It is my great pleasure to announce that alumnus Dr. Fariborz Maseeh (’80, ’84) has made a $3.9 million investment in computational science in PSU’s department of mathematics and statistics, now named in his honor the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

In making his gift, Dr. Maseeh said, “A way to overcome economic and global competitive challenges, is to produce better talents in our society. Investing in better education will contribute to that. With significant global competition facing us, now is the time to contribute to our educational institutions.” said Maseeh, “Investments fostering collaboration between academia and business will lead to useful and practical breakthroughs in the future. I am honored to be a part of the transformation of PSU’s Math and Statistics Department.”

Dr. Maseeh’s extraordinary investment will build on PSU’s current strength in computational science and allow us to recruit three additional world-class faculty members, provide promising young mathematicians with fellowships, and continue his longstanding support for the Maseeh Mathematics and Statistics Colloquium Series and the Fariborz Maseeh Lecture Series.

Computational mathematicians partner with other scientists and create computer simulations and data analysis tools that predict the behavior of the extremely complex systems that shape everyday life, like the atmosphere, oceans, tectonic plates, airplanes, freeways, and cells and genes. PSU is rich with partnership opportunities for these scientists, in fields as diverse as nanotechnology, drug discovery, engineering, architecture, genetic analysis, traffic modeling, finance, and climate change science.

Dr. Maseeh’s gift also makes PSU a stronger partner for others in our community – for health care researchers, the semi-conductor industry, our fast-growing solar energy industry, our businesses and financial institutions, and our partners in the public sector. These computational scientists will attract external research funding, partner with other researchers and businesses, and make our region more competitive.

Last year external funding for natural science research at PSU grew more than 20% and our faculty-entrepreneurs secured more patents, licensed more innovations, and launched more start-up companies than ever before. Dr. Maseeh’s visionary gift will accelerate this progress.

We are deeply grateful.