The Department of Mathematics has a threefold purpose:

a) promoting, developing and organizing scientific research within the Politecnico in both Pure and Applied Mathematics with particular attention to the application to Architecture and Engineering Sciences;
b) guaranteeing, organizing and coordinating teaching activities in Mathematics for all degree levels offered by the Politecnico;
c) acting as a reference point of excellence for mathematical competences, both inside the Politecnico and in the external socio-economical environment.
 

With regards to the research activities, the Department will pursue a greater participation to national and international projects, fostering an even higher research level, both theoretical and applied. The Department will also broaden its research activities, enlarging the network of international collaborations and strengthening its integration in the scientific context of the Politecnico, also through the development of those fields which are more open to interdipartimental collaborations. With regards to teaching and education, the Department is engaged in updating the courses in accordance with the new curriculum of the Italian university system. At the same time, the department is involved in the realisation of new courses in "Mathematics for Engineering Sciences" which started in the last few years and which cover all degree levels. Finally, with regards to the services offered by the Department, it will strive to make its competences more available to public needs, stimulating the transfer of mathematical methods to business and industry, and to society in general.

STAFF AND ORGANISATION

The Department of Mathematics has a total staff of 79. It counts 17 full professors, 22 associate professors and 27 researchers and assistant professors. There are 13 administrative and technical staff members. Approximately 20,000 students attend courses taught by departmental staff each year.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Research at the Department of Mathematics is focussed on both Pure and Applied Mathematics. In most of the activities, the employed methodology is the classical one in Mathematics: logical deduction and theorem proving; more recently, computer experimentation and simulation has become part of the activity. The main goal of the investigations is to establish original and significant results widening the knowledge in different areas of Mathematics, as well as to develop new mathematical models, methodologies, algorithms motivated by applications. In most cases, the results obtained at the Department match international quality standards; for instance, the majority of the papers are published in well-known international journals or in refereed proceedings. Fundings for the research activity come from the Politecnico, from several Italian institutions and agencies (such as MURST, CNR, INDAM, ASI, CRUI, Compagnia di San Paolo), from EU projects (such as HCM, TMR, RTN, IHP, BRITE-EURAM) and from other international agencies (such as NATO, INTAS).

Department of Mathematics Research Groups

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

The Department supplies mathematical teaching to all Courses offered at the Politecnico, both at the first level (`Laurea') and at second level (`Laurea specialistica'); teaching covers from elementary Calculus to advanced mathematical methods. The Department is involved in up-to-date keeping the teaching formats, in experimenting new ones, in exploiting multimediality and networking. A research group is active in this area. Recently, the Department promoted an innovative Programme (for the Italian environment) in Applied Mathematics, leading to a Laurea in `Mathematics for Engineering Sciences" and a Laurea specialistica in `Mathematical Engineering'. 25 to 40 students per year have been enrolled in this Programme, many of them expressly attracted to the Politecnico from other Italian regions by this opportunity. At the post-graduate level, the Department is active through a Programme in `Mathematics for Engineering Sciences'. In addition, several graduate courses are usually offered to other post-graduate Programmes within the Politecnico, often with a wide audience. Various members of the Department collaborate with other Doctoral Programmes in the Politecnico and in other Universities. Attraction of Post-Docs by our Department has always been strong and steady in time, very often limited only by restrictions in office space.

NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

As far as the research activity is concerned, many scientific contacts and collaborations are ongoing between teams of the Department and other teams (often of high international reputation) in Italy, in the European Community, in the United States and in other countries. Participation to networks and joint programmes is common. From the point of view of training and education, the Department supports exchange projects for students and teachers such as Socrates. Furthermore, each year several members of the Department are invited to teach courses in other Universities or in Summer Schools, in Italy and abroad. In order to support and strengthen - inside and outside the Politecnico - the role of the Department as a centre of mathematical know-how, a Laboratory for the Applications of Mathematics is active in the Department.