The Department of Mathematics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was established in 1928, where the First National Mathematics Congress was held. It has made great contributions to Chinese Modern Mathmetics. There are a number of famous mathematicians who are schoolfellows from this department, including Wenjun Wu , Hesheng Hu and Sheng Gong. After the reconstruction in 1952, an applied mathematics group was found, which was expanded and rebuilt as a department, and formally named the Department of Applied Mathematics. It was later changed to Department of Mathematics in 2001. In 1996, the department was entitled to offer Ph.D. degrees in applications mathematics, and in 2003 it was authorized to offer the first-class Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics.
At present the department has 84 faculties, including 25 professors( 22 Ph.D.-supervising professors, one Yangtze Chair Professor, one national outstanding young researcher, two awards in the first round national university teaching and research project, three new century talent researchers of the State Ministry of Education). 57.5% of the faculties have Ph.D. degree. The department has two institutes (one of them, called Complex System Institue of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is ajuncted with the Mathematics Department), six teaching and research groups, two laboratories and one editorial department of international academic magazine(Communications on Pure and Applied Analysis, issued jointly by American Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University). It has been authorized to offer Ph.D. degrees of first-class sicences, six categories of M.Sc. degress (one of them is the M.Sc. of System Science), and has a computer station to training Postdoctal Fellows in mathematics, and a teaching model base for engineering of the State Ministry of Education. In the past three years (2003-2005), the department has been in leading or participating 34 research projects of the state and the city of Shanghai, among them four are the key national natural sciences fund projects, nine are general projects, one is the major project of the National Ministry of Education , one is the key project of Shanghai Science Department. It has been awarded two research projects from the Ministry of Education outstanding young teacher reward and outstanding young teacher fund project. The department has published more than 200 scientific articles in high quality journals (SCI), and has held nine international conferences and/or research workshops. In 2003, the department was anominated for one first-class Country technological award and Natural sciences prize of the State Ministry of Eduction. The aim of the department is to train high-level professional personnel with strong fundamental theory, broad knowledge, rigorous mathemtaical training, and excellent ability in solving real problems. It has successfully tained large quantities of outstanding mathematics talented people for the society.