Magdalena Daniela Toda

Dean, College of Natural and Applied Sciences

Missouri State University

Professional Profile

Magdalena Daniela Toda is Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences at Missouri State University.

She is a professor of mathematics with more than 25 years of research and teaching experience, a sustained record of scholarly productivity, and a proven history of departmental leadership and National Science Foundation Division of Mathematical Sciences service.

Her work emphasizes strategic program development, shared governance, external funding, research excellence, student success, mentoring, and institutional visibility at national and international levels.

25+

Years of research and teaching experience.

60+

Refereed publications appeared in print.

$1.3M+

External funding as PI or Co-PI.

$7M+

External funding as senior or supporting personnel.

10 years

Department chair leadership experience.

200+

Employees supervised as department chair.

Appointments

  • Dean, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Missouri State University, 2026–Present
  • Research Leave/Travel, Texas Tech University, 2025–2026
  • Chair & Professor, Mathematics & Statistics, Texas Tech University, 2023–2025
  • NSF Program Director, Applied Mathematics, NSF MPS/DMS, 2022–2023
  • Chair & Professor, Mathematics & Statistics, Texas Tech University, 2016–2022
  • Interim Chair, Mathematics & Statistics, Texas Tech University, 2015–2016
  • Professor, Texas Tech University, 2014–Present
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Texas Tech University, 2010–2015
  • Associate Professor, Texas Tech University, 2008–2014
  • Assistant Professor, Texas Tech University, 2001–2007
  • Assistant Professor, Ball State University, 2000–2001
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Kansas, 1995–2000

Education

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Kansas, 2000
  • Ph.D., Mathematics, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania
  • M.A., Mathematics, University of Kansas, 1997
  • B.S.–M.S., Mathematics, University of Bucharest, 1990–1991
  • M.S., Health & Wellness, American College of Healthcare Sciences, 2019

Research Interests

  • Differential geometry, integrable systems, geometric PDEs, and calculus of variations
  • Riemannian and Lorentzian geometric analysis
  • Willmore energy, constant mean curvature surfaces, and minimal surfaces
  • Elastic energies, protein folding, red blood cells, and biomembranes
  • Willmore–Helfrich energy for cells and biological membranes

Leadership and Administrative Accomplishments

Strategic Growth and Innovation

  • Founded the TTU Mathematics Postdoctoral Scholar Program, averaging three new postdoctoral scholars per year.
  • Hired 25 tenure-track faculty and more than 30 postdoctoral scholars from 2015 to 2025.
  • Helped increase departmental external funding from approximately $200,000 to more than $10 million while serving as chair.
  • Expanded graduate enrollment from approximately 90 to approximately 150 students.
  • Increased funded Ph.D. students to 120 by Fall 2024.

Curriculum and Program Development

  • Led complete revisions of Ph.D., M.S., and certificate programs.
  • Led extensive graduate program review studies in 2015 and 2025.
  • Founded the 4-credit-hour Calculus I–III with Applications series, including Honors.
  • Co-created the Graduate Minor in Applied Mathematics in 2024.
  • Developed the B.S. in Economics & Mathematics with the Department of Economics.
  • Expanded support for AWM, SIAM, MAA, KME, and actuarial programs.

Shared Governance and Institutional Service

  • Developed departmental bylaws and established new standing committees.
  • Revised faculty evaluation processes emphasizing equity and impact.
  • Collaborated with colleges to enhance cross-disciplinary student success.
  • Promoted transparent governance, data-informed decision-making, and collaborative engagement with college and university administrators.

Expanded Administrative Leadership

  • Served as Department Chair for a decade, overseeing academic planning, faculty hiring, curriculum modernization, instructional quality, and program review.
  • Managed an annual departmental budget of approximately $10 million.
  • Supervised more than 200 employees, including tenured and tenure-track faculty, instructors, staff, and graduate teaching assistants.
  • Led initiatives across undergraduate and graduate programs, including redesigning core course sequences, expanding upper-division offerings, and strengthening interdisciplinary tracks.

