Penn State Brandywine students who are members of the Math Club recently attended and spoke at a math conference in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, using the opportunity to expand both their knowledge of the field and their networking skills.
MEDIA, Pa. – Penn State Brandywine students who are members of the Math Club recently attended and spoke at a math conference in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, using the opportunity to expand both their knowledge of the field and their networking skills.
The Spring Meeting of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware section of the Mathematical Association of America was hosted by Messiah University. The meetings occur twice every year across eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware for math professionals and college students to congregate about mathematical topics.
First-year engineering major Thomas Stauffer and second-year biomedical engineering major Nevaeh Sisco presented at the conference. Stauffer discussed the connection between music and mathematical concepts such as group theory and topology, while Sisco talked about color theorems on interesting mathematical surfaces and displayed original hand-made crocheted models that exhibit the properties.
“I went to the meeting with Sam Pezzimenti, associate teaching professor of mathematics, last year, and I presented a different crocheting project, and I knew I wanted to do it again this year,” Sisco said. “I was able to combine a topic I really love, which is math, with an art medium that I’m still learning. This presentation also doubled as my final, which was great.”
“I’m really into music, so I thought combining it with math would be a great topic to present,” Stauffer added. “When I cumulated enough information, I knew I wanted to share it with other people at the conference.”
Pezzimenti, who is the faculty adviser for the Math Club, was one of the faculty attending the meeting and also presented during a session about a class she taught this spring called the Art of Mathematics. While at the conference, she noted how proud she was of the students who presented.
“Both students gave fantastic presentations highlighting applications of mathematics and the arts. Presenting their work at a regional mathematics conference is a huge accomplishment and they represented what makes Brandywine great,” she said.
“It was also great to have so many additional Brandywine students come to support their peers, enjoy the conference, and get inspired to present at a future meeting.”
Sisco mentioned how beneficial attending the conference was, as she was able to get exposed to different people with different perspectives.
“Attending these conferences allows me to get exposed to different applications of math and see where different people are coming from in their perspectives. It’s an experience everyone should have at least once,” she said. “Attending conferences like this should be more normal for students rather than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
When advising students who are interested in attending the conference in the fall, the students said to go for it.
“For students who want to attend in the fall, I feel like it’s not nearly as nerve-wracking as it seems. Whether you’re presenting or just going to support your friends, going to the conference can come off as intimidating,” Sisco said. “I really liked meeting new people at the conference from other schools. Take advantage of the opportunity and go to the conference.”
“My advice would be to just go. If you think you might want to do it, just do it, because even if you find math a little bit interesting, there are going to be some cool topics covered that will intertwine math with something else,” Stauffer added. “You’ll learn some new things and make so many new connections with students and faculty from other universities.”
