Math Awareness Week
Mathematics + Culture
April 3 - 6, 2023 | 9:30AM - 3PM
Campus Locations
Belle Glade - TEC 127 | Boca Raton - HT 103 | Lake Worth- CBP 103 | Palm Beach Gardens - SC 127 | Loxahatchee Groves - LGA 140
2023 Event Schedule
* Gift card prizes & giveaways at all in person events *
ALL presentations will be streamed to ALL campuses! Join via Zoom
Time: 9:30am - 10:30am
Campus/Room: Lake Worth | CBP 103
Presentation: Patterns, Numbers, and Sequences - We will explore and discover patterns, numbers, and sequences related to Mathematics and real-world application.
Presenter: Dr. Terri Speights - Professor Speights is a full-time faculty member at the Lake Worth Campus. She has over 25 years of experience teaching Mathematics. In grade school, Math was always her favorite subject. What Professor Speights enjoys most about Mathematics is exploring the various methods and strategies for problem-solving.
Time: 11am - noon
Campus/Room: Boca Raton | HT 103
Presentation: Rubik's Cube Demonstration & Competition - This presentation will explore the Rubik’s cube and students will be able to engage in a competition.
Presenter: Dr. Laura Heath - Professor Heath is a full-time math faculty member at PBSC’s Boca Raton campus.
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Campus/Room: Boca Raton | HT 103
Presentation: Damage Calculation in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Lawsuits - A discussion of statistical modeling to calculate damages based on projected future earnings and earning potential.
Presenter: Jeff Van Treese - Professor Van Treese is the Paralegal/Business Law Chair. He also teaches environmental science and horticulture.
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Presentation will be via Zoom Join via Zoom
Presentation: Ethnomathematics: The Intersections of Mathematics and Culture - This presentation includes a brief introduction to the fascinating study of ethnomathematics as well as how culture impacts the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Presenter: Nikki Lineham - Nikki is a math teacher, math education consultant, co-founder of Educating Now, and a Ph.D. candidate. Nikki is passionate about making mathematics accessible for all people and strives to support teachers, students, and parents in developing numeracy skills. She created Educating Now an online resource for teachers, as a way to support teachers in learning to use manipulatives, visuals, and language to help their students develop deeper math understanding. Nikki completed a postgraduate certificate in ethnomathematics at the University of Hawaii in 2019 and is currently working on her Ph.D. at the University of Victoria focusing on culturally responsive and sustaining math pedagogy and spatial reasoning.
Time: 9:30am - 10:30am
Campus/Room: Lake Worth | CBP 103
Presentation: A “Classy” Technique to Construct New Mathematical Structures - This presentation will explain what Equivalent Classes are and how Equivalent Classes can be used to construct new mathematical structures.
Presenter: Joseph Pick - “When I was young, I viewed math as a collection of cute tricks. Often, I did not pay attention to why I was able to implement these cute tricks. I just enjoyed accumulating and playing with cute math tricks. While attending university I learned about the deep theoretical concepts that explained why I was allowed to implement the math tricks of my youth. The proofs of these theoretical concepts contained many wonderful, deep, and ingenious tricks that I added to my “bag of cute math tricks”. After university, I worked in the industry as a programmer and wrote software for radar systems and hardware simulations. My math background came in handy because the applications that I wrote programs for required a deep understanding of math (calculus, linear algebra, statistics, and Boolean logic). For the last 10 years, I have used my experiences with cute math tricks, theoretical math, and industrial applications to make math more meaningful and enjoyable for Palm Beach State College students.”
Time: 11am - noon
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Uncovering the Unseen: Exploring the World from Above with Drone Mapping - The presentation highlights the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for geospatial data collection. This technology has numerous applications in fields such as agriculture, urban planning, environmental monitoring, and disaster management.
Presenter: Youssef O. Kaddoura - Dr. Kaddoura is the Academic Program Specialist II in the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center at the University of Florida (UF). He graduated from the University of Florida with a doctoral degree in Geomatics Science. As a member of ASPRS, he served as a Board Member for the period from March 2020 to March 2021. He holds an M.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, which resulted in a US Patent titled “Remote surveillance and assisted care using a mobile communication device”, and served as a catalyst to further pursue remote sensing and photogrammetry. Previously, Youssef worked at Geospatial Consultancy Company, an ESRI partner in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Campus/Room: Lake Worth | CBP 103
Presentation: The Human Side of Mathematics - The Human Side of Mathematics explores a wide variety of problems and personalities that have shaped the mathematical landscape. Some of the problems are still unsolved and some of the colorful characters you will meet prove that mathematicians are real people too!
Presenter: Dr. Anthony Piccolino - Dr. Piccolino is a professor of mathematics at Palm Beach State College since 2009. Prior to his tenure at Palm Beach State, he taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in mathematics and mathematics education for 17 years at Montclair State University in New Jersey and served on several dissertation committees. In addition to his years in higher education, he also served for 25 years as a mathematics teacher and supervisor in public schools in New York State. Tony’s educational background includes a B.S. in mathematics from Iona College, a Master’s Degree from Yeshiva University and Fordham University, and a doctorate in mathematics education from Columbia University (Teachers College).
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Campus/Room: Boca Raton | HT 103
Presentation: Robots Helping Customers - Talk with BOB as he goes through the challenges and successes of being one first public libraries to have a robot independently on the floor helping customers. A discussion on the pros and cons as well as demonstrating the robot in action.
