university of oregon math phd application

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Mathematics

In the Department of Mathematics, you can explore concepts bridging the sciences and the humanities in a supportive and collaborative environment. In addition to being a highly active research department, we take great pride in the quality of our outstanding undergraduate teaching as well as our thriving graduate program.

Mathematics Commencement Ceremony

Sunday, June 16, 2024   1:00–3:00 p.m.   Straub Hall

More Commencement information

Mathematics News

What you can do with a degree in Mathematics

A degree in mathematics will prepare you to think and communicate about quantitative matters with clarity and precision. These skills are valuable in every human endeavor.

Industries employ mathematicians doing statistical and actuarial work (for example the financial and insurance industry, and healthcare), in accounting, computer software, and in engineering-related industries, like aerospace. Many mathematicians plan to enter other professions upon graduation, and many attend graduate or professional school in other areas (for example law, medicine, economics, or physics).

Careers for Undergraduates

Our Degree Programs

Our undergraduate math majors choose from three degree tracks tailored to their interests and career goals. Students with an interest in data science and computing may consider the Math and Computer Science major program. We also offer an accelerated master’s program that is aimed at allowing students to complete both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in a total of five years. Finally, we have a thriving PhD program that attracts students from across the globe.

BA or BS in Mathematics

• Standard Track
• Pure Mathematics
• Secondary Teaching

Declare or Change Major

Learn from Experts in the Field

Undergraduate students can work directly with professors through summer research awards, independent study, or our honors program. Our faculty is diverse and growing, and the department has distinguished research groups in many different areas of mathematics. Learn more on our research page.

Research Faculty Directory

Get Real-world Experience

Undergraduate students can find employment with the Math Department as paper markers or tutors. From volunteering with grade-schoolers in the Eugene Math Circle to attending the department’s Distinguished Lectures, find out about ways to expand and apply your learning in Mathematics.

Hands-On Learning

Math Seminars

Learn about Seminars

Eugene Math Circle

Members of the Department of Mathematics lead the Eugene Math Circle, a weekly program for grade school, middle school, and high school students. Guided by mathematicians and educators, students work on complex problems while exploring advanced math advanced topics that are normally outside the school curriculum.

Get Involved

Give to the Department of Mathematics

Learn More About Giving to CAS

Scholarships & Funding

All PhD positions in the Math Department are fully funded. Graduate Employees receive a stipend, full tuition waiver, and a generous health insurance package. Funding to travel to conferences is available through the Theodore W. Palmer Graduate Student Travel Fund.

CAS and UO Scholarships Graduate Funding

Academic Support

We have a dedicated group of advisors who are happy to meet with students to answer questions about our curriculum. Students are always welcome to drop in to their advising hours, or reach out to them via email.

Undergraduate Advising   Support for Graduate Students

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Admissions menu, – decision day extended –.

Due to the delay in FAFSA data being supplied to the University of Oregon, the UO is extending the confirmation deadline to June 1, 2024, for first-year students admitted for fall 2024. Find the latest information about our FAFSA timeline and financial aid offers .

Mathematics

Undergraduate degrees: BA or BS Undergraduate minor

About the major

The field of mathematics sits midway between the sciences and the humanities. Like the sciences, mathematical thought is very analytical, precise, and rigorous. But like the arts and humanities, mathematics is about exploring places of incredible grace and beauty, some of which can only be accessed through the power of imagination. You can explore geometry in ten-dimensional space, learn about advanced and exotic number systems, and study statistical techniques for finding patterns in data sets, all in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Students majoring in mathematics can choose a track from three areas: applied mathematics, pure mathematics, and secondary teaching. Applied mathematics studies physical, biological, and sociological aspects; pure mathematics focuses on the development of mathematical principles for their own sake; and secondary teaching prepares students to teach math. Regardless of your focus, the mathematics major will teach you the art of disciplined and logical thought, skills that are very valuable to future employers. A mathematics degree prepares you for work in fields like engineering, computer programming, information technology, financial planning, data management, business, and education.

A little more info

• The mathematics department offers opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in teaching and tutoring mathematics.
• The pure mathematics track will prepare you for the advanced study of mathematics at the graduate level. There are many opportunities for students to interact with researchers one-on-one, write honors theses, and participate in summer research projects.
• For students interested in the applied side of mathematics, we offer courses on advanced differential equations, mathematical cryptography, networks and combinatorics, and probability and statistics.
• We host several talks each year aimed specifically at undergraduates and given by distinguished visiting mathematicians.  

Career Opportunities

Mathematics has applications in almost every professional field, especially accounting, computer software, business, and finance. Math skills are exercised in architecture and other fields of design. You might become a much-needed mathematics teacher, passing on valuable knowledge to young students, or decide to explore theoretical and abstract concepts through a master’s or doctoral program.

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To be admitted to the University of Oregon for the purpose of seeking an advanced degree or certificate, you must hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited four-year U.S. college or university OR hold an equivalent credential from a qualifying international institution.

This degree must be conferred before your first day of classes at the UO.

Applicants must also meet the Division of Graduate Studies'  English Language Proficiency Requirement and international applicants must verify the availability of sufficient financial support , per U.S. Government regulations.

Students who already hold a graduate degree at the same level and discipline for which they are applying may be admitted to the University of Oregon only by petition to the Division of Graduate Studies. In cases where a student already holds a similar degree, the content of the original degree must be fundamentally different from the degree to be pursued at the UO.

All other admission eligibility requirements, such as GPA and required tests, vary by program. These requirements are determined by the individual schools and academic departments. Check with your prospective program to find out more.

If you are concerned about your eligibility for admission, please contact the Division of Graduate Studies  for information about obtaining a preliminary credential analysis.

Application Fee

Doctoral, Master's, Certificate, Admitted Non-Degree Status and Exchange  

• $70 for domestic applicants
• $90 for international applicants

Graduate Microcredential

• $35 for all applicants

Payment Method 

Credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover) - you will be asked to submit your payment when you complete your application.

Fee Waivers and Discounts

The Division of Graduate Studies offers graduate application fee waivers and discounts for applicants who meet specific criteria.

Application Deadline

Applicants for the following year open in the fall of the preceding year. Application deadlines vary by program. Deadlines may be set as early as December 1 for the following fall term, or as late as 30 days before the beginning of the term.

Plan ahead and confirm all deadlines with the academic program(s)   you are interested in early in the application process.

Application Review

Your application for admission will be reviewed first by your prospective program. The graduate program will make an admission decision and notify both you and the University of Oregon Division of Graduate Studies.

The Division will review your application to confirm that you meet University of Oregon minimum requirements for admission (outlined above) and will finalize your offer of admission.

You will be interacting primarily with the program during the application process, though you may also interact with the Division of Graduate Studies.

Deferral policies vary by program. Applicants must work with their prospective program to determine whether deferring admission is a possibility.

Application Submission Procedures

Domestic Applicants

You are a  domestic applicant if you are one of the following:

• Are a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States
• Have been granted asylee, refugee or paroled in the public interest status by the United States government
• Are in the United States in an undocumented or DACAmented status

Domestic Applicant Procedures

International Applicants

You are an international applicant if you are one of the following:

• Are a citizen or permanent resident of a country other than the United States and you intend to return
• Are in the United States on an educational, worker, or visitor visa, or are residing in your home country
• Have filed an application for United States citizenship or permanent residency, but have not yet been granted approval

International Applicant Procedures

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Undergraduate degrees: BA or BS Undergraduate minor

About the major

The field of mathematics sits midway between the sciences and the humanities. Like the sciences, mathematical thought is very analytical, precise, and rigorous. But like the arts and humanities, mathematics is about exploring places of incredible grace and beauty, some of which can only be accessed through the power of imagination. You can explore geometry in ten-dimensional space, learn about advanced and exotic number systems, and study statistical techniques for finding patterns in data sets, all in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Students majoring in mathematics can choose a track from three areas: applied mathematics, pure mathematics, and secondary teaching. Applied mathematics studies physical, biological, and sociological aspects; pure mathematics focuses on the development of mathematical principles for their own sake; and secondary teaching prepares students to teach math. Regardless of your focus, the mathematics major will teach you the art of disciplined and logical thought, skills that are very valuable to future employers. A mathematics degree prepares you for work in fields like engineering, computer programming, information technology, financial planning, data management, business, and education.

