Department of Mathematics
The Department of Mathematics is one of the largest departments at Nazarbayev University in terms of the number of faculty members and student body. We currently offer a Bachelor of Science degree program with a set of core courses and a diverse list of electives in pure mathematics, applied mathematics, statistics, and actuarial mathematics. We provide students with fundamental mathematical knowledge, analytical and logical ability, computational and data management skills and computer software training for pursuing careers in the increasingly digitized modern world job markets. Our courses include probability, statistics and stochastic analysis; numerical methods in applied mathematics, optimization, nonlinear differential equations and mathematical modeling of complex systems; discrete mathematics, cryptography, analysis, and algebra. We serve all students in the School of Sciences and Humanities and in the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, who take our courses for their major in mathematics, electives, and for mathematics minor requirement. Our faculty members are actively engaging our students in research through our capstone programs, and by providing individual mentoring, counseling, and career advising services.

Our Graduates

  • go for Master and Ph.D. studies in world-class universities in the United States and Europe, and other parts of the world, in pure mathematics, applied mathematics, operations research, economics, mechanical engineering, statistics, biomedical statistics, and data science; a partial list of universities includes Stanford University, Georgia Tech University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Illinois State University, Boston University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Oxford University, University of Glasgow, Warwick University, University of Rochester, McMaster University, University of Manchester, Queen Mary University, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Berlin Math Institute, University of Alberta, University of Amsterdam, TU Delft, KAUST, National University of Singapore, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, etc.
  • do Master studies at NU (Applied Math, Finance and Banking, Public Health, Education, etc.),
  • work in the financial industry (Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BCC Invest, Homecredit Bank, etc.),
  • work in the oil & gas and other industries (KazTransOil, InterGas, General Electric, Samruk-Kazyna, etc.),
  • work in data analysis (Huawei Moscow, BTS Digital, Sergek, TengriLab, etc.),
  • work in education (NIS, Spectrum, etc.).
Since 2015, we successfully graduate 40-70 students every year.

Recent Achievements

  • Dr. Yerlan Amanbek recieved the Best Researcher 2023 Award from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
  • Dr. Durvudkhan Suragan was awarded the Al-Farabi State Prize in 2020. The Al-Farabi State Prize is the highest recognition of the merits of scientists and technicians to the society and the state.
  • Dr. Francesco Sica received an award from the Association of Universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2020 for the achievements in the organization of the teaching process in terms of distance education, as well as for its methodological support.
  • Our students are at the core of the NU Math Olympic Team which regularly participates in the International Mathematics Competition. In 2019, the team returned with 5 medals (1 silver and 4 bronze).
  • Dr. Durvudkhan Suragan, was awarded the prestigious Ferran Sunyer i Balaguer Prize in 2019 for the monograph
  • "Hardy inequalities on homogeneous groups (100 years of Hardy inequalities)" co-authored with professor Michael Ruzhansky.
  • The 16th Asian Logic Conference, one of the main events in mathematical logic, was held in Nur-Sultan, June 17-21, 2019. The organizing committee was chaired by Dr. Manat Mustafa and consisted of representatives of our department.
We are striving to be excellent in both research and teaching through our vigorous engagement in research projects, grant applications, and international collaborations, adhering to the highest international standards. Our strengths lie in many areas of applied mathematics, statistics, and pure mathematics, especially in interdisciplinary research, working with many other faculty members of the physical, biological, economics, and engineering sciences.