Math is everywhere, and our three new START volunteers are full of ideas for enhancing our study of math with the arts.  Notice they made a pyramid to give you a sneak peek, and we can’t wait to see what happens with patterns, symmetry, and shapes over the next six weeks!

Steffi (top of pyramid) is a junior from Connecticut.  In her major of human geography and public policy, she ties math and art together with cartography.  An example of one of her maps is locating food deserts in a city by mapping the supermarkets.  She might map things such as where health care centers are located to be sure people have access to care or how far it is for people in a certain rural area to get to stores.  She gets excited about using her field of expertise to help people.  Steffi gave the NY Times “Upshot” as an example of the type of mapping she works on.

Amanda (right) is a junior from Connecticut as well.  She majors in economies and quantitative social sciences and applied statistics.  One of the aspects of math that gets her excited is using lots of data to understand the world.  An example of her work might be studying how people interact and how friendships might affect depression.  She also uses math as she plays saxophone in the Dartmouth Jazz Band.

Alexandra (left) is a freshman from New York.  She is pre-med and has always loved math.  A teacher who used socratic style instruction in high school really sparked her interest.  She also uses her math skills to sing in a Christian a cappella group on campus.