The Department of Mathematics (MAT) was established in 1970 as a result of the university reform implemented at the University of São Paulo in 1968. The Mathematics departments that had previously existed in various USP units were merged into a single department within the newly created Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (IME-USP). The oldest of these departments, located at the Polytechnic School, predated the foundation of the University itself. The Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters had been established in 1934, together with the creation of USP.
MAT is responsible for the Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics (daytime program), the Licentiate Degree in Mathematics (daytime and evening programs), and the Center for the Improvement of Mathematics Education (CAEM). The Department also provides Mathematics courses for several USP units, including the Polytechnic School; the Institutes of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, Physics, Geosciences, Chemistry, and Oceanography; and the Schools of Architecture and Urbanism, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Economics, Business Administration and Accounting.
Most MAT faculty members contribute to at least one of the Department’s two graduate programs: the Graduate Program in Mathematics at IME-USP, established in 1970 and home to one of the oldest and most highly regarded Master’s and Doctoral programs in Brazil, and the Professional Master’s Program in Mathematics Education, created in 2012. Many graduates of these programs currently hold leadership positions at universities in Brazil and abroad.
MAT has approximately 76 faculty members, all of whom hold doctoral degrees and are active in all major areas of research in Mathematics and Mathematics Education. The Department maintains extensive collaboration with researchers from across Brazil and from leading international research centers.