The Mathematics Department was founded in 1958, and in recent years has ranked among the top twenty in the country. Particular strengths include differential and symplectic geometry, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, complex analysis, and their applications to mathematical physics.

The Institute for Mathematical Sciences, founded in 1989, is closely allied to the department. The Institute's co-directors are John Milnor and Mikhail Lyubich. Its current primary research focus is on dynamical systems with an emphasis on the low-dimensional real and complex cases. The Institute is partially supported by the Simons Math-Physics Endowment.