Presenter: Robert “BOB” Anstett - BOB is the Coordinator for Digital Initiatives for Broward County Libraries. Bob is in charge of the Creation Station at Main Library in Fort Lauderdale as well as Creation Station Business and other creative spaces around the County. Bob likes to say that he “lives in the future” where he gets to work with 3D printing, creative design, hands-on maker projects, and robotics. He is currently organizing and running a robotics track for the public to learn coding and building robots, as well as a Virtual Reality (VR) track & Augmented Reality (AR) gear such as a Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap available for the public to try out and develop on. Bob works at building connections with the local community and the library, along with fostering cooperation between libraries around the State of Florida and beyond.
Time: 9:30am - 10:30am
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Beating Las Vegas Blackjack - This presentation will examine how art, gambling, and math came together in Las Vegas.
Presenter: Mark McKay - Professor McKay is a founding member of the Ophthalmic Medical Technologist program at Palm Beach State. He loves teaching and lectures nationally about eye care. He is a board-certified optician.
Time: 11am - noon
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Higher Education - This panel discussion will center on the impact of artificial intelligence on higher education. The discussion will touch upon various aspects of higher education including ethics and academic integrity, integration of artificial intelligence into the curriculum, and the impact of artificial intelligence on careers and occupations.
Moderator: Emmanuel Alvarado, Professor of Spanish and Sociology
Panelists
- Nelson Daniel, Professor of Chemistry
- Jesse Rogers, Learning Lab Coordinator
- Robin Fiedler, Professor of English
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Subtraction Games or 3+5=6 - This talk will discuss some basics of Combinatorial Games, also called games of No Chance. The level for much of the talk should be appropriate for students with high school mathematics - but, unsolved problems will appear at the end of the talk.
Presenter: Professor Locke - Dr. Locke earned his Ph.D. in 1982 from the University of Waterloo. As an undergraduate, he was on the 1974 William Lowell Putnam winning team. He has approximately 40 papers in Graph Theory and another half-dozen in Game Theory. He is serving as Chair of Mathematical Sciences at FAU until June 30, 2023. His hobbies include Judo (7th degree black belt) and Ju Jitsu (5th degree black belt).
*** Lunch will be provided compliments of PBG Student Activities ***
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Mathematics in the Mayan Culture - This talk will discuss the use of a Vigesimal base system and the use of zero in its positional system.
Presenter: Dr. Warren McGovern - Dr. McGovern is a Professor of Mathematics at FAU’s Wilkes Honors College.
Time: 9:30am - 10:30am
Campus/Room: Lake Worth | CBP 103
Presentation: Chemistry and Culture - Chemistry is in all aspects of our life. I will present cases and incidences where you may not even think that chemistry is present.
Presenter: Sapna Gupta - “I am a chemistry professor at the Lake Worth campus of Palm Beach State College. I graduated with Ph.D.in organic chemistry and have been a professor in higher education for over 25 years. I love teaching chemistry and enjoy learning from my students. In addition to teaching chemistry, I love traveling and my newest interest is in sewing. I am originally from India, and I love both my birth country and country of citizenship – the USA.”
Time: 11am - noon
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Learn to Program Through the Math You Already Know - Have you ever thought about being a computer programmer? Maybe you want to do some other career, but still, think it might be useful to know a computer language? This talk explains how the speaker was able to learn programming by starting with familiar experiences like computer games and math.
Presenter: Jesse Rogers - Jesse is the Math Lab Coordinator for the Gardens campus. In the past year, he taught himself to program in languages such as Scratch and Python. He's now the advisor of Code Club and also provides tutorials on YouTube about how you can take your existing knowledge of math and use it to learn to program. Email him for links, or just come visit the SLC in BB207.
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Campus/Room: Lake Worth | CBP 103
Presentation: How Big Is Infinity? - This talk will explore the different perceptions of infinity down through the ages and we will also discover that Infinity comes in different sizes! The concept of infinity has bewildered great minds for almost three millennia. Come join us on this journey in the world of infinity.
Presenter: Dr. Anthony Piccolino - Dr. Piccolino is a math professor at PBSC since 2009. Prior to his tenure at PBSC, he taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in mathematics and mathematics education for 17 years at Montclair State University in New Jersey and served on several dissertation committees. In addition to his years in higher education, he also served for 25 years as a mathematics teacher and supervisor in public schools in New York State. Dr. Piccolino received his doctorate in mathematics education from Columbia University.
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Campus/Room: Palm Beach Gardens | SC 127
Presentation: Careers in Math Panel Discussion - Professionals from a variety of occupations will speak about how they use math in their work, and discuss ways that math is connected to the 'real world'.
Panel Moderator: David Jenks - Mr. Jenks is the Career Center Manager at PBSC. He has worked for almost 20 years in college career development. Mr. Jenks has been with PBSC since Fall of 2017 and has also worked at the FAU and UCF Career Centers. His previous career was in sales and marketing in the finance and travel industries.
Math Problem of the Day/Week
Monday: Problem of the Day (Closed)
Tuesday: Problem of the Day (Closed)
Wednesday: Problem of the Day (Closed)
Thursday: Problem of the Day (Closed)
Problem of the Week (Closed)
