About the department

 

The Mathematics and Statistics department shares the vision of the institute of achieving excellence in teaching and research. It has always striven to succeed in this endeavor. Over the years, it has evolved as one of the premier departments in the country providing excellent teaching and research in Mathematical Sciences, including Statistics. In addition, research is also carried out in interdisciplinary areas of science and technology thereby contributing to the vibrant academic ambiance of IIT Kanpur.

 

 
 

Aims of our Programmes

The aim of our programmes is to cultivate a fine mathematical taste, nurture mathematical interests, motivate research in mathematical sciences and train computational scientists who can work on challenging real life problems. All our programmes are reviewed and updated every ten years to make them more relevant. Presently many of the students from our programmes are placed in various companies and some have taken research as their career. Placement of students in the M.Sc. (Integrated) and M.Sc. (2 year) Statistics programmes has been almost 100% during the past ten years.

Based on the recommendations of the Academic Review committee, admissions to the five year M.Sc. (Integrated) programme in Mathematics and Scientific Computing were stopped from the year 2011, and a new four year BS programme in Mathematics & Scientific Computing was started. This programme is completely credit based where a student (subject to fulfilling certain eligibility criteria) has an option to get the Masters degree by spending one extra year. After completing the core courses in the first two semesters, the students of this programme do some compulsory professional courses and are also offered choices of sufficiently many electives. An attractive feature of this academic programme is that the students can do a minor and/or a major in other disciplines (department) by appropriately choosing their elective courses. For obtaining another major, the student will have to spend one extra year to fulfill required credits. There is also a provision of some research activity through a series of Project Courses. The current intake in this programme is of 49 students per batch.

Teaching

The department actively participates in teaching of undergraduate core courses. Currently the department offers two compulsory core courses (compulsory for all undergraduate students of the BS programme) and three Mathematics Science Option Courses (MSO) for undergraduate students of the institute. The typical number of registrations in a compulsory course is about 850, and that in an MSO course is about 500. Due to the vast heterogeneity in intellectual levels of students registered in these courses, teaching these courses is considered to be a big challenge. For this reason, getting a good rating from students in these courses is difficult. Three of our faculty members have received the Distinguished Teacher Award for their teaching in these core courses. In addition to teaching undergraduate level compulsory and MSO courses, the faculty of the department also actively participates in the teaching of courses of various academic programmes offered by the department. A large number of elective courses are offered by the faculty to students in the BS, M.Sc. and PhD programmes. To keep pace with the new research developments, the faculty, on a regular basis, develops new elective courses for PhD, M.Sc. and undergraduate students of the department. The courses offered are also very popular choices as elective courses for students of other departments. Apart from classroom teaching, the faculty of the department has also actively contributed by writing text books and through distance learning programmes (NPTEL and E-Learning courses).

Research

Right from its inception, the department gave high priority to quality research and education. The faculty of the department has always maintained high standards in research. Over 40 text books and research monographs have been written by the faculty of the department.

Research contributions made by the faculty of the department have been noteworthy. This is evident from the large number of awards and accolades the faculty members and students of the department have received.

Seminars and Visitors

The department maintains a very vibrant academic atmosphere through various academic initiatives. There is a regular stream of Visitors to the department, both for long term and short term, resulting in collaborative research, interactions and Seminars. The following are regular academic activities of the department:

a Colloquium (once a week),
a Department Seminar (at least once a week),
an Analysis Seminar (twice a month).
Sometimes Special Seminar Series are organized, for example a series of lectures based on the work of the Fields' Medalists in 2010-2011 was organized by inviting experts.
In addition, a number of conferences, workshops and schools have also been organized by the faculty of the department over the years, both at IIT Kanpur, and elsewhere.

Professional Activities (National and International representation)

The faculty of the department is actively involved in Editorial Boards of various journals, and in various national and international level academic and administrative committees.

Administrative Activities

The faculty of the department has contributed significantly in institute administration by taking up some of the key responsibilities/positions at the institute level and by actively participating in various standing committees of the academic senate and other institute level committees. They have also served as Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of JEE, GATE etc.

Students' Activities

The students of the department actively contribute to the academic vibrancy in the department by arranging various activities through an association called STAMATICS. Through this association the student body arranges regular seminars, quizzes and other academic activities. STAMATICS is also instrumental in holding various cultural events and in arranging social gatherings involving students, faculty and staff.