A little more info

• The mathematics department offers opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in teaching and tutoring mathematics.
• The pure mathematics track will prepare you for the advanced study of mathematics at the graduate level. There are many opportunities for students to interact with researchers one-on-one, write honors theses, and participate in summer research projects.
• For students interested in the applied side of mathematics, we offer courses on advanced differential equations, mathematical cryptography, networks and combinatorics, and probability and statistics.
• We host several talks each year aimed specifically at undergraduates and given by distinguished visiting mathematicians.  

Career Opportunities

Mathematics has applications in almost every professional field, especially accounting, computer software, business, and finance. Math skills are exercised in architecture and other fields of design. You might become a much-needed mathematics teacher, passing on valuable knowledge to young students, or decide to explore theoretical and abstract concepts through a master’s or doctoral program.

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College of arts and sciences menu, college of arts and sciences.

Mathematics Faculty

Nicolas Addington

Arkadiy Berenshtein

Tricia Bevans

Boris Botvinnik

Marcin Bownik

Jon Brundan

Xiaojing Chen-Murphy

Colin Crowley

Galen Dorpalen-Barry

Daniel Dugger

Ellen Eischen

Cassandra Fisher

Laura Fredrickson

Hayden Harker

Kristen Henderson

Patricia Hersh

Alexander Kleshchev

Elina Kleshcheva

David Levin

Robert Lipshitz

John Machacek

Jesse Madnick

Luca Mazzucato

Jason Murphy

James Murray

Maria Nemirovskaya

Tammy Nezol

Victor Ostrik

Liliana Pazdan-Siudeja

N. Christopher Phillips

Alexander Polishchuk

Michael Price

Nicholas Proudfoot

Peter Ralph

Hal Sadofsky

Bijan Shahir

Yefeng Shen

Chris Sinclair

Rachel Snyder

David Steinberg

Ryan Takahashi

Jennifer Thorenson

Arkady Vaintrob

Micah Warren

Benjamin Young

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Mathematics (BA/BS)

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• Mathematics (BA/​BS)
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The field of mathematics sits midway between the sciences and the humanities. Like the sciences, mathematical thought is very analytical, precise, and rigorous. But like the arts and humanities, mathematics is about exploring places of incredible grace and beauty, some of which can only be accessed through the power of imagination. You can explore geometry in ten-dimensional space, learn about advanced and exotic number systems, and study statistical techniques for finding patterns in data sets, all in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Students majoring in mathematics can choose a track from three areas: applied mathematics, pure mathematics, and secondary teaching. Applied mathematics studies physical, biological, and sociological aspects; pure mathematics focuses on the development of mathematical principles for their own sake; and secondary teaching prepares students to teach math. Regardless of your focus, the mathematics major will teach you the art of disciplined and logical thought, skills that are very valuable to future employers. A mathematics degree prepares you for work in fields like engineering, computer programming, information technology, financial planning, data management, business, and education.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate proficiency with the calculational techniques and applications of calculus, including the ability to show that limits and derivatives do or do not exist.
• Demonstrate a familiarity with the breadth of mathematics, including linear algebra and at least one area from modern algebra, basic analysis, and number theory.
• Read and write mathematical proofs, producing arguments that are logically and syntactically correct.
• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of some area of mathematics.
• For students on the secondary education track only: Pass the licensure examination in mathematics.

The department offers undergraduate preparation for positions in government, business, and industry and for graduate work in mathematics and statistics. Each student’s major program is individually constructed in consultation with an advisor.

Upper-division courses used to satisfy major requirements must be taken for letter grades, and only one D grade (D+ or D or D–) may be counted toward the upper-division requirement. At least 12 credits in upper-division mathematics courses must be taken in residence at the university.

Statistical Methods I ( MATH 425 )  cannot be used to satisfy requirements for a mathematics major or minor.

To qualify for a bachelor’s degree with a major in mathematics, a student must satisfy the requirements for one of three options: the standard track, pure mathematics, or secondary teaching. In each option, most courses require calculus as a prerequisite, and in each option some of the courses require satisfying the bridge requirement.

• Standard Track
• Pure Mathematics
• Secondary Teaching

Mathematics Major - Standard Track

Mathematics major - pure mathematics, mathematics major - secondary teaching, four-year degree plan.

The degree plan shown is only a sample of how students may complete their degrees in four years. There are alternative ways. Students should consult their advisor to determine the best path for them.

To enroll with courses that have prerequisites, students must complete the prerequisite course with grades of C– or better or P. All upper-division mathematics courses must be taken for letter grades to count toward a mathematics major or minor, and only one D grade (D+ or D or D–) may be counted toward the upper-division requirements for the major or minor.

Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics: Standard Track

Bachelor of science in mathematics: standard track, bachelor of arts in mathematics: pure mathematics, bachelor of science in mathematics: pure mathematics, bachelor of arts in mathematics: secondary teaching, bachelor of science in mathematics: secondary teaching.

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Detailed instructions are available on the program’s website. The following are required for your application:

Graduate School

• Resources to Prepare for Graduate School
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Graduate school newsletter - 2024-05-01t00:00:00.

In this issue:

• Grad Research Photo Comp Winners
• Deadlines for Graduating Students
• Online Career Conference for Doctoral Students and Ph.D.s

Summer GRAD courses

• On-campus Student Housing
• Certificate Program for College and University Teaching Can Open Doors
• Open Office Hours for IT and Writing Center
• Fulbright U.S. Student Program Information Session
• ORISE Internship Opportunity

OSU Days of Service

• Spring Conferences and Workshops
• OSU Libraries and Press Open House

From the Graduate School

Grad research photo competition winners.

The Grad Research Photo Competition gives us a glimpse into the wide-variety of research performed by graduate students at Oregon State. Congratulations to this year's winners!

• First place: "Parkrose: A Community Archive," Jada Krening, M.S. student, College of Liberal Arts
• Second place: "Ag-Robots in Perspective," Alejandro Velasquez, Ph.D. student, College of Engineering
• Thirds place: "Peek-a-Boo with Coral Crabs," Mackenzie Kawahara, Ph.D. student, College of Science

View this year's winning photos and learn more about the stories behind the images.

Deadlines for graduating students

If you're planning to graduate in the coming months, please find the Graduate School's degree completion steps and deadlines on the certificate , master's and doctoral degree pages. On those pages you can find graduation timelines and required tasks such as submitting your program of study, diploma application and final exam scheduling forms. Avoid last-minute surprises and set yourself up for a smooth finish to your well-earned degree! Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

Graduating master's and doctoral students are invited to celebrate their accomplishments with family and friends at OSU's annual commencement ceremony. All graduate students must RSVP for commencement by May 15 by logging in to Beaver Hub and searching for "Graduate Students-Commencement Attendance Confirmation." This year's ceremonies will be held on Saturday, June 15, in Corvallis, and Sunday, June 16, at OSU-Cascades. Visit the commencement participation and deadline information.

Commencement information for doctoral students only: Please email your major professor(s) names or other designated faculty member who will serve as your escort to the Graduate School no later than May 15.

To make sure your name is announced correctly at commencement, we will be utilizing the NameCoach platform. You will receive an email invitation from the Graduate School with a request to record your name as indicated on your diploma application. Log in to NameCoach using your ONID. Please speak slowly and clearly and leave any helpful pronunciation notes in the platform.

Beyond the Professoriate Annual Online Career Conference for Ph.D.s

Join the Beyond Prof team for a week of webinars, each designed to show doctoral students and postdocs what it takes to successfully build a nonacademic career as a Ph.D.

Attend Live: May 6-10, 9 to 9:45 a.m. PT each day Where: Online! Login to register and attend . Price: No cost to attend!

The Graduate School and its partners offer GRAD courses for students in all disciplines. View The courses .

