Kathleen Burke, Author at Mathematical Sciences Blog

Author: Kathleen Burke

Meiling Zhou Receives Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award

Published November 8, 2023

Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award

The Department of Mathematical Sciences is pleased to announce that Meiling Zhou has been selected to receive the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Meiling was nominated by the department and recognized for her accomplishments by the Graduate School at Michigan Tech.

Meiling is a PhD Candidate in Statistics who is studying under the supervision of her advisor, Dr. Kui Zhang.

To learn more about the Dean’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching award, please visit the following link: https://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/about/dean/awards-honors/outstanding-graduate-teaching-award-procedure.htm

Meiling indicated that the time spent with her students is truly quite enjoyable. We are very proud of her and her accomplishment.

An exceptionally touching student comment from Zhou’s most recent teaching evaluation reads as follows:

“Genuinely the sweetest human I’ve ever met, you can tell she deeply cares about her students and their success. She supports us no matter if we struggle with a concept or excel at it and interacts with students even if it’s just asking about our days. [She is] just an amazing teacher because you can tell she cared about us as well as understood how to teach us”.
Student evaluation quote

It is the dedication, compassion and professionalism demonstrated by Meiling that pointed to her being an ideal candidate and recipient of this distinguished award.

A Super Sweet Pi Day Celebration

Published March 16, 2023

By Kathleen Burke

Pi Day was celebrated in the Department of Mathematical Sciences on Tuesday, March 14 (3/14) at 1:59pm.

Are you starting to see a slight pattern here – 3.14159? Pi Day celebrations were held throughout the world on March 14 and we thought it would be fun to join in on the festivities.

As you probably already know, the Greek letter “Pi” is a mathematical symbol used to represent a constant. One of the most well known mathematical constants is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. So, in keeping with the mathematical related theme, pie was served!

Several members of the faculty, staff and student body in the math department joined together on Pi Day to chow down on their favorite variety of that sweet, circular treat – PIE. As a matter of fact, a total of 12.14159 different selections of pie adorned a conference table in the math lounge for sampling.

Additionally, undergrad math majors were invited to participate in a very irrational game of Pi Bee. Here, students tested their memory by recording as many digits of pi they could remember – unassisted.

Many entries were submitted, but there could be only one winner. Eli DeWitt (General Mathematics major) provided a heaping total of 43 correct and consecutive digits. His sweet reward for such an outstanding memory was a gift card to the Campus Book Store.

We look forward to the infinite possibilities for future celebrations. Check out our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086619613325 to see some of the other interesting events taking place in the department.