Math Newsletter: Spring 2021

The semiannual ��ճԹ� Math Newsletter includes recent departmental news and photographs.

Congratulations to Our 2021 Graduates!

Math's Erica J. Graham Gives Anti-Racism Talk at National Meeting

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Erica J. Graham '04 gave a lecture titled "Anti-racism in mathematics: Who, what, when, where, why, and how" at the 2021 Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America. Click here to read more.

Heeding Recommendation from Bi-Co Group, Haverford Township Budgets $1 Million for Solar Projects

Professor of Mathematics Victor Donnay and a group of Bi-Co students along with several Haverford Township residents presented to the township's Board of Commissioners. Pictured above: Haverford Township Community Recreation and Environmental Center. Click here to read more.

Trang Duong '22 Researches COVID-19 in Vietnam

Since the fall, math major/data science minor Trang Duong '22 has worked as a researcher with (OUCRU), which is modeling COVID-19 cases and transmission in her home country of Vietnam. Click here to read more.

Orsola Capovilla-Searle '15 Earns NSF Post-Doc Fellowship

Orsola Capovilla-Searle '15, who double majored in math and physics and was a Mellon Mays Fellow at ��ճԹ�, has received a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to work with at U.C. Davis. Pictured here are Orsola Capovilla-Searle '15 with her mother, Catherine Searle '84. Click here to learn more.

Atiqua Hashem '92 Joins the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation recently announced the hire of math/economics double major Atiqua Hashem '92 as vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. Hashem will serve as an officer of the Hilton Foundation and join its executive leadership team. Click here to read more.

Alumna Spotlight: Winnie Hien '12

Winnie Hien '12 was a math major and Spanish minor at ��ճԹ� and is now a principal technical consultant at . Click here to read more.

News Briefs

Mathematics graduate student Elsa Magness recently defended her M.A. thesis, titled “An Exposition of the Sato-Tate Conjecture for Elliptic Curves with Complex Multiplication.” Her graduate advisor was John Bergdall.
Mathematics graduate student Isaac Sundberg organized an event this spring consisting of a showing of the film “Race to the Future? Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology and Society” on the topic of algorithmic fairness. The film is a talk by Ruha Benjamin, Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, and explores a range of discriminatory designs that encode inequity. The film was followed by a panel discussion.
The Distressing Math Collective (DMC), founded by Professor Emeritus Helen Grundman, took on a different format in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic. In the 2020-2021 academic year, DMC took place via Zoom. Invited alumnae and other outside speakers gave virtual DMC talks, and Dr. Grundman (now living in Providence, R.I.) and other alumnae (such as former DMC Coordinator Jill Li '18 in New Jersey) regularly attended these talks. Alumnae speakers included Orsola Capovilla-Searle '15; Dr. Emelie Curl '14; Hezel Gadzikwa '18; Anna Gordon, A.B./M.A. '07; Freda Li, A.B./M.A. '15; and Mary Miller '14. Student coordinators for DMC this past academic year were Ellen Lu '21 and Rita Sabri '22, while the faculty coordinator was Professor Leslie Cheng.
Mathematics major Aparajita (Opu) Bhattacharyya ’12 works on product strategy and monetization at Microsoft Azure. She has recently started a new web series titled “Hustle Fuel”. She describes the web series as follows: "This series looks at the world of work and entrepreneurship—all male-dominated even now—from a woman’s lens. Being the 'only' in a sea of 'others' deprives women of vital networks and role models, which drives the gender gap. The series aims to amplify different portraits of what success can look like. It aims to encapsulate the can-do mindset, wisdom and life hacks from those who have successfully trod the path before—often through career paths that have not been linear—to get you to where you want to be. Plus, it provides clues on how to build allies—both men and women—that you need on the journey."