GRAD 514 - Introduction to Graduate Writing: 3 credits, online Covers the expectations for writing at the graduate level. Examines features of successful, graduate-level academic writing to produce documents for program, courses, advisors, and colleagues. Explores topics related to information literacy, proposal and grant writing, and general graduate writing strategies.

GRAD 520: Responsible Conduct Research: 2 credits, online Covers 10 topics in responsible conduct of research: ethical decision making; human subjects; animal welfare; data acquisition, sharing and ownership; research misconduct; conflicts of interest; authorship; peer review; mentor/trainee responsibilities; and collaborative science. Weekly writing assignments. Useful to all students who conduct scholarly activity. Provides transcript-visible training in research ethics relevant to the Graduate Learning Outcome established by Faculty Senate to be able to conduct scholarly and professional activities in an ethical manner.

Join the waitlist for on-campus student housing

Oregon State has on-site living options for upper division and graduate students. Apply for the waitlist today with no deposit needed or obligation to commit at this time. New spaces opening in fall of 2024.

Certificate program for College and University Teaching can open doors

The Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching (GCCUT) is accepting applications for the Corvallis based and Ecampus programs through August 15 . Priority deadline is June 30 . GCCUT is designed to provide advanced course work and experiential learning opportunities to students who plan to pursue careers that require teaching and facilitation skills. Graduates have leveraged their GCCUT certificate to successfully obtain positions in higher education, research settings, private industry, as well as government and nonprofit agencies. More information can be found on the GCCUT website .

Open office hours for Grad School IT

Do you need help with a Graduate School service, page, or form? Are you a current Oregon State student, faculty, or staff? Join us for real-time assistance.

When: Tuesdays, 10-11:30 a.m. (PT) Where: https://beav.es/GS-Help

Graduate Writing Center live help

Are you looking for writing help? The Graduate Writing Center is here to help! Join a Zoom drop-in session with the Graduate Writing Center and get answers to your questions about writing and research.

When: Tuesdays, 3-4:30 p.m. (PT) Where: GWC Live Zoom Meeting

From our Partners

Fulbright us student program information session.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers a choose-your-own-adventure to research, teach, or participate in graduate study abroad in all academic disciplines to passionate and accomplished graduating college seniors, graduate students, and professionals from all backgrounds. Through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, U.S. citizens can enrich their educations, advance their careers—and make meaningful contributions abroad and at home. No matter where you are in your education, come learn about how you can get prepared for this program.

National and Global Scholarships Advising at OSU offers you support and advice on your applications and invites you to apply!

Please join National and Global Scholarships Advising for this hybrid event :

Fulbright U.S. Student Program Information Session Date: Thursday, May 2 Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: LInC 343 Join online: beav.es/cXt

ORISE internship opportunity

The Environmental Protection Agency is recruiting for their ORISE internship opportunity with the EPA lab in Corvallis, Oregon: https://zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/EPA-ORD... . This is a one- to two-year term position, with potential for extensions based on available funding. The internship will work on projects to improve the quality and accessibility of several large, near-continental scale geospatial datasets, such as EPA's StreamCat and LakeCat datasets and the National Nutrient Inventory. See the link for a full description and how to apply.

The annual OSU Days of Service is BIGGER and better than ever! During the entire month of May , join Beavers who share your interest and commitment in making a positive change. Each year in May, alumni, students and friends use this shared community spirit and join together to make positive change right in their own communities - either with work or with friends and fellow Beavs. Find out both in-person and online ways to help.

Spring Career Fair and Workshops

May 1: The Grad School Exploration Fair - Learn about the possibilities for continuing your education and meet with 20+ graduate schools from across the nation! noon-3 p.m., Memorial Union Building, Horizon Room.

May 1: Virtual Application Workshop - This virtual session reviews the application process, offering tips and suggestions to ensure you are submitting a competitive application to MBA, MSB, or Graduate Certificate Programs at Oregon State University. We recommend (but do not require) that you attend an Information Session before attending an Application Workshop. Zoom link will be provided after registration. noon-1 p.m. Virtual Event

May 1: Setting & Achieving Goals - Goals come in all sizes, and can help you accomplish work and succeed. Some goals have better results than others, and sometimes it's easier/harder to accomplish certain goals. Join us to learn how to make effective goals that work for and support you, and help you achieve your aspirations. 1-2 p.m. Virtual Event

May 8: The Writing Process & Time Management - Writing is a process that takes energy, concentration and time--things we might be running short on these days. Join us to think through steps of the writing process and discuss how to manage time effectively. Together we will explore how to navigate these elements and follow through with a written end-product. 3-4 p.m. Virtual Event

May 14: Oops I Still Need a Job or Internship - This workshop will provide you with tips and strategies to make the job search process less overwhelming and help you find that last-minute opportunity for the upcoming summer. 5-6 p.m. Virtual Event

OSU Libraries and Press Open House Friday, May 3

Join us Friday, May 3, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the second annual OSU Libraries and Press Open House at the Valley Library. Uncover the diverse services, spaces, and materials we offer to our patrons. Take a tour of the library, exploring key displays and areas across several floors. The main floor will feature displays showcasing intriguing items from our Library of Things collection and some of our exceptional partners sharing our space.

Enjoy snacks, win prizes and discover why the Valley Library is hailed as the best study spot on campus!

While you are there, be sure to stop by The Graduate Student Commons . Grad Commons is a place for graduate students on the sixth floor of the Valley Library. It supports student success by providing independent, collaborative and facilitated learning experiences.

OSU Pet Day is one of the most popular annual events in Corvallis!

Head to Magruder Hall Saturday, May 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the festivities. Activities include a petting zoo, teddy bear surgery, dog wash and dog agility demos.

Booths are staffed by vendors and volunteers who provide information on animal health and wellness, nutrition, adoption and therapy.

On sale will be animal-related products and gifts. Come visit with llamas, goats, greyhounds and ponies!

Contact Info

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Phone: 541-737-4881 Fax: 541-737-3313

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Department of Mathematics

Malgorzata Peszynska named a University Distinguished Professor

Malgorzata Peszyńska, newly honored as a University Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University, has charted a remarkable path—shaped by uncommon talent, grit, and a spirit of joyful independence.

Renowned for her exploration of the physical world through the prism of mathematics and computation, Peszyńska's work has yielded fascinating insights over her distinguished career. Her research has fostered innovation and enabled applications with global impact on pressing environmental concerns and natural resource management.

In recognition of her achievements, she has earned Oregon State's highest academic honor. The university awards this distinction to a select few faculty nominated by their peers, with the College of Science having the highest number at 19.

"Dr. Malgorzata Peszyńska is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in mathematical and computational modeling of complex processes, and her work has been particularly significant in building bridges across disciplinary boundaries," Provost Ed Feser wrote in the university’s announcement of this honor.

Peszyńska will present a university distinguished lecture , along with one other 2024 distinguished professor: Todd S. Palmer in the College of Engineering. She will present her lecture on Wednesday, May 8, at 1:30 – 3 p.m. in the Memorial Union Horizon Room. Her lecture is titled, “Math Matters: Multi-* Modeling, Analysis and Simulation.” Register for the lecture here .

“This is an honor and accomplishment, and evidence of appreciation coming from the many colleagues, students and collaborators,” Peszyńska said. “It is also a responsibility, and I am not the only one deserving, but now I can stand on the shoulders of giants and pay it forward.”

As the Joel Davis Faculty Scholar in Mathematics, Peszyńska is acclaimed for her pioneering work in numerical analysis and modeling. Her recognition as an AAAS Fellow in 2020 highlights her “exceptional contributions to multidisciplinary mathematical and computational modeling of flow and transport in porous media."

Peszyńska's work has been supported by more than $3M from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other agencies and industries. She has authored more than 119 research publications in high impact computational mathematics journals including SIAM journals and in the interdisciplinary venues such as the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Advances in Water Resources, Geophysics, and other high-Impact journals, and her publications have received more than 2,000 citations.

Over the years, her achievements have garnered numerous awards: She received the Geosciences Career Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), She's also been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow by the Kosciuszko Foundation and served as a 2009-2010 Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Warsaw, 2006 Mortar Board Top Professor award, 2016 Graduate faculty award and more.

