Phuong earns first-ever NSF CAREER Award for Auburn’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Auburn University mathematics professor Thi-Thao-Phuong Hoang hopes to use applied and computational mathematics to help scientists better understand and potentially solve real-world problems like water contamination and climate change, and the department’s first-ever National Science Foundation, or NSF, CAREER Award could help her do exactly that.

“My job is to develop, analyze and implement numerical methods to solve the mathematical models of those real-world physical processes and phenomena,” said Hoang, just the second professor in the state of Alabama to receive an NSF CAREER award in mathematical sciences since it was created in 1995. “I am passionate about interdisciplinary research, and I want to do both the theoretical and practical things, and I find it more motivational when I see the application of my work and how it is used and applied to better understand our world.”

Two Auburn University students receive National Science Foundation fellowships

Two Auburn University students, Che Ka and Grant Wilkinson, have been awarded 2021 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, or NSFGRF—a fellowship program designed to help ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce in the United States.

Each fellowship consists of three years of support accessible over a five-year period. For each year, the NSF provides a stipend of $34,000 to the fellow and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the degree-granting institution.

Undergraduate student elevates his Auburn experience analyzing data from the Hubble Space Telescope and preparing for a career researching exoplanets

“Through my opportunities in the Department of Physics, I am truly grateful that my Auburn experience is preparing me for a future career studying potentially habitable planets outside of our solar system,” said Johannes Allen.

Student Research Spotlight - Anna Solomonik

"I enjoy research because I like delving into a subject and learning everything I can about it, and that’s essentially what a lot of research is. It’s also very interesting to see the results of your experiments and knowing what processes are leading to those results, and how that plays into your hypothesis. Research is also very rewarding because, even when doing the most menial tasks, you know you're playing a part in a much bigger goal. What you're doing now will help people in the future in ways you don't even know yet," said Solomonik. 

COSAM offers mental wellness and self-care sessions

“I enjoyed being able to help an array of employees in COSAM from graduate teaching assistants to administrative professionals to tenured faculty,” explained Saimeri. “These sessions provided tips and practical advice to help everyone calm the mind and create a healthy relationship with ourselves.”

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