Woodbury Honors Women in Math and Science
奥辞辞诲产耻谤测鈥檚 is an important resource for students. The Center鈥檚 tutoring sessions are free and available to all students鈥攆rom those struggling with their coursework, to those seeking to turn聽a B+ average into an A. But recently, The Center has also provided another benefit to the Woodbury community: Keeping it informed about important scholars and their achievements.
Following on the heels of its successful Euler’s Number celebration in February, The Center will be celebrating 鈥淲omen in Math & Science Week鈥� during the first week in April as way to honor a week鈥檚 worth of women’s accomplishments in math and science. Laurel DiGangi, coordinator of tutoring services, said that “Women in聽Math & Science Week鈥� grew out of an earlier project.
鈥淎t our first training meeting in January,鈥� DiGangi said. 鈥淭he tutors suggested that we celebrate 鈥楶i Day.鈥欌��
But since March 14, the day Pi Day is celebrated, fell during spring break, the decision was made to honor a more obscure, but equally important (it鈥檚 used to calculate compounding interest after all!) number, called “Euler’s Number” (2.71828182 etc.) on February 7.
鈥淏ecause the name is pronounced like 鈥榦iler’s鈥� the tutors thought it would be great to serve oil-based treats,鈥� DiGangi said. 鈥淪o we ended up serving聽flavored olive oil dips with bread and salad on the quad. The event was a big success, with numerous faculty and students commenting that they hadn’t known about Euler and the significance of this number until this event.鈥�
The list of women being honored during the week of April 2:
As a follow up, The Center had planned to celebrate World Math Day on March 4, but after the previous success of Euler’s Day,聽the concept聽seemed somewhat generic. Would students visit a booth on the quad to joyously celebrate World Math Day? DiGangi聽 was skeptical.
鈥淭he success of Euler’s Day seemed to hinge upon聽connecting mathematics with a聽human face, a narrative, and a real world application,鈥� DiGangi said.聽鈥淎nd since March is Women鈥檚 History Month, it seemed natural to celebrate women in math and science.鈥�
But, once again the academic calendar did not聽cooperate.聽An event was originally planned for March 28 but campus is closed that day in honor of Cesar Chavez Day.
鈥淭hen I realized, why do we need to聽limit our celebration of聽women’s history to March? Let’s just extend the celebration into April鈥攁nd hopefully beyond,鈥� DiGangi said.
DiGangi then created a forum on The Center’s Moodle page for tutors to brainstorm possible ideas for the event. 鈥淪everal suggested women they admired and that’s when I realized the obvious solution,鈥� DiGangi said. 鈥淟et each tutor choose a specific woman they want the campus community to know about.鈥� The tutors went to work and chose a very diverse group of women.
鈥淚 brainstormed with each tutor about a candy or treat that we could loosely associate with every woman, just as we had with Euler’s Day,鈥� DiGangi said. 鈥淭his involved an extra step, beyond research, that flexed their creative muscles. I think students will enjoy popping into Whitten every day to pick up their special treat!鈥�
The ultimate goal for The Center is to create an interest within the Woodbury community about these remarkable and accomplished women.
鈥淭hey represent the thousands of women around the world whose accomplishments in the STEM fields continue to make the world a better place,鈥� DiGangi said. 鈥淚 also want聽students to understand that building a strong relationship with a peer tutor can help them attain their academic goals, and perhaps someday be extraordinary themselves.鈥