A mathematical odyssey in energy and climate

Peszyńska specializes in modeling, analysis, and numerical analysis of models, a discipline that seeks to describe real-world systems mathematically, so they can be simulated, analyzed predicted and—when there are problems—solved.

With expertise that spans disciplines, Peszynska primarily works to mathematically solve problems related to environment and, recently, climate change. Her modeling of mass and energy flow and transport includes porous media phenomena in aquifers, oil and gas reserves, carbon sequestration, solar cells and the effect of permafrost warming. Perhaps most notable is her work on phase transitions in methane hydrate transfer and evolution, as well as in using computational mathematics to study complex pore-scale environments. This work aims to understand and predict the presence and behavior of fluids in nature to mitigate potential disasters, like hazardous explosions or methane emissions contributing to global warming and addressing challenges in climate science and geophysics.

In her recent NSF-supported work on studying permafrost changes, Peszyńska seeks to predict and mitigate potential large-scale events such as building collapses and coastal erosion, highlighting the urgency for more modeling in this area.

Her research team employs computers to approximate solutions, striving for accuracy even when the true solution is unknown, she explained. Ultimately, they contemplate how computational algorithms can approximate truth without certainty, delving into the mysteries of mathematics.

"There's so much about the methods themselves that intrigue us in this mystery," she said. "How do you achieve that? How can you anticipate whether your computational algorithm will yield a prediction close enough to the true solution, regardless of what that true solution might be, without actually having knowledge of it?"

Peszyńska will explore this and other questions in her public lecture . She will also “delve into how her research team explores multi-scale multi-physics systems using complex computational mathematics, inspired by real-life applications. She will discuss their investigation of porous media at nano-, pore-, lab-, and field scales, predicting their responses to environmental changes. She will also emphasize the importance of fostering interdisciplinary collaborations within Oregon State University and with external partners to encourage students to embrace complexity over simplicity.”

Malgorzata Peszynska on the southeast side of Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, where two trails meet at the East West Divide. Peszynska's journey has also taken her on trails from East to West, over 5,000 miles from Poland to Oregon.

From Warsaw to worldwide impact: A wholehearted journey

Born and raised in Warsaw, Poland, Peszynska discovered her passion for mathematics at a young age. Encouraged by her family, she cultivated that passion alongside her love for the natural world, leading her to study mathematics in the context of physical phenomena and ultimately specialize in mathematical modeling and computational solution of flows through porous media and their geological applications.

She earned a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the Warsaw University of Technology and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Augsburg in Germany. She also holds a habilitation degree from the Warsaw University of Technology.

Her interest in real-life applications is driven, in part, by a personal passion for the natural environment and outdoor activities. And she commits fully to her pursuits, whether delving into complex equations, building interdisciplinary teams, or enjoying leisure activities like skiing and sailing. Embracing her mantra to "Make your own kind of music," she consistently tries to choose the complex and challenging path over the simple and easy.

Reflecting on the most meaningful milestones and accomplishments that led to this recognition, Peszynska shared that it's not about one single thing but rather a tapestry of efforts woven from countless interesting problems and diverse potential directions.

“At every fork in the road, we are choosing a path and sometimes we succeed in making progress,” she said. “At times, the most cited papers are the easiest for us, and sometimes those least noticed are the hardest but might make an impact much later. This may be scary when looking ahead, but it gets easier over time.”

She likens her role as a mathematician to that of a translator, bridging gaps between disciplines and applying mathematical rigor. Collaborating with colleagues from within mathematics and across other fields has empowered her to tackle real-world modeling projects with significant practical implications, even in the absence of a clear existing mathematical framework for analysis. From exploring multi-scale modeling techniques to navigating complex algorithms, these partnerships have broadened her perspective and fueled innovation.

As a mentor, she encourages students to discover their passions and gently nudges them to work diligently towards their goals, knowing they might change their minds along the way. But, she said, “There's no substitute for hard work. Sometimes, it's not just about assignments or tasks; it's about doing repetitive steps and finding the discipline to keep going. One of my past mentors said, ‘All you can do is work.’ And that's true. It means showing up every day, putting in your hours, and eventually, things will click. In turn, mentoring isn't easy. You offer advice, but ultimately, it's up to them to decide what works best for them. It's not unique—I don't have all the answers. Live and let live, I suppose—that's another principle I try to uphold.”

One of her former students, Scott Clark ('08), listed in Forbes Magazine’s 30 under 30, shared, “Dr. Peszyńska’s guidance led me down the interdisciplinary path that would become the foundation of my later graduate and professional work. ... She had a direct, positive impact on my career trajectory, and I would not be where I am today without her.”

At that, she humbly replied, “We have a lot of brilliant undergraduate students, and they just need an opportunity to fly. … And so we should be accommodating them, I think. Yeah, let them fly."

She has also found leading the community in various professional circumstances gratifying – “building one connection at a time and not letting go.” Peszyńska has served as a program director for computational mathematics for the NSF and in multiple roles for the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Additionally, she organizes conferences, serves on editorial boards, and participates in review panels for prestigious institutions.

Malgorzata Peszyńska and her students and postdocs celebrating the graduation of Lisa Bigler (Ph.D. 2022).

Challenges and rewards: Bridging disciplinary divides

Peszynska’s success in bridging complex mathematics and diverse real world disciplines has much to do with her independent and joyful spirit.

She describes her atypical view of computational and applied math as an "attitude," rather than a discipline. “My work leans closer to art in its abstract form, or closer to science and engineering in its useful side. This dichotomy is not always understood or appreciated, and it feels funny and sometimes tedious that we may have to prove ourselves over and over. Doesn't everyone want to have clean air, enough food, exciting and intellectually stimulating complex work and stability of life? Live and let live!

“But my strategy is to not try to win anyone over to interdisciplinary work but rather to enjoy the intellectual and emotional joy of learning the new language while appreciating the cultural differences. The reward is that you build the bridges rather than straddle the fence.”

To apply her discipline and contribute wholly to critical concerns is very hard work, and she competes mostly with herself, harnessing discipline if ever enthusiasm wanes. Just as she advises her students: Do the work.

“On the lighter side, most days I wake up happy in the morning to continue doing this work,” she said. “It's fun, more fun than video games because I can make my own with the simulations. So that's exactly what I hope for others, especially students, that they will find fun in it—potentially even more, making a difference, one step closer to a better world.” Curious minds may explore Peszyńska’s website for its challenges and interactive learning. Exploring innovative solutions can feel akin to solving puzzles, but even more rewarding.

The lasting impact of her work, that she will hold most dear, is the enduring value of lifelong learning and the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration—with its potential to shape the future. And she truly hopes that students will experience and appreciate the intrinsic joy and real-world impact that computational and applied mathematics have to offer.

“I am thrilled to see Malgo Peszyńska get this well-deserved recognition,” said Eleanor Feingold, dean of the College of Science. “Her world-class work in mathematical and computational modeling, coupled with her dedication to interdisciplinary collaboration, are instrumental in shaping the future of environmental science.”

Along her journey, Peszyńska has had to choose between many forks in the road. With too many options to follow in one lifetime, she acknowledges the opportunities left behind for future lives.

What might she pursue in her next life? Well, she might need two (or more). “Right now, my count goes into the upper teens.”

Read more stories about: news , faculty and staff , women in science , mathematics , research , awards & recognition , climate change , interdisciplinary

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College of Science

'Inverse problems and Harry Potter's Cloak': Lonseth Lecture 2024

Esteemed mathematician Gunther Uhlmann will present the 39th Lonseth Lecture on Tuesday, May 14. RSVP today.

The event will begin by honoring student and faculty achievements at the Department of Mathematics annual awards ceremony from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Then, Uhlmann will speak from 4 to 5 p.m., followed by a public reception. The event takes place at the LaSells Stewart Center.

In his talk, "Inverse Problems and Harry Potter's Cloak," Uhlmann will explore various inverse problems encountered across scientific disciplines. Inverse problems involve deducing causes from observed effects, common in science and engineering, solving backward from outcomes to parameters.

