Panangaden Teaches Students to Solve More Than Equations
Heidi Opdyke
- Associate Dean of Marketing and Communications, MCS
- Email opdyke@andrew.cmu.edu
- Phone 412-268-9982
Californians face the highest rents in the nation, and young professionals and low-income families risk being priced out. As a graduate student at Caltech, Jane Panangaden brought her mathematical mindset and dedication to tenant rights to help draft rent control legislation for Pasadena. It passed, providing community members with an array of protections.
“Being able to construct a logical argument is useful for every single person on the planet,” said Panangaden, now an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “I try to incorporate that into all of my classes.”
Panangaden wants students to see mathematics as more than a collection of formulas and to understand how analytical thinking can help solve problems in their communities.
Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon's Department of Mathematical Sciences in August 2026, Panangaden taught mathematics at Pitzer College in California and Williams College in Massachusetts. Her focus is on analysis, a subfield of mathematics that studies objects inspired by large quantum systems. She also investigates other areas of pure math, like number theory.
During the fall 2026 semester, Panangaden taught differential equations, a course that explores how interconnected variables change over time.
“It’s kind of like my home class,” she said. “It’s the class I’ve taught most in my life.”
In future semesters, she plans to teach calculus, analysis and logical reasoning — helping students develop the same problem-solving skills that helped her draft rent control legislation. She said that besides teaching concepts, she wants to help them develop a mathematical mindset.
“I think about teaching math like teaching a language,” Panangaden said. “It’s a whole new way of thinking for a lot of people, and it’s really fun to share that.”
David Offner, teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies, led the search committee that selected Panangaden.
“Jane has a strong background in research combined with an exceptional commitment to high-quality teaching,” Offner said. “We were really impressed by her ability to engage with students and her excitement about teaching a wide variety of courses. She brings new expertise in analysis to our teaching faculty.”
Panangaden said she wants to show students how they can apply what they learn in mathematics to other disciplines and their own lives.
“Math is something that happens within the context of a community and a social group,” she said. “The process of doing math is creative, and it requires working with other people and being able to explain yourself to other people. I really value that.”
