KU math department awards scholarships to 102 students and faculty
KU math recognized 25 graduate students and 77 undergraduates, while faculty teaching awards showed how the department is feeding Lawrence’s next research and teaching pipeline.
The University of Kansas mathematics department put real dollars behind its talent pipeline this spring, awarding summer support to 25 graduate students and academic year 2026-2027 scholarships to 77 undergraduates. The funds ran through the KU Endowment Association, a reminder that private philanthropy still helps sustain student success in one of Lawrence’s most research-heavy departments.
For a campus that helps drive daily life in Lawrence, the awards matter well beyond a line on a certificate. Graduate research assistantships can keep a student in the program long enough to finish a thesis, prepare for doctoral work or build a résumé for data-heavy jobs. Undergraduate scholarships can make the difference between staying enrolled and stepping away from a degree in a field that feeds teaching, actuarial work, engineering and analytics.
Two recipients show how the recognition works on the ground. Sam Grimsley of Overland Park and Arnav Jain of Stilwell received the R.D. Brown Award for Undergraduate Excellence, a distinction that puts high-performing math majors on a path toward graduate school, research and competitive careers. Chris Wong received the Florence Black Award for Excellence in Teaching by a graduate student, one of several honors that also pointed to the department’s role in training the next generation of instructors.
The department also recognized Raneeta Dutta with the John Bunce Award, Shivani Agarwal and Ryan Hunter with the Paul F. Conrad Graduate Scholarship, Jon Tremblay with the Ralph Byers Student Award, and Sreehari Suresh Babu, Sagnik Das, Faris El-Katri and Ming Wang with the Charles J. and Mary Pat Himmelberg Graduate Student Award. Zhipeng Liu received the G. Baley Price award for Excellence in Teaching, and Reuven Hodges received the Morrison Foundation Teaching Award.
That mix of awards reflects how KU mathematics sees itself. The department offers BA and BS degrees, MA and PhD programs in both pure and applied math, an actuarial science certificate and a graduate certificate in applied mathematics. Its faculty regularly supervise undergraduate research, and KU says the graduate program is ranked in the top 40 among public universities.
The department also used the spring cycle to reinforce a tradition that has repeated before. KU mathematics similarly recognized students and faculty in spring 2024, showing that the awards are part of a steady departmental rhythm, not a one-time gesture. Separate from the larger scholarship announcement, five mathematics majors and minors also received $1,000 MathUGRA awards for spring 2026 to support original research or creative projects with faculty guidance.
KU mathematics awards more than $100,000 each year in scholarships, with most of that money going to four-year renewable awards. In a city where the university is a major economic and educational anchor, those scholarships help shape the workforce that Lawrence and Kansas will rely on next.
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