Jarvis Christian University mathematics professor Dr. Widodo Samyono attended the 2024 Mathematics Association of America (MAA) MathFest conference last week in Indianapolis, Indiana to attend professional development courses and workshops, review mathematics research areas, and learn the latest in developing mathematics education. MAA is the world’s largest community of mathematicians, students, and enthusiasts designed to advance the understanding of mathematics.
Each summer, MathFest presents the latest in mathematical research and education and enables interaction with professionals from all corners of mathematics and other STEM fields. About 46 percent of the 1,500 attendees are college and university faculty.
The purpose is to build community among current and future STEM educators around the country and to learn from talks and papers that help accelerate understanding of mathematics and its impact on our world.
Workshops included the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in undergraduate education, tackling racism in active learning mathematics classrooms, career development among Black math majors, mathematical modeling in medicine, research on undergraduate mathematics education, facilitating computational thinking, addressing ethical concerns within data science programs, developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills to teach volume through real-life scenarios, and ideas for building community among undergraduates within a mathematics department.
With programming for students, early-career mathematicians, and high school, college, and university math faculty members, MathFest 2024 also hosted a screening of a recently released documentary titled “Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Forging Resilience.”
