Many agree that an environment can shape the learner, and in a field like mathematics, an environment that fosters active learning and engaged teaching with no appointment necessary may be the key to success for some students.
Ingrid Daubechies, the first female full professor of mathematics at Princeton and first woman president of the International Mathematical Union, will deliver the 2015 van Winter Memorial Lecture
Cyrus Hettle's paper The Symbolic and Mathematical Influence of Diophantus's Arithmetica was published in the January 2015 issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. Cyrus received his undergraduate degrees from UK in 2014 with majors in Mathematics and Classics, and is currently a graduate student in the mathematics department. His paper began as a project in MA 330, History of Mathematics, when he was an undergraduate.
With new renovations completed over the 2014-15 winter break, the UK Mathskeller unveiled its new look at an open house on Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - hosted by the Department of Mathematics and College of Arts and Sciences, in room 63 in the basement of the White Hall Classroom Building.
Opened in 2001 with 20 computers and a large printing budget, the Mathskeller, a computing and mathematics learning center managed by the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematical Sciences Computing Facility, was established to implement a technology-assisted instructional model. Fourteen years later, the center is home to only four computers, printers aren't used nearly as much, and the facility looks nothing like a basement classroom.
Instead, the center resembles a modern, collective learning space. And while there may be fewer wires and less printing, technology still has a leading role at the center.
Today's students, at least UK students utilizing the revitalized Mathskeller, are also taking advantage of the multiple mobile workspaces, bright LED-lit atmosphere, comfortable seating, tutors and chalkboard-lined walls. The renovated Mathskeller still features a kitchenette and group study or meeting room, and has added more storage, new carpet, additional study tables by removing a closet, and even a new computerized sign-in method.
UK juniors Matthew Fahrbach, of Louisville, Ky., and Samuel Saarinen, of Shelbyville, Ky., have been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship worth up to $7,500 per year.
Katharine Ott, assistant professor in the UK Department of Mathematics, has been chosen by the Association for Women in Mathematics to receive its annual service award for 2013.
Recently, undergraduates from the departments of biology, english, history, mathematics, political science, and sociology received Oswald Awards for Research and Creativity.
