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President: Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD
Dept. of Math & Computer Science
April 2017
Southern Maryland Math Circle How did the Southern Maryland Math Circle come to be?
A newsletter for the community, faculty, staff and students.
The SMCM mathematics faculty has worked to reach out to local kids for decades. Some programs bring students to campus - like Math Girls Day - but we wanted to reach out to the community on their turf. We talked about starting a Math Circle for years before finally doing it in the fall of 2014. Thanks to the folks at The Patuxent Partnership, we found a generous sponsor in RED Inc., a local contracting firm. They have allowed us to staff the program with SMCM faculty and SMCM math majors, as well as providing snacks to the middle- and highschool students who attend. We hold our events at the Lexington Park Public Library, and the staff there has been wonderful in providing us a space to work with students. With topics like “playing card polyhedra” and “weird ways to multiply,” how do you engage the students at different levels of mathematic skill (considering they range from grades 6-12)? We know the pressures K-12 teachers are under to stick to a fairly rigid curriculum. That doesn’t give them the freedom to introduce students to the wilder, more interesting side of mathematics. Constructing 3D models or playing with strange surfaces like Möbius strips allow us to show students the more creative side of mathematics. Many of these topics are what are called a low-threshold, high-ceiling ideas: anyone can start playing with them, and if they are really interested, these topics can lead to high-level mathematics. The Dept. of Mathematics & Computer Science also hosts Math Girls Day and Kids on Campus each semester at St. Mary’s College. Do these programs lead students into the Math Circle or are they geared to other purposes? They are all part of what we’re doing to promote better mathematics education for all, and to make sure groups that have historically been underserved by the mathematics community (including girls and students from minority populations) have opportunities to explore interesting mathematics.
During a recent Math Circle at Lexington Park Library, students constructed playing card polyhedra.
Do SMCM math and computer science students contribute to the program and if so, how? Many of the roughly 100 math majors at SMCM are planning to pursue teaching careers. By assisting a faculty member at a Math Circle event, they are gaining valuable experience working with kids on interesting topics. Occasionally they have to learn the topics themselves: college professors are also guilty of leaving fascinating topics out of the curriculum! Our sponsorship allows us to pay our majors for helping out.
600+ Turn Out for Benjamin Bradlee Lecture in Journalism Broadcast journalist and three-time Emmy winner Cokie Roberts delivered the Benjamin Bradlee Lecture in Journalism to a packed arena on March 8. The title of her talk was “Resilience and Resistance: Coping in Hard Times.” Sybol Anderson (assoc. prof. of philosophy) moderated discussion questions with Roberts following the lecture. The evening was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy.
Mosley on the Human Race
There’s a real investment of faculty’s time and commitment to the Southern Maryland Math Circle: what are the hoped-for outcomes? In the short term, we’re thrilled to see kids’ faces light up when they understand some of the cool math we do. We also hope those kids will be more interested in math, and more motivated when they go back to their school classrooms. Eventually, that should lead to more students – especially girls and minority students – staying in the STEM pipeline. We can’t wait until some of these kids join us at SMCM to continue their mathematics education.
Want More? News, Student and Faculty accomplishments: www.smcm.edu/news Campus Events Calendar: www.smcm.edu/events/calendar 240.895.2000 | www.smcm.edu
President Tuajuanda C. Jordan and Walter Mosley take a selfie during the event reception.
The Inaugural Presidential Lecture Series welcomed author and social commentator Walter Mosley on March 7. His topic: “The Only True Race is the Human Race.” Mosley is the author of more than 40 books, ranging from crime novel to literary fiction, nonfiction, political essay, young adult, and science fiction. With over a dozen entries, his Easy Rawlins detective series began with “Devil in a Blue Dress,” which was made into a feature film starring Denzel Washington.
Stu d en t S p o t l i gh t :
Halc y on R u sk i n ’1 8
hawkTHON Numbers Show Success!
“Programs like CLS and NSLI-Y are the epitome of a language learner’s dreams, affording students the opportunity to culturally immerse themselves in intensive language study, all costs covered,” said Ruskin. She plans on pursuing a master’s degree in security policy and says that the CLS Azerbaijani program is critical to that goal because, “it would be impossible to properly study security policy without linguistic and regionally focused cultural fluency.” The Department of International Languages and Cultures at St. Mary’s College of Maryland announced this month that Halcyon Ruskin ’18 has been named a Critical Languages Scholarship recipient for the Azerbaijani program. She will be studying in Baku, Azerbaijan, this summer. Ruskin is one of four students in the College’s history to receive this prestigious scholarship. She said she was “utterly thrilled” when she heard the news. The CLS Program is a fully-funded summer overseas language and cultural immersion program for American undergraduate and graduate students. It is a program of the U.S. Department of State. Past recipients include: Mayumy Rivera ‘16, Rachel Avrick ’08 and Becca (Tuttle) Chapman ’09 Rivera and Avrick studied Chinese through the scholarship and Chapman studied Arabic. Ruskin said she had “incredible support and counsel” from Sahar Shafqat (assoc. prof. of political science) and George MacLeod (asst. prof. of French) through the scholarship process. Ruskin, an international languages and cultures (French) and public policy studies double major, first got a taste for learning other languages when she took a French class at 12 years old. In high school, she received a scholarship for Russian language studies through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, or the (NSLI-Y). Ruskin spent six weeks in an intensive language study in Chisinau, Moldova, with that initiative.