Selected External Funding

PI and Co-PI Awards

  • NSF Grant DMS-2552723, Conference: Red Raider Mini-Symposium on Geometric Analysis and Applications, 2026–2027.
  • Applications of Willmore Energy Functionals to Protein Biology, Simons Foundation, 2018–2026, $42,000, Sole PI.
  • Intergovernmental Personnel Act Program Director, NSF MPS/DMS, 2022–2023, $179,100, PI.
  • Nonlinear Couplings for Flows in Fractured Media, NSF-DMS, 2014–2018, $290,000, PI.
  • Faculty for the Future Nothabo Dube, Schlumberger Foundation, 2014–2017, $42,000, PI.
  • AWM Travel Grant Recipient, 2013, $2,700.
  • Analysis of Non-Linear Flows in Heterogeneous Porous Media and Applications, NSF-DMS, 2009–2013, $226,000, Co-PI.
  • South Plains Mathematics Scholars, STEM, NSF-DUE, 2008–2013, $571,580, Co-PI.

Supporting and Senior Personnel Roles

  • TTU ADVANCE-ADAPT grant, 2021–2022.
  • NSF-WTMSMP summer programs for teachers, 2009–2010.
  • Texas Geometry and Topology Conference, supporting personnel at Texas Tech University, 2017–current.
  • NSF-REU and Department of Defense ASSURE Program, 2006–2009.
  • Project NExT Grant, supported by AMS and Texas Tech University Department of Mathematics, 2001–2003.

Honors and Distinctions

  • AWM Fellow, Class of 2025
  • Phenomenal Woman of Texas Tech, Office of the Provost, 2022
  • W. Dayawansa Faculty Award for Excellence in Service, 2022
  • TTU President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2008
  • KME Professor of the Year, 2002 and 2008
  • University of Kansas Outstanding Teaching Assistant, 2000

Strategic Leadership Philosophy

Dr. Toda’s leadership philosophy emphasizes growth, excellence, merit, accountability, and talent. It is grounded in the principle that academic institutions thrive when they uphold high standards, recruit and support talent, reward excellence, and align decisions with clear priorities, measurable outcomes, and responsible stewardship of public and donor resources.

Merit and Excellence

High-performing academic communities are built on merit, talent, and sustained performance. This approach uses rigorous hiring and promotion criteria, evidence-based evaluation, peer review, and accountability for outcomes.

Strategic Growth

Sustainable growth is achieved through clear priorities, aligned resources, faculty clusters, graduate programs, postdoctoral structures, curricular pathways, and partnerships across departments, colleges, and external stakeholders.

Stewardship and Transparency

Leadership at a public institution requires fiscal responsibility, regulatory compliance, clear resource allocation, careful documentation, and decision-making consistent with institutional policy and governance expectations.

Student Success

Student success is advanced through strong instruction, modern curricula, coherent pathways, clear expectations, reliable support systems, and opportunities connected to research, careers, and civic engagement.

Professional Culture

A healthy academic culture requires high expectations, mutual respect, professionalism, constructive disagreement, freedom of inquiry, viewpoint diversity, civility, and consistent application of rules and standards.

Graduate Students Supervised

Completed

  • Stone Fields, M.S., 2026
  • Madusha Dilhani, Ph.D., 2021
  • Wasim Akram, M.S., 2021
  • Anthony Gruber, Ph.D., 2019
  • Pushpi Paranamana, Ph.D., 2018
  • Thanuja G. Paragoda, Ph.D., 2016
  • Chalani Prematilake, Ph.D., 2016
  • Bhagya Athukorallage, Ph.D., 2014
  • Zeynep Kose, Ph.D., 2010
  • Alin Tomoiaga, M.S., 2006; Ph.D., 2014
  • Other undergraduate and graduate students mentored: 27 domestic and international students, including one McNair Scholar and one Clark Scholar.