Gunther Uhlmann is the Robert R. and Elaine F. Phelps Endowed Professor at the University of Washington. He has received Sloan and Guggenheim fellowships, and he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on inverse problems, and his work spans fields like medical imaging, geophysics and material science. He has received prestigious awards such as the Bôcher Memorial Prize and the Kleinman Prize.

Established in 1985, the Lonseth Lecture series pays tribute to the legacy of Arvid T. Lonseth, a respected figure in the Mathematics Department at Oregon State University. Explore more about Arvid Lonseth and the lecture series to appreciate its significance within academia.

Gunther Uhlmann

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Malgorzata Peszynska named a University Distinguished Professor

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Mathematics

Graduate admissions process, how to apply.

Apply online via the  UI Graduate and Professional Admissions  website.

After you submit your application, you will receive email instructions on how to establish your HawkID and password in order to access your Admissions Profile on MyUI, our online portal for students. All supporting materials can and should be uploaded through your Admissions Profile. If your academic program requires letters of recommendation, you will be asked to provide the contact information of your recommenders on your profile. The recommender will then receive an email from the Office of Admissions instructing them on how to upload a recommendation letter and/or recommendation form.

Applicants for admission to the graduate program must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College and the department offering the degree program (review the General Catalog for departmental requirements). See the  Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College  on the Graduate College website for additional information.

You will be required to submit:

• Supplemental Information
•  Unofficial academic records/transcripts
• If you do not have a degree from an English-speaking country
• Coursework information
• Statement of purpose
• Three letters of recommendation must also be completed and submitted usually by your present or former professors.  

Important deadlines

Application deadline: Jan. 15 (for all programs)

We generally admit graduate students for the PhD degree and for the fall semester only. We admit a very low number of graduate students for the MS degree (typically one per year). 

We begin consideration for admission and financial support on Jan. 15 for the following fall session. Offers of admission and teaching assistantships are usually sent out from February through May.

Requirements for admission

Applicants for the fall semester whose application materials are received by Jan. 15. 

Admission and financial decisions are based on:

• Courses taken
• Grade-point average (GPA)
• Academic goals
• Letters of recommendation
• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores.

Applicants should have at least a BA or BS in Mathematics, or equivalent. We usually expect an undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.20 for admission to the Master's degree program and 3.40 for admission to the PhD program. 

We are aware, however, that there are differences in grading systems and severity from school to school. We consider all the evidence available, and for this reason it is to your advantage to submit as complete an application as possible. While we encourage submission of the GRE General Test scores and/or GRE Subject Test in mathematics score (if they are available), we do not require them.

Most teaching assistantships are awarded for the academic year, beginning with the fall session (late August). Very few are available beginning in the spring, and they are usually given to continuing students rather than new ones. Thus students requesting financial support should apply for admission for the fall session. 

The TOEFL scores are used to predict the ability of a student to function effectively in courses taught in English and to work effectively in English as a teaching assistant (TA).

To be considered for admission:

• TOEFL score of 95 (iBT) for MS applicants
• TOEFL score of 100 (iBT) for PhD applicants

Those are not cut-off values, we have some flexibility. However, admission will not be granted for TOEFL scores lower than 81 (iBT). Students whose first language is not English but who will have a degree from a U.S. institution or other English-speaking country, generally need not submit a TOEFL score.

Laurent Jay

Xiaoyi Zhang

• MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program honors nine Chemistry student community members

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (4/26/2023) – Nine members of the Department of Chemistry student community were recently honored with recognition by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). Briana Krupinsky, Grace Murphy, Timmy Nguyen, and Ulises Perez were awarded fellowships, and Mrinalni Iyer, Killian MacFeely, Wallee Naimi, Miles Willis, and Ali Younis received honorable mentions.

Briana Krupinsky is a second-year graduate student in the Lamb group . She joined the UMN community after completing her undergraduate studies at the University of North Dakota. Briana investigates N-hetereocyclic carbene-carbodiimide (NHC-CDI) adducts for application as catalyst precursors in organocatalysis. At the moment, this includes working towards understanding the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of NHC-CDI adducts for well-controlled catalysis. One of Briana’s research goals is to develop a light-activated NHC-CDI catalyst precursor to achieve spatiotemporal control for the synthesis of polymers.

Grace Murphy , a member of the Hoover lab , came to UMN after completing her undergraduate studies at Saint Louis University. One of her long-term goals as a chemist is to study and develop transition metal catalyzed reactions that are used in organic chemistry. She is particularly interested in understanding the structure-reactivity relationships that make difficult reactions possible. Grace is currently working towards understanding the mechanism of nickel catalyzed/mediated decarbonylation, a reaction that has potential future applications to the synthesis of pharmaceuticals to polymer upcycling.

Timmy Nguyen first came to UMN for a summer research experience program in 2022, right before his senior year at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He officially joined the graduate program in 2023 as a member of the Haynes group. Timmy is interested in anisotropic nanoparticles as substrates and recently started working on a project to synthesize silica-coated gold nanorods for use in SERS sensors. He is also passionate about participating in outreach activities through Science for All, a student group that works to bring the excitement of science to Minnesota middle schools.

Ulises Perez , a Spring 2023 graduate from the UMN Chemistry undergraduate program and current PhD student at University of Washington, was also awarded a fellowship.

The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. The program also seeks to support the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM graduate studies.

Mrinalni Iyer, Killian MacFeely, Wallee Naimi, Miles Willis, and Ali Younis received honorable mentions for their applications. The Department of Chemistry congratulates all nine students on this significant national academic achievement!

Related news releases

• Kargbo, Pham, and Tuga receive Merck Underrepresented Chemists of Color Research Award
• Taimeng Liang awarded ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowship
• Manuraj Kallumkal and Pete Gabriel Ledesma receive Pothapragada International Graduate Student Fellowship
• PhD candidate Casey Ritts receives American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
• PhD students recognized with awards and honors at Fall Kickoff Seminar
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The Crackdown on Student Protesters

Columbia university is at the center of a growing showdown over the war in gaza and the limits of free speech..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

[TRAIN SCREECHING]

Well, you can hear the helicopter circling. This is Asthaa Chaturvedi. I’m a producer with “The Daily.” Just walked out of the 116 Street Station. It’s the main station for Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus. And it’s day seven of the Gaza solidarity encampment, where a hundred students were arrested last Thursday.

So on one side of Broadway, you see camera crews. You see NYPD officers all lined up. There’s barricades, steel barricades, caution tape. This is normally a completely open campus. And I’m able to — all members of the public, you’re able to walk through.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Looks like international media is here.

Have your IDs out. Have your IDs out.

Students lining up to swipe in to get access to the University. ID required for entry.

Swipe your ID, please.

Hi, how are you, officer? We’re journalists with “The New York Times.”

You’re not going to get in, all right? I’m sorry.

Hi. Can I help please?

Yeah, it’s total lockdown here at Columbia.

Please have your IDs out ready to swipe.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” Today, the story of how Columbia University has become the epicenter of a growing showdown between student protesters, college administrators, and Congress over the war in Gaza and the limits of free speech. I spoke with my colleague, Nick Fandos.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

It’s Thursday, April 25.

Nick, if we rewind the clock a few months, we end up at a moment where students at several of the country’s best known universities are protesting Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks, its approach to a war in Gaza. At times, those protests are happening peacefully, at times with rhetoric that is inflammatory. And the result is that the leaders of those universities land before Congress. But the president of Columbia University, which is the subject we’re going to be talking about today, is not one of the leaders who shows up for that testimony.

That’s right. So the House Education Committee has been watching all these protests on campus. And the Republican Chairwoman decides, I’m going to open an investigation, look at how these administrations are handling it, because it doesn’t look good from where I sit. And the House last winter invites the leaders of several of these elite schools, Harvard, Penn, MIT, and Columbia, to come and testify in Washington on Capitol Hill before Congress.

Now, the President of Columbia has what turns out to be a very well-timed, pre-planned trip to go overseas and speak at an international climate conference. So Minouche Shafik isn’t going to be there. So instead, the presidents of Harvard, and Penn, and MIT show up. And it turned out to be a disaster for these universities.

