The Griffon News

Tingxiu Wang was born in the providence of Fujian near Taiwan in China. After receiving his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Shandong University, he taught as a full time instructor for four years. In 1986 he moved to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to pursue his masters and Ph. D. in mathematics.

Upon his completion of his Ph. D he was hired at Oakton Community College in Des Plains, Illinois, outside of Chicago. He was employed there from 1991 until 2008.

This semester Wang begins his position at Western as chairman of the computer science, math, and physics department.

He feels he has been given a warm welcome to Missouri.

“The faculty is very enthusiastic, collegial, and professional,” Wang said. “It’s a nice environment and people are very supportive.”

Wang said one of his goals as chairman is to encourage scholarship and teaching excellence.

“We want to continue our scholarship in addition to high quality teaching,” Wang said. “We want to continue our scholarship to do research. Research can enhance our academic environment and can enrich our teaching contents and provide more opportunity for our students. We want to promote undergraduate research so it’s in line with our philosophy. I think applied learning is a good concept.”

Wang said he would like the fields studied in his department to cover a range of projects. Some of the research projects include computer science, math education, statistics and actuarial sciences. There are also opportunities for research coming to light in abstract algebra, differential equations, analysis and physics. This provides the student not only the chance to gain real-world experience in their field but to take leadership roles in projects.

“Students can participate in undergraduate research projects so it gives students a taste of what math research is,” Wang said.

In addition to research projects, Wang would like to see the degree programs Western offers expand.

“We would like to think about statistics and some other contributions in math areas such as analysis or maybe abstract algebra,” Wang said. “We have an interest in developing graduate programs that may be specialized in teaching developmental math.”

As an established mathematician Wang has published more than 20 papers in functional differential equations and in mathematics teaching. He reviewed textbooks for Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and John Wiley and Sons. He is a reviewer for Mathematical Reviews and a referee for publications such as the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Journal of the Franklin Institute, Computers and Mathematics with Applications, Applied Mathematics Letter, Electronic Journal of Qualitative Theory of Differential Equations, and The AMATYC Review.

Tim Miller, associate professor of mathematics, said Wang has made a good impression on faculty.

“He’s doing a great job,” Miller said. “He’s very approachable and friendly. He is a good colleague. He came to visit in the middle of the summer and had good discussions with the faculty. He has good ideas for teaching so students are going to benefit from him being here.”

Kevin Anderson, associate professor of mathematics, said he looks forward to working with Wang.

“Dr. Wang is bringing some fresh ideas on teaching and research to Missouri Western,” Anderson said. “I’m looking forward to working with him and collaborating with him on research.”