Due on the OpenLab Sunday, November 15
It’s Black in Math Week on Twitter! Throughout the week, Black mathematicians, Black educators, Black students, and others in the Black math community will be tweeting about themselves and their lives in math. Let’s join them! Here is the schedule:
Contents
Assignment
For this week’s assignment, check out the @BlackInMath account and look through the week’s tweets that have the hashtags:
- #BlackInMath
- #BlackInMathWeek
- #BlackInMathRollCall
- #ILookLikeAMathematician
- #BlackInMathMedia
- #MyBlackMathJourney
- #BlackInMathEd
- #JingleJangleMathJam
You do not need a Twitter account to see the public tweets. Choose one (or more) of the following prompts and add your response in the comments on this post.
- Find one of the people in the Black math community who introduced themselves as part of Black in Math week on Twitter. Many of them have already introduced themselves using #BlackInMathRollCall. What else can you find out about them? Many mathematicians have professional websites with more information about them and their work. You can also check out past honorees at Mathematically Gifted and Black. Write a short biography of this person. Include their name and where they are on their math journey (are they a graduate student? a professor? where? do they do research in math? are they involved in the Black math community in some other way?). Include the field of math that they study and anything else you can tell us about them! What makes this person so awesome and interesting to you? What questions do you have for them? Include a link to one of their tweets.
- Throughout the week, there may be some longer threads or back-and-forth discussions on Twitter as part of Black in Math Week. What patterns do you notice? Did something jump out? Summarize a thread or discussion about being Black in math that was interesting or meaningful to you. What questions do you have? Include a link to one of the tweets.
Update: For some reason OpenLab is requiring that your comments be approved before they appear. I’ll see if I can fix this myself, but if I can’t, just submit your comment and don’t worry if it doesn’t appear right away. It’ll appear as soon as I have the chance to approve it.
Bonus for Black students
Are you a Black student? Are you in math?? Do you have a Twitter account??? Add your voice to Black in Math week by tweeting with one of the hashtags! Introduce yourself to the community and add the link to your tweet in the comments on this post (so we can see your contribution). Don’t want to actually tweet on Twitter but still want to participate? “Tweet” your introduction in the comments on this post below with the hashtag of your choice! (#BlackInCalculus???)
Bonus for non-Black students
Reply to one of your Black classmate’s introduction tweets on Twitter or “tweets” in the comments below with some supportive or encouraging words about what they wrote. Tell them what you think makes them so awesome!
Fun fact
Most of you would be too young to know who the rapper MC Hammer is, but he was a childhood hero of mine. He’s an activist too and lately he’s used his Twitter platform to promote different #BlackInSTEM initiatives, including #BlackInMath. He just retweeted and followed my friend Marissa AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR HER I COULD CRY!!! AAAAHHHH!!! (PS, Someone should totally profile Marissa for Prompt #1 because she is a BOSS!)
Update
MC Hammer is all in on #BlackInMathWeek! He’s retweeting a lot of the introductions and THE NERDS ARE VERY EXCITED!!!
Michole (My-Coal) Enjole ( on-jah-lee). Michole is a Ph.D. student at The University of Michigan. She studies Black Students’ math experiences in informal STEM programs. In 2016 she was one of 9 students to get her B.S in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Institue Of Technology. Michole does research that focuses on Black Students’ math experience within informal STEM education like the Bridge Programs. Whenever she has some free time she would create an entertaining STEMulation Escape Room.
I find Michole very because she was 1 out of 9 black women to get their B.S degree in mathematic. Math is not an easy subject to study and it involves lots of concepts, equations to remember. For her to persevere through all that and manage to get her B.S degree in math is fascinating to me. Her example encourages me to study hard In my math class and to seek help if there are certain concepts that I don’t understand. Some questions that I want to ask her are, what drove her to take an interest in math studies? what are some obstacles that she faces before getting to where she is now? What other math research project is she thinking about doing next? What advice will she give to a college student like me and others that struggles with math?
Down below is the link to her Twitter
https://twitter.com/mathematichole_
Anna Gifty is a woman who loves Math. She graduated with a B.A. in Math from the University of Maryland. Her favorite areas covered in Math are Real Analysis and Calculus 2. In the near future she will be publishing a childrens book that centers her life heroes, Dr. Sadie Alexander, America’s First Black economist and it will also be centering her mathematical ability. She tells her story of first when she was pursuing Math, someone had told her that Math wasnt going to be easy. She wouldnt be able to get through it because she asked many questions and that it would be very hard for her and she believed them. Her teacher told her she couldnt handle it. She didnt listen to anyone along her journey and now she is part of the #BlackinMathweek community.
The thing that amazes me about her the most is that she stands up for little Black girls, addressing the problems that they have to put up with and the stuff they have to hear from others that discourages them, just because they are Black. She talks about how many Black people have introduced fundamental concepts of Math even though they dont get the credit for it.
The questions I would like to ask her is: What were the ways of getting around all those comments of never being able to do Math? Did you have any supporters or were you all alone? Who would you mainly dedicate your coming book to?
