Due Monday, December 1
November is Native American Heritage month! This assignment is similar to the one you completed for Hispanic Heritage Month. This time, you will profile an indigenous mathematician in a comment on this post.
The website indigenousmathematicians.org includes profiles of several indigenous mathematicians, many of them belonging to first nations of what is now known as North/Central/South America. (The website includes profiles of mathematicians belonging to first nations in other parts of the world; while this assignment is to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, if you find an indigenous mathematician from another part of the world and you’d like to profile them, go ahead.)
- Scroll to the map or click on “profiles” or “honorees” to see a list of indigenous mathematicians.
- Choose one mathematician you’d like to profile. Read their profile on the indigeneous mathematicians webpage.
- See what else you can find out about the mathematician you chose. Many mathematicians have personal/academic webpages that include information that might not be in their profile. Try googling their name + “math.”
Your comment should include
- The mathematician’s name and tribal/nation affiliation (if available).
- Where they are now (most of them probably have a job at a university).
- What field of math they do research in or a title of a recent research paper they published.
- Any other interesting biographical details you can find out about them.
- What made this person stand out to you.
- A photograph of them (optional).
Feel free to use other websites as resources for finding out about indigenous mathematicians! Include any relevant links in your comment.
Kyle Dahlin, a Native Hawaiian mathematician, is a Postdoctoral Associate who studies mathematical biology with an emphasis on ecological and epidemiological modeling. His most recent research focuses on conservation issues like safeguarding Hawaii’s endangered honeycreeper birds and the effects of temperature on mosquito-borne disease transmission. RIght now he is a Purdue University alumnus and member of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership, Dahlin promotes Indigenous representation in STEM and finds motivation in mentors such as Kamuela Yong. What made him stand out is that he is unique in his industry because of his motivation to mentoring Indigenous students and applying mathematics to address ecological concerns in Hawaii.
Georgia Sandoval lived in Tuba City Arizona with her parents, 3 sisters, and 2 brothers, she is now currently working computer science for the company intel. She faced challenges when perusing the technology career feeling like she never was able t fit in with the others, however with the help of the people around her such as some mentors she had she was able to pull through.As a kid she was always good at math and felt like she had a specialty in doing it, in college however because of her situations of being a single mother she was seeking aid from the American Indian Science and Engineering society(AISES) which ended up being a major help during college and seeking for a job. While in college she received an internship from AISES which led her to meet more people in her field and ended up working at intel. What made this person stick out for me was that even though she had to go through hardships, she worked hard to overcome them and enjoys what she’s doing.
Marissa Kawehi Loving is a native Hawaiian Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Georgia Institute in Technology. Loving grew up in Honomū on the Hawai’i island and got her Bachelors of Science and Bachelors of Arts in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Hawai’i before obtaining a PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Mathematics. Loving’s research relates to topology, reminding me of our topic in class the last several weeks. Loving stood out to me due to her accomplishments: she is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Loving is also the first Native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in mathematics.
Jito Vanualailai is a mathematician from Fiji. He is currently a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the South Pacific, or USP for short. The field of math that Vanualailai researches is the application of the Direct Method of Lyapunov, which is a technique used to analyze the stability of dynamic systems, in order to improve the movement of artificial intelligence as either a singular entity or multiple. What made him stand out to me was not just his extensive research of robotics but his application of Mathematics to something like the Bible. Reading this made me intrigued as to how this was done.
Jennifer McLoud-Mann, a Cherokee mathematician, is a professor of mathematics and Associate Dean for Operations at the University of Washington Bothell’s School of STEM. Her research focuses on discrete mathematics, including knot theory, tiling theory, and combinatorics, with a special emphasis on engaging undergraduate students in accessible research. In 2015, she and her collaborators, including an undergraduate student, discovered the 15th convex pentagon capable of tiling the plane—a breakthrough that garnered significant attention in the mathematics community and beyond. Originally from Weleetka, Oklahoma, Dr. McLoud-Mann is a first-generation college graduate whose passion for mentoring underrepresented groups in STEM is inspired by her own journey.
When I was reading Jennifer’s profile, I noticed that she does research in knot theory, I was very curious about what that was. This is why Jennifer stood out to me.
Godfrey Loudner, from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, was a theoretical mathematician. He passed away in 2012, on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. Details about his specific research is limited, however he earned his doctorate from Notre Dame University in 1974, and worked at Sinte Gleska University. Some interesting facts about him is that he reportedly turned down lucrative opportunities to prioritize his tribes welfare and being, showing that he was a selfless man who cared about his culture and upbringing. What made me pick him was he was one of the oldest on the list, which interested me because I think being a mathematician in that time period would have lead to more interesting stories and possibly breakthroughs in mathematics that we take for granted today. While the info on him was limited, it was still very interesting learning about Loudner.
Mary Golda Ross, a Cherokee mathematician, was born on August 9,1908 in Oklahoma, U.S. Despite being a U.S born, her heritage lies in the Cherokees. She is the great-great-granddaughter of John Ross, a chief of Cherokee tribe, back in the 1830s. She was the first Native American women to work as an engineer in the U.S. space program. She contributed greatly in the field of space exploration and aerospace engineering. She excelled both in math and science and received a bachelors degree for mathematics in 1928 at Northeastern State University. In 1938, she received a masters degree in mathematics at the University of Northern Colorado. “Although the breadth of Ross’s contributions remain a secret, it is known that some of her work included creating design concepts for interplanetary travel, developing operational guidelines for spacecraft and orbiting satellites, and theorizing about the logistics of potential space travel to Mars and Venus.” Back then, women were not credited for major works so no research papers are known and whether she published any is also unknown. She died on April 29, 2008 leaving behind legacies all around such as in the Smithsonian National Museum of the America.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Golda-Ross