They were asked very pointed questions about the kind of speech taking place on their campuses, and they gave really convoluted academic answers back that just baffled the committee. But there was one question that really embodied the kind of disconnect between the Committee — And it wasn’t just Republicans, Republicans and Democrats on the Committee — and these college presidents. And that’s when they were asked a hypothetical.

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?

If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment.

And two of the presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, they’re unwilling to say in this really kind of intense back and forth that this speech would constitute a violation of their rules.

It can be, depending on the context.

What’s the context?

Targeted at an individual. Is it pervasive?

It’s targeted at Jewish students, Jewish individuals. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them?

And it sets off a firestorm.

It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes. And this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.

Members of Congress start calling for their resignations. Alumni are really, really ticked off. Trustees of the University start to wonder, I don’t know that these leaders really have got this under control. And eventually, both of them lose their jobs in a really high profile way.

Right. And as you’ve hinted at, for somewhat peculiar scheduling reasons, Columbia’s President escapes this disaster of a hearing in what has to be regarded as the best timing in the history of the American Academy.

Yeah, exactly. And Columbia is watching all this play out. And I think their first response was relief that she was not in that chair, but also a recognition that, sooner or later, their turn was going to come back around and they were going to have to sit before Congress.

Why were they so certain that they would probably end up before Congress and that this wasn’t a case of completely dodging a bullet?

Well, they remain under investigation by the committee. But also, as the winter wears on, all the same intense protests just continue unabated. So in many ways, Columbia’s like these other campuses. But in some ways, it’s even more intense. This is a university that has both one of the largest Jewish student populations of any of its peers. But it also has a large Arab and Muslim student population, a big Middle Eastern studies program. It has a dual degree program in Tel Aviv.

And it’s a university on top of all that that has a real history of activism dating back to the 1960s. So when students are recruited or choose to come to Columbia, they’re actively opting into a campus that prides itself on being an activist community. It’s in the middle of New York City. It’s a global place. They consider the city and the world, really, like a classroom to Columbia.

In other words, if any campus was going to be a hotbed of protest and debate over this conflict, it was going to be Columbia University.

Exactly. And when this spring rolls around, the stars finally align. And the same congressional committee issues another invitation to Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s President, to come and testify. And this time, she has no excuse to say no.

But presumably, she is well aware of exactly what testifying before this committee entails and is highly prepared.

Columbia knew this moment was coming. They spent months preparing for this hearing. They brought in outside consultants, crisis communicators, experts on anti-Semitism. The weekend before the hearing, she actually travels down to Washington to hole up in a war room, where she starts preparing her testimony with mock questioners and testy exchanges to prep her for this. And she’s very clear on what she wants to try to do.

Where her counterparts had gone before the committee a few months before and looked aloof, she wanted to project humility and competence, to say, I know that there’s an issue on my campus right now with some of these protests veering off into anti-Semitic incidents. But I’m getting that under control. I’m taking steps in good faith to make sure that we restore order to this campus, while allowing people to express themselves freely as well.

So then the day of her actual testimony arrives. And just walk us through how it goes.

The Committee on Education and Workforce will come to order. I note that —

So Wednesday morning rolls around. And President Shafik sits at the witness stand with two of her trustees and the head of Columbia’s new anti-Semitism task force.

Columbia stands guilty of gross negligence at best and at worst has become a platform for those supporting terrorism and violence against the Jewish people.

And right off the bat, they’re put through a pretty humbling litany of some of the worst hits of what’s been happening on campus.

For example, just four days after the harrowing October 7 attack, a former Columbia undergraduate beat an Israeli student with a stick.

The Republican Chairwoman of the Committee, Virginia Foxx, starts reminding her that there was a student who was actually hit with a stick on campus. There was another gathering more recently glorifying Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and the kind of chants that have become an everyday chorus on campus, which many Jewish students see as threatening. But when the questioning starts, President Shafik is ready. One of the first ones she gets is the one that tripped up her colleagues.

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Columbia’s code of conduct, Mr. Greenwald?

And she answers unequivocally.

Dr. Shafik?

Yes, it does.

And, Professor —

That would be a violation of Columbia’s rules. They would be punished.

As President of Columbia, what is it like when you hear chants like, by any means necessary or Intifada Revolution?

I find those chants incredibly distressing. And I wish profoundly that people would not use them on our campus.

And in some of the most interesting exchanges of the hearing, President Shafik actually opens Columbia’s disciplinary books.

We have already suspended 15 students from Columbia. We have six on disciplinary probation. These are more disciplinary actions that have been taken probably in the last decade at Columbia. And —

She talks about the number of students that have been suspended, but also the number of faculty that she’s had removed from the classroom that are being investigated for comments that either violate some of Columbia’s rules or make students uncomfortable. One case in particular really underscores this.

And that’s of a Middle Eastern studies professor named Joseph Massad. He wrote an essay not long after Hamas invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government, where he described that attack with adjectives like awesome. Now, he said they’ve been misinterpreted, but a lot of people have taken offense to those comments.

Ms. Stefanik, you’re recognized for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairwoman. I want to follow up on my colleague, Rep Walberg’s question regarding Professor Joseph Massad. So let me be clear, President —

And so Representative Elise Stefanik, the same Republican who had tripped up Claudine Gay of Harvard and others in the last hearing, really starts digging in to President Shafik about these things at Columbia.

He is still Chair on the website. So has he been terminated as Chair?

Congresswoman, I —

And Shafik’s answers are maybe a little surprising.

— before getting back to you. I can confirm —

I know you confirmed that he was under investigation.

Yes, I can confirm that. But I —

Did you confirm he was still the Chair?

He says that Columbia is taking his case seriously. In fact, he’s under investigation right now.

Well, let me ask you this.

I need to check.

Will you make the commitment to remove him as Chair?

And when Stefanik presses her to commit to removing him from a campus leadership position —

I think that would be — I think — I would — yes. Let me come back with yes. But I think I — I just want to confirm his current status before I write —

We’ll take that as a yes, that you will confirm that he will no longer be chair.

Shafik seems to pause and think and then agree to it on the spot, almost like she is making administrative decisions with or in front of Congress.

Now, we did some reporting after the fact. And it turns out the Professor didn’t even realize he was under investigation. So he’s learning about this from the hearing too. So what this all adds up to, I think, is a performance so in line with what the lawmakers themselves wanted to hear, that at certain points, these Republicans didn’t quite know what to do with it. They were like the dog that caught the car.

Columbia beats Harvard and UPenn.

One of them, a Republican from Florida, I think at one point even marvelled, well, you beat Harvard and Penn.

Y’all all have done something that they weren’t able to do. You’ve been able to condemn anti-Semitism without using the phrase, it depends on the context. But the —

So Columbia’s president has passed this test before this committee.

Yeah, this big moment that tripped up her predecessors and cost them their jobs, it seems like she has cleared that hurdle and dispatched with the Congressional committee that could have been one of the biggest threats to her presidency.

Without objection, there being no further business, the committee stands adjourned. [BANGS GAVEL]

But back on campus, some of the students and faculty who had been watching the hearing came away with a very different set of conclusions. They saw a president who was so eager to please Republicans in Congress that she was willing to sell out some of the University’s students and faculty and trample on cherished ideas like academic freedom and freedom of expression that have been a bedrock of American higher education for a really long time.

And there was no clearer embodiment of that than what had happened that morning just as President Shafik was going to testify before Congress. A group of students before dawn set up tents in the middle of Columbia’s campus and declared themselves a pro-Palestinian encampment in open defiance of the very rules that Dr. Shafik had put in place to try and get these protests under control.

So these students in real-time are beginning to test some of the things that Columbia’s president has just said before Congress.

Exactly. And so instead of going to celebrate her successful appearance before Congress, Shafik walks out of the hearing room and gets in a black SUV to go right back to that war room, where she’s immediately confronted with a major dilemma. It basically boils down to this, she had just gone before Congress and told them, I’m going to get tough on these protests. And here they were. So either she gets tough and risks inflaming tension on campus or she holds back and does nothing and her words before Congress immediately look hollow.

And what does she decide?

