Winona State University announces Dr. Joyati Debnath as the 2018 recipient of the Distinguished Faculty & Staff Award.

Dr. Debnath is currently a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at WSU, where she has taught since 1989. She received her BS in pure mathematics and her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Iowa State University. She has received numerous honors and awards, including Best Teaching Award from Iowa State University (1987), Outstanding Woman of Education Award (1993), and Who’s Who Among American Teachers (1996). Prior to joining WSU, Dr. Debnath was a faculty member of the Mathematics and Computer Systems Department at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, Wisconsin.

A longtime advocate and mentor for female mathematicians, Dr. Debnath has led her career with a student-focused approach to her work. She was nominated for this award by a former student.

Dr. Debnath has research interests in the areas of integral transform theory and more recently in matrices and graph theory. She is an author/co-author of over 50 publications in numerous peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has made numerous research presentations at national and international conferences in mathematics and computer science.

Dr. Debnath isthe recipient of many grants, including the National Science Foundation Instructional Laboratory Improvement grant, Center of Undergraduate Research in Mathematics grant and grants for WSU undergraduate student research. She has served as a faculty director of the WSU Freshman Orientation Program and on numerous university committees, and has coordinated WSU’s Distinguished Lecture Series in Mathematics for several years.

In addition to her role and responsibilities at WSU, Dr. Debnath has been very involved in the Winona community, with active roles with the YMCA, Parents of the Winona Area Catholic Schools Association and Habitat for Humanity. She is also a frequent judge of research paper presentations at the annual Minnesota State Science Fair.

She resides in Winona and has one son, Shubham, who recently completed his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and resides in Miami, Florida.

The Winona State University Alumni Society annually recognizes alumni, faculty, staff and community members for their outstanding commitment to the University, its mission and to improving our world. For more information, visit http://www.winona.edu/alumni/awards.asp.