Here is a link to one of her tweets addressing Black women:
https://twitter.com/itsafronomics/status/1325830509650464768
In Dr. Noelle Sawyer’s twitter page she calls herself a mathemagician! She is currently a an assistant professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She is a graduate of Vassar, where she got her BA in math and history and Wesleyan where she received her PhD in Math. Her research interests are in dynamics and geometry, particularly in marked length spectrum rigidity and Riemannian geometry.
She wrote in a twitter thread (found here: https://twitter.com/blkmathmagic/status/1325826709808181249)
about her experience growing up in the Bahamas, where she learned math with black people and how as soon as she began to learn with white people, she was dismissed. One teacher saying she had learned “Mickey Mouse stuff”, demeaning the math that she had been taught. As a math teacher now she is passionate about finding more ways to make sure that underrepresented students are welcomed and supported on their math journey.
She is also a baker and has some delicious looking recipes on her blog! https://www.noellesawyer.com
On her twitter page she is encouraging and supportive of other mathematicians and uses her platform to speak about popular culture, specifically black representation in media. Noelle is an awesome role model and seems like a genuine fun person to be around and learn from.
She mentions on her webpage that she loves dreaming up new things to try when she is teaching. I would ask her what has been the most risky but worked the best!
Hi Katie!
I have never sounded cooler than I sound in your comment here! This is great 🙂
I’m not sure I would call this risky, but I did try a totally new assignment in a math class I taught this semester. I called it a “Break it Down for Me” assignment. I asked my students to take one of the concepts from our class, and find a way to explain it to someone who has taken fewer math classes than they have . They could use whatever format they wanted to. I hadn’t assigned anything like this before, and my students hadn’t done an assignment like this before either, so it was new all around! I got some pretty amazing stuff back from them, including a comic, a. poem, and some great analogies of math to baseball and other things!
Thanks for picking me to write about. Good luck with finals!
– Dr. Sawyer
Carla Strickland is a math teacher, educator, and a UChicago STEM Developer. She was nominated for the EDI Champion award, which recognizes a person for their true diversity and inclusion leader who takes action and shows initiative in promoting diversity and inclusion in their unit. Carla mainly focuses on K-12 instruction.
She is very passionate about her work in math and computer science education, and is especially concerned with working towards equity in these fields. She is super nerdy and loves to do a lot of things in her free time.
What I found interesting about Carla is that she is from the Caribbean where my parents are also from ( I am caribbean descent) and she is passionate about computer science which is the major I am currently in. I also found touching that her parents are her inspiration and because they were educators; her mother was a teacher and her father is a pastor it seems like being a teacher is in her blood (makes sense since she started teaching at 15!). But what I really find interesting about Carla is how dedicated she is to diversity and equality. She strives for people’s voices being heard and values the people who have been poorly served by the sexist, racist, and colonialist ideals that have contributed to inequality.
Carla seems like a really cool person and if I ever had her as a math or computer science teacher I would really like her.
Here is a link to her twitter: https://twitter.com/CisforCarla
A link to my tweet on #MyBlackMathJourney : https://twitter.com/LilacPast/status/1326738336464179203
Mohamed Omar is a mathematician and an associate professor at Harvey Mudd College. Omar was born in Alexandria, Egypt but raised in Toronto, Canada. He received a bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics and combinatorics & optimization in 2006. He also received a master’s degree in combinatorics & optimization in 2007. He was awarded the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology Teaching Award and the Mathematical Association of America awarded him the Henry L. Alder Award.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfOmarMath/status/1325652427584929792
Dr Nira Chamberlain PhD HonDSc, has two mathematic doctorates. He was also named UK’s most influential person in 2020 and Too uk scientist in 2015. He has over 25 years of experience at writing mathematical models/simulation algorithms.
Now what I find most interesting about him is his contributions to resolve mathematic solutions in the aerospace, automotive, defense , and energy sectors. This is because as an mechanical engineer I must be privy to algorithmic models and simulation. Especially because I have an interest in manufacturing and design. I just would like to know that because of these posts I am finding a new respect for mathematicians as a whole. I am finally discovering my new heroes.
Thank you Jaquawn for the kind summary of my career. If this has inspire you in your mechanical engineering journey then my job is done. I am pleased that you have a deeper respect for math and mathematicians. Good luck with your exams
Dr Nira Chamberlain
Ranthony A.C. Edmonds is a mathematician who has a PhD and is working as a postdoc at the Ohio State University. She is an algebraist who focuses on factorization in commutative settings. She got her Bachelor’s from University of Kentucky, Masters from Eastern Kentucky University and Doctoral’s from University of Iowa. She is involved with the decomposition of mathematical objects such as polynomial, matrix, or number of set of integers.
Hi Aram, thank you for taking the time to make this post. I’m happy to answer any additional questions you might have. Best wishes in your final exams this upcoming week!
-Dr. Edmonds-
Thank you Jaquawn for the kind summary of my career. If this has inspire you in your mechanical engineering journey then my job is done. I am pleased that you have a deeper respect for math and mathematics. Good luck with your exams
Dr Nira Chamberlain
Hi, Tamera!
I loved reading your comment and am really honored to have inspired you in some way.
The #CaribbeanMassive connection is a great one and I trust you are working hard to do yourself and your parents proud.
Please let me know if you have any questions for me and I wish you the best as you continue your #BlackInMath and CS journey!