BOZEMAN – A Montana State University mathematician is the second faculty member from the Department of Mathematical Sciences ever to win an esteemed CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

Blair Davey, who joined the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2020, has been awarded nearly $500,000 to continue her research into partial differential equations, a mathematical tool that can be used to model natural phenomena like electromagnetism, astronomy and fluid dynamics.

“The problems I work on build off what I started in my Ph.D. It’s my first mathematical love,” Davey said. “My work takes a theoretical approach, but the topics are at the interface of science and mathematics – it’s nice to know the application of these down the road.”

David Cherry, associate dean of the College of Letters and Science, said the award is an exciting and important recognition of the quality of Davey’s research.

“The CAREER award shows that Dr. Davey will be a future leader in her field. It also signifies that her work is bound to make a real difference in the field of partial differential equations and their role in modeling phenomena like quantum waves,” he said.

“We’re proud of what Dr. Davey has already accomplished and look forward to her future contributions to her field and to the university.”

Elizabeth Burroughs, head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, said it is exciting to have a second faculty member receive the prestigious award. David Ayala, associate professor of mathematics, was the first in the department to win a CAREER award three years ago.

“To have another one in the field of pure mathematics is certainly a point of pride for the department,” Burroughs said.

Davey said she always loved science and math while growing up near Toronto. She said she had a number of excellent teachers, and her high school math teacher was especially encouraging of academic pursuits and competitive opportunities, which ultimately helped her settle on studying mathematics in university.

“Even as a kid, I always loved numbers, patterns and puzzles,” she said. “While studying math at university, I realized that I could just keep going.”

She earned her bachelor’s degree in pure and applied mathematics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, then master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics at the University of Chicago before completing two years of postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota. Prior to coming to MSU, she was an assistant professor at City College of New York for five years.

Asked why she chose to come to Bozeman after spending her lifetime in big cities, Davey, who is a rock climber and a skier, said, “When I visited, I immediately liked the place and the people. The mountains were calling.”

Burroughs said Davey stands out not just for her mathematical prowess but also for her commitment to students in all levels of study. Davey is co-director of the department’s Directed Reading Program, which pairs undergraduate students with graduate student mentors to read and discuss books on mutual subjects of interest over the course of a semester.

“It’s a way for us to connect graduate student mentors with undergraduates, who then see what math can look like outside the classroom,” Davey said.

She has also arranged speakers for the department’s math seminar series, an effort that “has broadened our mathematical footprint,” according to Burroughs.

In addition, with a previously awarded NSF grant, Davey established a weeklong “welcome workshop” for graduate students new to MSU. Those events include an introduction to the department, review lectures, problem sessions and other activities designed to support incoming scholars.

“To have her attention so solidly on supporting students is a sign of her commitment to our students and programs here,” Burroughs said.

A portion of the funding from the CAREER grant will enable Davey to extend her support to young mathematicians across the country. She will organize and conduct a summer workshop in Bozeman open to 40 upper-level graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from around the nation, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Cherry noted the outreach effort coincides with the college’s long-term goal of better serving underrepresented communities in the state.

Davey expects to work with two Ph.D. students during the research portion of the CAREER grant, which will address problems in elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations. Specifically, she will use her expertise to expand understanding of the behavior of solutions to equations that model quantum waves, systems with microscopic structures and systems that are changing in time. 

Davey said the research will extend her previous work by taking ideas from other areas of math and putting them together in new ways. The potential applications of the findings could extend to other fields of mathematics and condensed matter physics, she said.

“I am pretty excited to get this grant,” Davey said. “I feel really fortunate to have this funding and have the opportunity to keep doing the math that I love.”