Math and Civic Engagement

I am interested ways that mathematics can be used to make the world a better place. One of my inspirations in this direction is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program sponsored by Bryn Mawr’s Civic Engagment Office. Students receive training in tax return prepare and then help Norristown residents file their tax return. In a single year, these students helped bring back $500, 000 in tax returns to the community through the low-income tax credit program. Math is power!

The ways in which mathematics plays a crucial role in understanding and impacting our technological world are well described in the book

Mathematics and Democracy : The Case for Quantitative Literacy.

Links:

· Mathematics of Social Justice Workshop , Lafayette Colllege, May 2006 at which I was the keynote speaker.

· The second Course Development Workshop on the Mathematics of Social Justice , Middlebury College, June 2007.

· Developing a Good Heart in STEM:The 1st Summit on Incorporating, Social Justice and Service-Learning into the STEM Curriculum, to be held at Ithaca College, June 2009.

· The SENCER project (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilites) which works to improve undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education by connecting learning to critical civic questions.

I incorporate issues of Civic Engagement into my teaching as described in:

Differential Equations and Civic Engagement, in SIGMAA-QL Newsletter, October 2007; in Civic Matters--A Catalyst for Community Dialogue, a publication of the Civic Engagement Office at Bryn Mawr College, Issue 2, April 2008.

My differential equations course (see Ordinary Differential Equations in Real World Situations) was selected as a 2008 SENCER Model Course.