So for the next 24 hours, she tries to negotiate off ramps. She consults with her Deans and the New York Police Department. And it all builds towards an incredibly consequential decision. And that is, for the first time in decades, to call the New York City Police Department onto campus in riot gear and break this thing up, suspend the students involved, and then arrest them.

To essentially eliminate this encampment.

Eliminate the encampment and send a message, this is not going to be tolerated. But in trying to quell the unrest, Shafik actually feeds it. She ends up leaving student protesters and the faculty who support them feeling betrayed and pushes a campus that was already on edge into a full blown crisis.

[SLOW TEMPO MUSIC]

After the break, what all of this has looked like to a student on Columbia’s campus. We’ll be right back.

[PHONE RINGS]

Is this Isabella?

Yes, this is she.

Hi, Isabella. It’s Michael Barbaro from “The Daily.”

Hi. Nice to meet you.

Earlier this week, we called Isabella Ramírez, the Editor in Chief of Columbia’s undergraduate newspaper, “The Columbia Daily Spectator,” which has been closely tracking both the protests and the University’s response to them since October 7.

So, I mean, in your mind, how do we get to this point? I wonder if you can just briefly describe the key moments that bring us to where we are right now.

Sure. Since October 7, there has certainly been constant escalation in terms of tension on campus. And there have been a variety of moves that I believe have distanced the student body, the faculty, from the University and its administration, specifically the suspension of Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. And that became a huge moment in what was characterized as suppression of pro-Palestinian activism on campus, effectively rendering those groups, quote, unquote, unauthorized.

What was the college’s explanation for that?

They had cited in that suspension a policy which states that a demonstration must be approved within a certain window, and that there must be an advance notice, and that there’s a process for getting an authorized demonstration. But the primary point was this policy that they were referring to, which we later reported, was changed before the suspension.

So it felt a little ad hoc to people?

Yes, it certainly came as a surprise, especially at “Spectator.” We’re nerds of the University in the sense that we are familiar with faculty and University governance. But even to us, we had no idea where this policy was coming from. And this suspension was really the first time that it entered most students’ sphere.

Columbia’s campus is so known for its activism. And so in my time of being a reporter, of being an editor, I’ve overseen several protests. And I’ve never seen Columbia penalize a group for, quote, unquote, not authorizing a protest. So that was certainly, in our minds, unprecedented.

And I believe part of the justification there was, well, this is a different time. And I think that is a reasonable thing to say. But I think a lot of students, they felt it was particularly one-sided, that it was targeting a specific type of speech or a specific type of viewpoint. Although, the University, of course, in its explicit policies, did not outline, and was actually very explicit about not targeting specific viewpoints —

So just to be super clear, it felt to students — and it sounds like, journalistically, it felt to you — that the University was coming down in a uniquely one-sided way against students who were supporting Palestinian rights and may have expressed some frustrations with Israel in that moment.

Yes. Certainly —

Isabella says that this was just the beginning of a really tense period between student protesters and the University. After those two student groups were suspended, campus protests continued. Students made a variety of demands. They asked that the University divest from businesses that profit from Israel’s military operations in Gaza. But instead of making any progress, the protests are met with further crackdown by the University.

And so as Isabella and her colleagues at the college newspaper see it, there’s this overall chilling effect that occurs. Some students become fearful that if they participate in any demonstrations, they’re going to face disciplinary action. So fast forward now to April, when these student protesters learned that President Shafik is headed to Washington for her congressional testimony. It’s at this moment that they set out to build their encampment.

I think there was obviously a lot of intention in timing those two things. I think it’s inherently a critique on a political pressure and this congressional pressure that we saw build up against, of course, Claudine Gay at Harvard and Magill at UPenn. So I think a lot of students and faculty have been frustrated at this idea that there are not only powers at the University that are dictating what’s happening, but there are perhaps external powers that are also guiding the way here in terms of what the University feels like it must do or has to do.

And I think that timing was super crucial. Having the encampment happen on the Wednesday morning of the hearing was an incredible, in some senses, interesting strategy to direct eyes to different places.

All eyes were going to be on Shafik in DC. But now a lot of eyes are on New York. The encampment is set up in the middle of the night slash morning, prior to the hearing. And so what effectively happens is they caught Shafik when she wasn’t on campus, when a lot of senior administration had their resources dedicated to supporting Shafik in DC.

And you have all of those people not necessarily out of commission, but with their focus elsewhere. So the encampment is met with very little resistance at the beginning. There were public safety officers floating around and watching. But at the very beginning hours, I think there was a sense of, we did it.

[CHANTING]: Disclose! Divest! We will not stop! We will not rest. Disclose! Divest! We will not stop!

It would be quite surprising to anybody and an administrator to now suddenly see dozens of tents on this lawn in a way that I think very purposely puts an imagery of, we’re here to stay. As the morning evolved and congressional hearings continued —

Minouche Shafik, open your eyes! Use of force, genocide!

Then we started seeing University delegates that were coming to the encampment saying, you may face disciplinary action for continuing to be here. I think that started around almost — like 9:00 or 10:00 AM, they started handing out these code of conduct violation notices.

Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!

Then there started to be more public safety action and presence. So they started barricading the entrances. The day progressed, there was more threat of discipline. The students became informed that if they continue to stay, they will face potential academic sanctions, potential suspension.

The more they try to silence us, the louder we will be! The more they —

I think a lot of people were like, OK, you’re threatening us with suspension. But so what?

This is about these systems that Minouche Shafik, that the Board of Trustees, that Columbia University is complicit in.

What are you going to do to try to get us out of here? And that was, obviously, promptly answered.

This is the New York State Police Department.

We will not stop!

You are attempting participate in an unauthorized encampment. You will be arrested and charged with trespassing.

My phone blew up, obviously, from the reporters, from the editors, of saying, oh my god, the NYPD is on our campus. And as soon as I saw that, I came out. And I saw a huge crowd of students and affiliates on campus watching the lawns. And as I circled around that crowd, I saw the last end of the New York Police Department pulling away protesters and clearing out the last of the encampment.

[CHANTING]: We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you!

It was something truly unimaginable, over 100 students slash other individuals are arrested from our campus, forcefully removed. And although they were suspended, there was a feeling of traumatic event that has just happened to these students, but also this sense of like, OK, the worst of the worst that could have happened to us just happened.

And for those students who maybe couldn’t go back to — into campus, now all of their peers, who were supporters or are in solidarity, are — in some sense, it’s further emboldened. They’re now not just sitting on the lawns for a pro-Palestinian cause, but also for the students, who have endured quite a lot.

So the crackdown, sought by the president and enforced by the NYPD, ends up, you’re saying, becoming a galvanizing force for a broader group of Columbia students than were originally drawn to the idea of ever showing up on the center of campus and protesting?

Yeah, I can certainly speak to the fact that I’ve seen my own peers, friends, or even acquaintances, who weren’t necessarily previously very involved in activism and organizing efforts, suddenly finding themselves involved.

Can I — I just have a question for you, which is all journalism, student journalism or not student journalism, is a first draft of history. And I wonder if we think of this as a historic moment for Columbia, how you imagine it’s going to be remembered.

Yeah, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a historic moment for Colombia.

I think that this will be remembered as a moment in which the fractures were laid bare. Really, we got to see some of the disunity of the community in ways that I have never really seen it before. And what we’ll be looking to is, where do we go from here? How does Colombia repair? How do we heal from all of this? so That is the big question in terms of what will happen.

Nick, Isabella Ramírez just walked us through what this has all looked like from the perspective of a Columbia student. And from what she could tell, the crackdown ordered by President Shafik did not quell much of anything. It seemed, instead, to really intensify everything on campus. I’m curious what this has looked like for Shafik.

It’s not just the students who are upset. You have faculty, including professors, who are not necessarily sympathetic to the protesters’ view of the war, who are really outraged about what Shafik has done here. They feel that she’s crossed a boundary that hasn’t been crossed on Columbia’s campus in a really long time.

