Tomorrow I become President of the Mathematical Association of America for a two year term. What an honor! What a crazy time to take on this responsibility. First, I must publicly thank outgoing president Michael Dorff for his leadership. I realize that this last year in particular was not the presidency for which he hadContinue reading “January 31 Day 329: Eve of a Presidency”
Monthly Archives: January 2021
January 30 Day 328: Kitchen Memories
At every party I have ever hosted, the kitchen is the center of the action. It has been well over a year since I have hosted such an event, but the memories are strong. My thesis advisor, Dr. Richard Brualdi, replied to a post on FB today and it started a flood of kitchen memories.Continue reading “January 30 Day 328: Kitchen Memories”
January 29 Day 327: Release
An Instapot cooks food under pressure. To get at the good stuff inside, there needs to be a release of steam. If you are patient, the release happens naturally. At other times, we hasten the process with a gentle twist of the valve—being careful not to get burned. Friday is the start of the naturalContinue reading “January 29 Day 327: Release”
January 28 Day 326: Critical Mass
I have taught this class twice before using inquiry based learning and mostly had positive experiences. This quarter, I don’t know whether it is that the class size is too small or the remote modality is causing the problem, but I am having a hard time holding the students accountable to the work. I’ve neverContinue reading “January 28 Day 326: Critical Mass”
January 27 Day 325: The Day After
I thought recovery would be a breeze. I slept most of yesterday with only slight cramping. Nothing remarkable. Not even a 2 on the pain scale. So I proceeded with a normal Wednesday’s worth of activity. After all, I’m just walking down the hallway and sitting at my desk. By three pm, I was exhaustedContinue reading “January 27 Day 325: The Day After”
January 26 Day 324: Women’s Health, Amirite?
Warning: This post contains TMI. Read at your own risk. I’ve been contemplating this post for a long time. But today two things happened that gave me strength to put it out there: A friend posted about her hot flashes pointing to the failure of healthcare to address our real experiences. I spent the morningContinue reading “January 26 Day 324: Women’s Health, Amirite?”
January 24 Day 322: In the Details
I am always surprised when students, even great students, neglect to read instructions. Is it from computer fatigue? The class is delivered online. The book is available online. The assignment is posted online. If they did well on previous assignments, why not just do the same thing and spend less time online? Is it fromContinue reading “January 24 Day 322: In the Details”
January 23 Day 321: Zoom Refresher
It’s been 321 days since remote teaching in Washington State began. We learned enough to get by and for some people that was sufficient. But as we continue teaching from a distance, I would like to propose there are better ways. And rather than rejecting suggestions out of hand, I ask that you open yourContinue reading “January 23 Day 321: Zoom Refresher”
January 22 Day 320: Portraiture
This has been a week with plenty of art—painting with bacterial culture and drawing on my iPad. My favorite caricature from illustrating a scientific conference was of bacteria playing volleyball with a streptomyces spore inspired by Alice Muok’s talk at #BLASTXVI and Haikyu!, the manga/anime series my youngest and I bonded over (and kindly referContinue reading “January 22 Day 320: Portraiture”
January 21 Day 319: Connection
Today was punctuated with many one-on-one interactions with people I care deeply about. Whether it was planned research time, a fortunate coincidence in Gather.town, a telephone call (gasp, how novel!), or the family meal, everything helped make this world a little smaller and a little more caring. Plus I got to work with my studentsContinue reading “January 21 Day 319: Connection”
Math in the Time of Corona 