In Progress

  • Stone Fields, research advisor, continuing
  • Thilini Karunasena, Ph.D. expected 2027
  • Mohamad Nawshad, M.S. expected 2028

Selected Publications and Books

Dr. Toda has more than 60 refereed publications. Her work has appeared in journals and proceedings including Journal of Mathematical Physics, Nonlinear Analysis, Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, AIMS Mathematics, Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry, PROTEINS, and IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

Recent Publications
  • M. Toda, A. Pigazzini. “Local Topological Constraints on Berry Curvature in Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates.” Journal of Geometric Analysis, 36(7), 234, 2026.
  • M. Toda, E. Güler, M. D. Atampalage. “A Weierstrass-Kenmotsu Type Representation for CMC 0 ≤ H < 1 in H3(-1) via Adjusted Gauss Maps and Iwasawa Splitting.” Differential Geometry and Its Applications, 103, 102383, 2026.
  • M. Toda, M. D. Atampalage, E. Güler. “Minimal Surfaces in H3(-1) via Willmore Geometry, Gauss Maps, Meromorphic Potentials, and Algorithmic Constructions.” Open Mathematics, 24(1), 20250246, 2026.
  • M. Toda, E. Güler. “Möbius-Type Minimal Surfaces Family in R4 via the Generalized Weierstrass–Enneper Representation.” Mathematica Slovaca, 2026.
  • E. Güler, M. Toda. “A Study of Special Weingarten Hypersurfaces in R4 with Spherical Foliations.” Journal of Geometry and Symmetry in Physics, 75, 39–49, 2026.
  • M. Toda, E. Güler. “On Scherk-Type Minimal Immersion in R4 Constructed by the Generalized Weierstrass–Enneper Representation.” AIMS Mathematics, 11(3), 5456–5475, 2026.
  • E. Güler, M. Toda. “Weierstrass-Type Constructions, Variational Analysis and Integral-Free Minimal Immersions in Rn.” Electronic Research Archive, 34(3), 1885–1899, 2026.
  • E. Aulisa, M. Toda, S. Fields, E. Güler. “Red Blood Cells as Elastic Surfaces: Cassini Ovals, Helfrich Shape Equation, and Biophysical Regimes.” Electronic Research Archive, 34(1), 31–47, 2026.
  • E. Güler, C. Konaxis, M. Toda. “C.C. Chen's Minimal Surface: From Parametric Form to Algebraic Equation.” Journal of Geometry and Symmetry in Physics, 72, 39–57, 2025.
  • A. Pigazzini, L. Lussardi, M. Toda, A. DeBenedictis. “Einstein Warped-Product Manifolds and the Screened Poisson Equation.” Contemporary Mathematics, 821, 173–179, 2025.
  • M. Toda, E. Güler. “Generalized Weierstrass–Enneper Representation for Minimal Surfaces in R4.” AIMS Mathematics, 10(9), 22406–22420, 2025.
  • R. González, M. Toda, I. M. Mladenov. “On the Shape of the Red Blood Cells.” Journal of Geometry and Symmetry in Physics, 72, 1–38, 2025.
Textbooks and Books
  • M. Toda, editor and contributor. Willmore Energy and Willmore Conjecture. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, 2017/2018.
  • K. Smith, M. Strauss, M. Toda. Calculus, 7th ed., Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2017.
  • K. Smith, M. Strauss, M. Toda. Calculus, 6th ed., Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2013.
  • K. Smith, M. Strauss, M. Toda. Calculus Special Edition, Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2013.
  • K. Smith, M. Strauss, M. Toda. Student Solutions Manual for Calculus, Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2013.
  • K. Smith, M. Strauss, M. Toda. Instructor’s Solutions Manual for Calculus, Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2013.

