The NDSU mathematics department hosted the 16th annual Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day Sept. 22. The event attracted 31 female students and eight teachers, the second highest attendance in the past six years.
Participants included 11 students from nearby schools, including Davies High, Fargo North, West Fargo High School and Youth Education Services in Moorhead, as well as 20 students from schools across North Dakota, including Belfield, Dickinson, South Heart, Sawyer and LaMoure.
The program consisted of three hands-on workshops, a keynote address, a career panel, a mathematics competition and prize ceremony. The workshops included:
- “The game of Nim” presented by Lindsay Erickson, a graduate of NDSU’s doctoral mathematics program and a current faculty member at Concordia College in Moorhead;
- “Cylinders, Moebius bands, and topology,” presented by Josef Dorfmeister, NDSU mathematics faculty;
- “The geometry of Tetris,” presented by Mark Spanier, NDSU mathematics graduate student.
The keynote address on “Pricing an insurance claim with cards and dice” was delivered by invited speaker Catherine Micek of Travelers Insurance in Minneapolis. The career panel featured Micek and four local female engineers, who answered students’ questions about their jobs.
The event received highly positive feedback from attendees as indicated by anonymous evaluation forms. The students rated their overall experience as 4.75 out of 5. One student attendee commented, “I’m so glad I came. It was so much fun and I am really considering mathematics as a career choice now.”
The teachers also were impressed, rating the event as 5 out of 5. One instructor wrote, “Thank you. My girls look forward to this experience and we are very grateful for the opportunity. I appreciated the hands-on portion of all of the presentations.” Another one shared, “Loved all the workshops. Hope to return next year with more girls. Thanks for covering expenses.”
The event was supported by the Department of Mathematics, College of Science and Mathematics, School of Education, College of Human Development and Education, Office of the Provost, NDSU FORWARD and the NDSU Bookstore.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.