Committee and liaison to the Provost’s Office on proposals for new and revised graduate programs. She will also take the lead on evaluation and oversight for Graduate School policies and procedures.
Dr. Kimberly Vincent has been appointed as the Associate Director of Region One of the Washington State Mathematics Council
Dr. Kimberly Vincent has been appointed by the Board of the Washington State Mathematics Council to be the Associate Director of Region 1, which is Northwest Washington State and is comprised of the following counties: Adams, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman. She will be responsible to the membership of her region by: representing them at the meetings of the board of directors', recruiting new members, arranging for the regional high school mathematics contests, and coordinating other activities of the council. The Washington State Mathematics Council is a professional organization that exists to promote and influence mathematics education. The membership is committed to developing, supporting, and encouraging opportunities that lead to quality mathematics curricula and effective instruction. WSMC promotes high professional standards and serves as a communication network for anyone interested in mathematics education.
Dr. Sergey Lapin has received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the WSU Greek Community
Dr. Sergey Lapin has received an Arete Outstanding Faculty Award from the WSU Greek Community. Each year the WSU Greek Community selects three WSU faculty to receive this award. A student from one of the honors classes he teaches said, "I have taken four of his math courses and they are always my favorite for the semester," adding that he helps everyone through classes and wants everyone to understand the material. “The Arête Awards are a great opportunity for our university administration and the Greek councils to recognize outstanding Greek chapters and members within our community,” said 2009 Panhellenic President Ali Scott.
Nikolaos Voulgarakis promoted to Associate Professor
Dr. Voulgarakis is a member of the WSU Pullman faculty. His research deals with stochastic processes, nonlinear dynamics, computational fluid dynamics and multiscale modeling. Read more about Dr. Voulgarakis and his research.
Nikolay Strigul promoted to Associate Professor
Dr. Strigul is a member of the WSU Vancouver mathematics faculty. He conducts interdisciplinary research across traditional disciplinary boundaries at the interface of applied mathematics, statistics and biology. Read more about Dr. Strigul and his research.
Sergey Lapin has received an award from the Honors College
"For outstanding commitment to the students of the Honors College," Dr. Sergey Lapin has received an Honors Faculty Award from the Honors College.
Ralph Chikhany has received the 2018 GPSA Graduate Student Instructor Excellence Award and a GPSA Senator of the Year Award
The Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) Graduate Student Instructor Excellence award has been given to mathematics graduate student Ralph Chikhany. An ‘excellent’ Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) is one that is consistently prepared for class and has prepared lecture and/or discussion material that is able to last the entire class period. The GSI also should demonstrate knowledge on the subject being taught, as seen in the content of the lectures and/or discussions, as well as knowledge of questions posed by the students. An ‘excellent’ GSI should also demonstrate an active interest in the success of his/her students by the availability of office hours, responsiveness to student emails, fair and timely grading of exams and/or assignments, and outreach to students who are struggling in the course. The ‘excellent’ GSI should also be rated as an outstanding instructor by other faculty and students alike. Ralph also received one of three GPSA Senator of the Year Awards.
Dean Johnson
Associate Clinical Professor Dean Johnson has been elected to serve on the Statistical Consulting Council of Sections for 2019-2021 to advance the interests of the association and its members. The Statistical Consulting Council of Sections is part of the American Statistical Association (ASA).
Faculty Receive ASWSU Appreciation Awards
The Associated Students of Washington State University (ASWSU) held their fifth annual Faculty & Staff Awards Banquet on Tuesday, April 10th. The ceremony was conducted in the Elson S. Floyd Multicultural Center. Candidates for awards were nominated by students, and the award recipients were then chosen from those candidates by a student committee.
Professor Marc Evans has received an award for Outstanding Open Educational Resources (OER) Usage. This award is given to faculty who have made substantial efforts to utilize Open Educational Resources in their courses. Dr. Evans received the award for the materials he uses in Stat 512.
Instructor Mark Lesperance has received an Exceptional Professor Award for the College of Arts and Sciences. He was one of four Arts and Sciences faculty recognized for their commitment to teaching and student success.
Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta - American Statistical Association (ASA) - Elected Fellow
Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has been selected as an American Statistical Association (ASA) Elected-Fellow. To be selected for this prestigious award, nominees must have an established reputation and have made outstanding contributions to statistical science. Only one-third of one percent of total association members may be elected each year.