The School of Mathematics and Statistics

The predecessor of the School of Mathematics and Statistics was the Department of Mathematics of Jiaotong University founded in 1928. In 1956, Jiaotong University was relocated to Xi’an and established the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics. In 1979, the Department of Mathematics was reinstated. In 1994, the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Physics were merged to form the School of Science. In 2011, the School of Mathematics and Statistics was founded.

Currently, there are 5 departments in theSchool: Department of Mathematics, Department of Applied Mathematics, Department of Information Science, Department of ComputationalScience and Department of Statistics. The School also has a Mathematical TeachingCenterandaMathematicalExperimentCenter. There are 4 high-level scientific research platforms: National Engineering Laboratory forBig DataAnalytics , The National Center for Applied Mathematics of Shaanxi ,Tianyuan Mathematical Center in Northwest China and Xi’an International Academy for Mathematics and Mathematical Technology. There are two doctoral degree authorization centers of first-level discipline: mathematics and statistics, and two post-doctoral research stations in mathematics and statistics. Mathematics in XJTU is listed in the top 1% of ESI, and the second-level discipline “computational mathematics” is a national key discipline. In the third and fourth round of China Discipline Ranking (CDR), mathematics entered Grade A and statistics entered Grade B.

Over the years, the School has adhered to the development principle of “problem-oriented, application-driven, strengthening interdisciplinary research and highlighting the characteristics of application”, and focused on interdisciplinary research on mathematics and other disciplines such as information technology,geodetection technology, fluid mechanics, life science, big data, economics and finance, etc. With a distinctive scientific research team and a series of important research results, academic strength experienced a significant boost. The School continues to preside over projects of the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (Program 973), projects of the National High-tech Research and Development Program of China (Program 863), and major and key projects funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and has won 3 National Natural Science Award second prizes, 1 National Science and Technology Progress Award second prize, as well as many provincial/ministerial-level awards. CAS member Xu Zongben made a 45-minute invited lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in 2010. He won the Tan Kah Kee Information Sciences Award and the2018CSIAM Su Buchin Prize on Applied Mathematics— China’s highest award in applied mathematics, and many other awards.

The School undertakes two important tasks: cultivating mathematics and statistics professionals and imparting a general knowledge of mathematics and statistics to students of all disciplines in the university, and has achieved remarkable results. With a good tradition, professional teaching is carried out with the goal of “strict standard, solid foundation, broad disciplines, practice-oriented, comprehensive and high quality education”. It has cultivated nearly 10,000 mathematics and statistics talents, including three members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Especially in terms ofthetraining for the mathematics pilot class, a mathematical leading talent cultivation system based on “focusing on a knowledge foundation, scientific research and innovation and personality development to promote internationalization” was established to explore new concepts and modes for innovative talent education. In the second top talent training program evaluation of the Ministry of education, the top students training program in mathematics of the school ranked the fifth in China.In 2020, the school was approved as one of the first batch of Pilot Universities of " Strengthening basic disciplines program "，and approved as the construction unit of the“National Top Talent Training 2.0 Program for Basic Disciplines”of the Ministry of Education of China. Mathematics curriculum construction and teaching reform of the School have been in a leading position among domestic universities, with 6 national teaching achievement prizes being granted and 8 state-level teaching reform projects completed. During the 9 rounds of the Steering Committee of the Mathematics Teaching in Colleges and Universities of Ministry of Education, the School served as the directing unit 7 times and deputy directing unit 2 times, and also presided over the revision of basic requirementsformathematics teaching in universities.

Mathematicians including Hu Dunfu, Zhu Gongjin, Zhang Hong, Xu Guifang, Lu Qingle, You Zhaoyong, Xu Zongben, Ma Zhi’en, Zhang Wenxiu, Li Kaitai, etc., have been working hard here, making the mathematics discipline of XJTU in the forefront of domestic universities and making significant contributions to the development of mathematics in China.