Selected Invited Presentations

  • Generalized Willmore Surfaces, Geometric Flows and Applications for Biophysics, RIGA 2025, Bucharest, May 2025.
  • p-Willmore Energy and Applications, XXIV International Conference on Geometry, Integrability, Quantization, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, 2024.
  • Elastic Energies, Geometric Flows and Applications, NSF MPS/DMS Colloquium, April 2023.
  • Generalized Willmore Energies and Elastic Surfaces with Applications to Biophysics, University of Strasbourg, France, July 2022.
  • Math for Innovation Colloquium, Kyushu University, December 2021.
  • p-Willmore Energies, University of Kansas, AWM-SIAM Lecture, April 2021.
  • Elastic Energies and Surfaces, Clemson University, September 2019.
  • p-Willmore Energies, 21st Geometry, Integrability and Quantization Conference, Varna, Bulgaria, June 2019.

Academic and Professional Service

Departmental, College, and University Service

  • Department Chair, Mathematics & Statistics, 2015–2025
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, 2010–2015
  • Member, Executive Committee, 2010–2025
  • Chair, Undergraduate Committee, 2010–2015
  • Chair, Organizing Committee, Emmy Noether High-School Mathematics Day, 2006–2019 and 2021–2022
  • Member, Strategic Planning Committee, 2012 and 2016–2020
  • Member, Hiring Search Committee, 2016–2022
  • REU Program Coordinator, June 2007

University Service

  • Member, CAN Board, Chairs Advancement Network, 2024–2025
  • Member, TTU ADVANCE Chair Mentoring Group, 2021–2022
  • Organizer, Emmy Noether High-School Days, 2003–2022
  • Faculty Senate Member, 2006–2010

National Professional Service

  • Program Director, Applied Mathematics, National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical Sciences, 2022–2023
  • NSF Panelist and Reviewer, continuous service since 2010
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics, 2019–2022 and 2026–current
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Differential Geometry and Related Integrable Systems, 2021–2022
  • Editor, Research Monograph Series, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis

Conferences and Events Organized

  • Texas Geometry and Topology Conference, Texas Tech local organizer
  • Red Raider Mini Symposium, NSF-sponsored, Texas Tech University
  • AMS Sectional Meetings, Local Organizer, Lubbock, Texas
  • AMS Special Sessions in San Antonio, El Paso, Denton, Lubbock, and Tucson
  • SIAM Special Session, 2013
  • International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics mini symposia, 2013 and 2019

NSF Program Director Experience

  • Served as NSF Program Director in Applied Mathematics, Division of Mathematical Sciences, 2022–2023.
  • Coordinated, organized, and co-led expert review panels evaluating proposals in applied mathematics, mathematical biology, computational science, and engineering.
  • Oversaw review portfolios representing a combined budget exceeding $40 million.
  • Collaborated across NSF divisions including MPS, BIO, ENG, and CISE.
  • Provided guidance to principal investigators, institutions, and early-career investigators.

Interdisciplinary Research and Public Engagement

  • Collaborated with multiple research centers and institutes at Texas Tech University, including the TTU Climate Center.
  • Interdisciplinary projects span mathematical modeling, biophysics, computational PDEs, integrable systems, and biomedical applications.
  • Established partnerships with faculty across Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Computer Science, and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
  • Participates in community outreach, seminars, and public-facing events promoting the role of mathematics in real-world challenges.
  • Featured in Texas Tech University media coverage highlighting applications of mathematics to public health and biomedical sciences.

Institutional Advancement and Academic Innovation

  • Expanded external research activity through targeted mentoring, proposal development support, and collaborative faculty teams.
  • Managed departmental budgets of more than $10 million per year.
  • Oversaw substantial endowments supporting professorships, student scholarships, and laboratories.
  • Strengthened graduate recruitment, resulting in increased Ph.D. enrollment and postdoctoral training opportunities.
  • Modernized undergraduate pathways and created interdisciplinary courses and certificates aligned with workforce and research needs.
  • Established the Magdalena Toda Mathematics Scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students at Texas Tech University.
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