Azerbaijan borders Russia and Iran, placing it in notable strategic importance regarding trade, energy and geopolitics. “By studying Azerbaijani I intend to develop a more intimate knowledge of the Caucasus region,” Ruskin said. She intends a career as a foreign affairs journalist, a profession that she believes, “demands a high level of linguistic and regional knowledge.” The Department of International Languages and Cultures at St. Mary’s College is committed to the study of particular societies around the world, with the aim of bringing forth an understanding of the world view and cultural perspective of peoples who live outside the Englishspeaking world. Ruskin is currently studying abroad at Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in Paris, France. She said she is looking forward to beginning the Azerbaijani program this summer. She said more than ever, there is a “pressing need” for people who have linguistic and regional knowledge. “As a global citizen, my plan is to fill that need,” she said.
What’s Happening in Sports
Spring Break-a-Sweat is the time of year for our fall and winter sports alumni to dust off their old gear, grab a water bottle, and return to St. Mary’s College to relive those glory days. All alumni are invited to attend, but our alumni athletes from soccer, basketball, field hockey, and volleyball are especially encouraged to return for their reunion games. Even if you don’t plan on participating, we hope you will come to support those who do! Saturday, April 8 at Seahawk Stadium from 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
hawkTHON victoriously displays the amount of money raised at this year’s event. The amount raised this year was $4,000 above the goal!
On March 25, SMCM hosted the second annual hawkTHON benefiting Children’s National Health System in D.C. At the beginning of the year, hawkTHON set a goal of raising $14,195 in honor of the 14,195 children who were admitted to stay overnight at Children’s National. The club surpassed their goal by raising an incredible $18,340.25, which was a 71% increase over last year’s total. The club members said that they, “want to thank our advisors, our executive board, our dancers, and our donors for making this number possible. We did it FOR the kids at Children’s National!”
Erin Knutson ’15 Awarded NSF Fellowship Erin Knutson ’15 (physics) was recently awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship through its Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Knutson is currently studying atomic, molecular, and optical physics in the physics doctoral program at Tulane University.
While at SMCM, Knutson did atomic physics research at Patuxent River Naval Air Station as part of a collaboration between the College and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). At the time, she presented her research at a national conference — the Division of Atomic Molecular, and Optical Physics meeting of the American Physical Society. She also served as president of the Physics Club.
Kudos to... Erin De Pree, (assoc. prof. of physics) was recently elected to the chair-line of the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Physical Society, the primary national organization of the physics field. De Pree will serve a four-year term beginning as vice chair for 2017 followed by chair-elect, chair and then pastchair. The Mid-Atlantic Section of the APS is the regional unit covering Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia. Troy Townsend ’07 (asst. prof. of chemistry) was recently quoted in an article by Gemma Church for Electro Optics Magazine titled “Shining examples” where Church reported on companies and researchers that are finding new ways to integrate solar technology into urban environments. Sandro Del Rosario (visiting asst. prof. of digital media/animation) received the Jury Award “Best of the Festival” in the experimental short category at the Richmond International Film Festival for his animated film, “Lo Sguardo Italiano – The Italian Gaze.” Del Rosario, an Italian artist who emigrated to the United States, looks back at his native country through his animated film, made with more than 7,000 hand-colored, oil-painted photographs.
Joe Lucchesi (assoc. prof. of art history) was an invited lecturer on March 8 at the Art League of Kalamazoo, Mich. His lecture topic: “Romaine Brooks in London & Paris: A Legacy of LGBTQ Visibility in Portraiture.” Katy Arnett ’00 (prof. of educational studies) co-authored an article published in the journal Exceptionality Education International. The article’s topic: “Core or Immersion? Canadian French-Second-Language Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions and Experiences of the Best and Worst Program Options for Students with Learning Difficulties and for English Language Learners.” Kyle Bishop ’04 (exec. director of the Wellness Center) received a $16,000 grant from Behavioral Health System, Baltimore, to develop and implement Maryland’s screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment project, funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Bishop and the Wellness Center staff will work with the health information technology vendor(s) to incorporate screening tools, documentation, and reporting capacity into the Wellness Center’s electronic health record system.