The elegant red-brick buildings and spacious courtyards of St. Stephen’s College lie more than 8,000 miles from the Bayou City, yet this small elite school in India is helping to transform the University of Houston’s math department.

St. Stephen’s, founded more than 125 years ago by Anglican clergy hoping to bring a little bit of Cambridge to what was then the crown jewel of the British Empire, sends five to seven students to the math Ph.D. program at UH each year.

It is one of several agreements for faculty and student exchange that the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics has with foreign universities. But perhaps none have impacted a department so quickly and dramatically as the program with St. Stephen’s.

The first cadre from St. Stephen’s arrived four years ago, and now these students comprise more than a third of those studying toward a Ph.D. in math.  

“It has completely changed the complexion of our department,” said Jeff Morgan, chair of the math department. “The students from St. Stephen’s are really first rate, and they’ve forced other students to work harder.”

St. Stephen’s, a component college of the University of Delhi, is one of the most prestigious schools in India. Students are selected by the Mathematical Sciences Foundation, housed at St. Stephen’s, and are guaranteed admission and financial support, such as tuition waivers and graduate assistantships, by UH.

The students take their first year of core graduate courses at St. Stephen’s before heading to Houston. Although many received their undergraduate degrees from St. Stephen’s, the program also recruits outstanding students from other universities in India.

Because not enough Americans are seeking advanced math degrees, the department has had to look abroad for students, Morgan said. Evaluating individual applications can be a crapshoot, he added, but relying on a trusted institution like St. Stephen’s to screen applicants ensures UH receives only the best.

The program also provides a ready-made social group for the new graduate students.

When Saurabh Jain moved to Houston three years ago, it was the first time the math Ph.D. student had ever left India. Coming with a cohort of fellow St. Stephen’s students made the adjustment much easier, Jain said.

“We used to do practically everything together,” he said. “Coming here without any acquaintances can be hard, and so coming as a group and having people you can talk to was one of the best things for us.”

The support group was especially helpful to Priyanka Gandhi, who had never lived away from her family before coming to UH. She was both nervous and excited about moving from Delhi to Houston, and being able to talk to others going through the same experience made the adjustment easier, Gandhi said.

Gandhi was part of the first wave of St. Stephen’s students in 2003, and now she helps new arrivals learn the ropes.

The program grew out of collaborations between Vern Paulsen, a UH math professor, and Dinesh Singh, a former faculty member at St. Stephen’s and now an administrator at the University of Delhi.

Singh was in Houston visiting relatives when he decided to drop by the UH campus. He met Paulsen, who had similar research interests and the two began working together.

Students are recruited mostly by word-of-mouth, with Singh and faculty at other colleges identifying the most outstanding math students and encouraging them to apply, Jain said.

Like other math Ph.D.’s, the St. Stephen’s students have an array of career options before them once they receive their degrees. Jain, with a specialization in signal processing is looking for a job in the private sector, while Gandhi hopes to join a college faculty. One recent graduate now works in finance.  

The students from St. Stephen’s aren’t just math whizzes, Paulsen said. They are also impressive teachers. With their poise and flawless English, they can stand confidently in front of an introductory calculus class.

While undergraduates often complain about not being able to understand the heavily accented English of the foreign graduate students teaching their classes, that is never a problem with the St. Stephen’s students, Paulsen said.

“In math the stereotypical student isn’t very worldly, but these kids aren’t geeks or nerds,” Paulsen said. “They’re remarkably sophisticated and interesting people.”

The high-quality of the St. Stephen’s students, combined with other changes in graduate studies, has made the department’s Ph.D. program much more selective, Morgan said.

“The worst student in the program (this year) is one we would’ve been happy to have a few years ago,” Morgan said.