Research

Members of the Department of Mathematics conduct research in Mathematics and its applications. The Department's research enterprise involves all regular Faculty members, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.

New technologies are greatly expanding the ability to map neural systems. Reconstructions of the synaptic connections between neurons and large-scale recordings of spikes are now able to map both the structure and function of hundreds to thousands of cells. Thus, while for decades it was only possible to study the activity of only a handful of cells in a living, functional neural circuit, it is rapidly becoming possible to study activity in massive ensembles of cells during active sensory perception and sleep. With these new technologies, neuroscientists can now ask how the collective activity of hundreds or thousands of cells creates sensory and cognitive computations. The challenges posed by these increasingly large and complex datasets, however, require new and rigorous mathematical approaches in the field.

Image by Sophie Wu

Faculty members of the Department of Mathematics have research interests spanning the areas of Applied Math, Analysis, Algebra, and Geometry and Topology: