Milena Stanislavova, Ph.D., has been named the chair of the Department of Mathematics in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Stanislavova was trained in all areas of pure and applied mathematics. She earned her M.S. in Mathematics from Sofia University in Bulgaria in 1993 and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Missouri in 2000. Dr. Stanislavova’s goal as an educator is to help students gain a more complete understanding of the intrinsic beauty of mathematics, its interdisciplinary connections, and the many doors its analytical skills can open.
Dr. Stanislavova comes from the University of Kansas, where she started in 2002. She was director of graduate studies in the Department of Mathematics from 2012-2017 and, most recently, served as chair of the Department of Economics since 2017. Dr. Stanislavova’s research is in differential equations and dynamical systems, focusing on the stability of special solutions of nonlinear differential equations of mathematical physics.
“Dr. Stanislavova is uniquely prepared to lead the Department of Mathematics. As a productive and funded scholar at the University of Kansas, she provided transformative leadership to the Department of Economics there,” said Kecia M. Thomas, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “I look forward to all the ways in which she will support the growth of mathematics at UAB, while also promoting greater collaboration with other College of Arts and Sciences units — like physics and computer science — as well as other schools at UAB.”
Dr. Stanislavova’s research has been continuously supported by the Applied Mathematics Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). She has collaborated on establishing a new NSF-funded regional partial differential equations and dynamical systems annual conference together with colleagues from the University of Missouri and the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
She is passionate about creating opportunities for women to pursue careers in mathematics and about helping and mentoring them in the profession.
