From the Chair, Profesor Ralucca Gera

The focus of the Applied Math department is to educate officers to learn how to think rigorously and logically; I cannot think of a better discipline that can serve this purpose. As a service department, we have the privilege of educating many of the students that come through the doors of NPS and we take this responsibility seriously. The dedication of our faculty to this mission facilitates taking students with diverse educational backgrounds to complete a Masters degree in STEM-related fields in a short turn-around time.

At the Naval Postgraduate School, Applied Mathematics plays a unique and essential role in delivering operational advantage to the Navy and Joint Force. While only a small number of students pursue degrees in mathematics, nearly every STEM‑educated officer at NPS depends on mathematics instruction provided by this department. As a service department, Applied Mathematics equips officers across engineering, operations research, computer science, oceanography, meteorology, physics, and systems engineering with the quantitative reasoning needed to move faster, think rigorously, and deliver capability at the speed of relevance. In doing so, the department directly supports the DOW and Navy’s emphasis on execution, readiness, and technologically fluent leadership.