And so you start to hear things by the end of last week like censure, no confidence votes, questions from her own professors about whether or not she can stay in power. So this creates a whole new front for her. And on top of it all, as this is going on, the encampment itself starts to reform tent-by-tent —

— almost in the same place that it was. And Shafik decides that the most important thing she could do is to try and take the temperature down, which means letting the encampment stand. Or in other words, leaning in the other direction. This time, we’re going to let the protesters have their say for a little while longer.

The problem with that is that, over the weekend, a series of images start to emerge from on campus and just off of it of some really troubling anti-Semitic episodes. In one case, a guy holds up a poster in the middle of campus and points it towards a group of Jewish students who are counter protesting. And it says, I’m paraphrasing here, Hamas’ next targets.

I saw an image of that. What it seemed to evoke was the message that Hamas should murder those Jewish students. That’s the way the Jewish students interpreted it.

It’s a pretty straightforward and jarring statement. At the same time, just outside of Columbia’s closed gates —

Stop killing children!

— protestors are showing up from across New York City. It’s hard to tell who’s affiliated with Columbia, who’s not.

Go back to Poland! Go back to Poland!

There’s a video that goes viral of one of them shouting at Jewish students, go back to Poland, go back to Europe.

In other words, a clear message, you’re not welcome here.

Right. In fact, go back to the places where the Holocaust was committed.

Exactly. And this is not representative of the vast majority of the protesters in the encampment, who mostly had been peaceful. They would later hold a Seder, actually, with some of the pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters in their ranks. But those videos are reaching members of Congress, the very same Republicans that Shafik had testified in front of just a few days before. And now they’re looking and saying, you have lost control of your campus, you’ve turned back on your word to us, and you need to resign.

They call for her outright resignation over this.

That’s right. Republicans in New York and across the country began to call for her to step down from her position as president of Columbia.

So Shafik’s dilemma here is pretty extraordinary. She has set up this dynamic where pleasing these members of Congress would probably mean calling in the NYPD all over again to sweep out this encampment, which would mean further alienating and inflaming students and faculty, who are still very upset over the first crackdown. And now both ends of this spectrum, lawmakers in Washington, folks on the Columbia campus, are saying she can’t lead the University over this situation before she’s even made any fateful decision about what to do with this second encampment. Not a good situation.

No. She’s besieged on all sides. For a while, the only thing that she can come up with to offer is for classes to go hybrid for the remainder of the semester.

So students who aren’t feeling safe in this protest environment don’t necessarily have to go to class.

Right. And I think if we zoom out for a second, it’s worth bearing in mind that she tried to choose a different path here than her counterparts at Harvard or Penn. And after all of this, she’s kind of ended up in the exact same thicket, with people calling for her job with the White House, the Mayor of New York City, and others. These are Democrats. Maybe not calling on her to resign quite yet, but saying, I don’t know what’s going on your campus. This does not look good.

That reality, that taking a different tack that was supposed to be full of learnings and lessons from the stumbles of her peers, the fact that didn’t really work suggests that there’s something really intractable going on here. And I wonder how you’re thinking about this intractable situation that’s now arrived on these college campuses.

Well, I don’t think it’s just limited to college campuses. We have seen intense feelings about this conflict play out in Hollywood. We’ve seen them in our politics in all kinds of interesting ways.

In our media.

We’ve seen it in the media. But college campuses, at least in their most idealized form, are something special. They’re a place where students get to go for four years to think in big ways about moral questions, and political questions, and ideas that help shape the world they’re going to spend the rest of their lives in.

And so when you have a question that feels as urgent as this war does for a lot of people, I think it reverberates in an incredibly intense way on those campuses. And there’s something like — I don’t know if it’s quite a contradiction of terms, but there’s a collision of different values at stake. So universities thrive on the ability of students to follow their minds and their voices where they go, to maybe even experiment a little bit and find those things.

But there are also communities that rely on people being able to trust each other and being able to carry out their classes and their academic endeavors as a collective so they can learn from one another. So in this case, that’s all getting scrambled. Students who feel strongly about the Palestinian cause feel like the point is disruption, that something so big, and immediate, and urgent is happening that they need to get in the faces of their professors, and their administrators, and their fellow students.

Right. And set up an encampment in the middle of campus, no matter what the rules say.

Right. And from the administration’s perspective, they say, well, yeah, you can say that and you can think that. And that’s an important process. But maybe there’s some bad apples in your ranks. Or though you may have good intentions, you’re saying things that you don’t realize the implications of. And they’re making this environment unsafe for others. Or they’re grinding our classes to a halt and we’re not able to function as a University.

So the only way we’re going to be able to move forward is if you will respect our rules and we’ll respect your point of view. The problem is that’s just not happening. Something is not connecting with those two points of view. And as if that’s not hard enough, you then have Congress and the political system with its own agenda coming in and putting its thumb on a scale of an already very difficult situation.

Right. And at this very moment, what we know is that the forces that you just outlined have created a dilemma, an uncertainty of how to proceed, not just for President Shafik and the students and faculty at Columbia, but for a growing number of colleges and universities across the country. And by that, I mean, this thing that seemed to start at Columbia is literally spreading.

Absolutely. We’re talking on a Wednesday afternoon. And these encampments have now started cropping up at universities from coast-to-coast, at Harvard and Yale, but also at University of California, at the University of Texas, at smaller campuses in between. And at each of these institutions, there’s presidents and deans, just like President Shafik at Columbia, who are facing a really difficult set of choices. Do they call in the police? The University of Texas in Austin this afternoon, we saw protesters physically clashing with police.

Do they hold back, like at Harvard, where there were dramatic videos of students literally running into Harvard yard with tents. They were popping up in real-time. And so Columbia, really, I think, at the end of the day, may have kicked off some of this. But they are now in league with a whole bunch of other universities that are struggling with the same set of questions. And it’s a set of questions that they’ve had since this war broke out.

And now these schools only have a week or two left of classes. But we don’t know when these standoffs are going to end. We don’t know if students are going to leave campus for the summer. We don’t know if they’re going to come back in the fall and start protesting right away, or if this year is going to turn out to have been an aberration that was a response to a really awful, bloody war, or if we’re at the beginning of a bigger shift on college campuses that will long outlast this war in the Middle East.

Well, Nick, thank you very much. Thanks for having me, Michael.

We’ll be right back.

Here’s what else you need to know today. The United Nations is calling for an independent investigation into two mass graves found after Israeli forces withdrew from hospitals in Gaza. Officials in Gaza said that some of the bodies found in the graves were Palestinians who had been handcuffed or shot in the head and accused Israel of killing and burying them. In response, Israel said that its soldiers had exhumed bodies in one of the graves as part of an effort to locate Israeli hostages.

And on Wednesday, Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American dual citizen, whom Hamas has held hostage since October 7. It was the first time that he has been shown alive since his captivity began. His kidnapping was the subject of a “Daily” episode in October that featured his mother, Rachel. In response to Hamas’s video, Rachel issued a video of her own, in which she spoke directly to her son.

And, Hersh, if you can hear this, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days. And if you can hear us, I am telling you, we are telling you, we love you. Stay strong. Survive.

Today’s episode was produced by Sydney Harper, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Olivia Natt, Nina Feldman, and Summer Thomad, with help from Michael Simon Johnson. It was edited by Devon Taylor and Lisa Chow, contains research help by Susan Lee, original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

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Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Nicholas Fandos

Produced by Sydney Harper ,  Asthaa Chaturvedi ,  Olivia Natt ,  Nina Feldman and Summer Thomad

With Michael Simon Johnson

Edited by Devon Taylor and Lisa Chow

Original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Columbia University has become the epicenter of a growing showdown between student protesters, college administrators and Congress over the war in Gaza and the limits of free speech.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, walks us through the intense week at the university. And Isabella Ramírez, the editor in chief of Columbia’s undergraduate newspaper, explains what it has all looked like to a student on campus.

On today’s episode

Nicholas Fandos , who covers New York politics and government for The New York Times

Isabella Ramírez , editor in chief of The Columbia Daily Spectator

Background reading

Inside the week that shook Columbia University .

The protests at the university continued after more than 100 arrests.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Research help by Susan Lee .

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government. More about Nicholas Fandos

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