Spectrum - Volume 21 Issue 09 October 22, 1998 - Women in Mathematics career day scheduled for November 5

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Women in Mathematics career day scheduled for November 5

By Sally Harris

Spectrum Volume 21 Issue 09 - October 22, 1998

Virginia Tech faculty, students, and alumnae will join approximately 200 young women Thursday, Nov. 5, for an inter-generational, multi-media, mathematical celebration.
Sixth graders have been invited from area schools, including Auburn High and Middle School, Blacksburg Middle School, Christiansburg Middle School, Eastern Elementary School, Floyd Elementary School, Macy McClaugherty Elementary School, Narrows Elementary School, Pulaski Middle School, and Shawsville High and Middle School, as well as schools in Roanoke.
The fourth annual "Women in Mathematics: Career Day at Virginia Tech" will begin at 10 a.m. with a welcome session at the Mathematics Emporium on University City Boulevard, featuring Dean of Students Barbara Pendergrass. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., students will participate in two one-hour sessions, break for a pizza lunch at 12:30 p.m., and then re-convene from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. for two additional one-hour sessions.
The sessions will include computer investigations in mathematics with Virginia Tech faculty member Terri Bourdon; "A Process Approach to Problem Solving: Using Group Work and Presentations" with Virginia Tech faculty member Gail Hunger; "Experiments with Masses and Springs" with Tech faculty member Bob Rogers in the Modeling, Information Processing and Control Facility (MIPAC lab); and a panel discussion on educational and career opportunities in mathematics.
The panel of women currently working in fields related to mathematics will include Bridget Arvold, a member of the faculty in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and co-author of Knottedness; Linda Bass, a Virginia Tech alumna who has worked as a statistician, computer programmer, and systems analyst, who has owned her own medical software company, and who now is an economic-development specialist for the city of Roanoke; Stephanie Hills, who works at Adroit Systems, Inc., in Alexandria on engineering problems related to national security; Gail Letzter, a mathematics professor at Virginia Tech who formerly worked at the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C.; Lois McInnes, who finds numerical solutions to problems in aerospace and acoustics at Argonne National Labs in Chicago; and Joanna Rieder, a Virginia Tech alumna who works for Science Applications International Corporation, a diversified high-technology research and engineering company
Each student participant will receive a T-shirt to commemorate the day through the assistance of Tech Bookstore.
Career Day activities are sponsored by the Department of Mathematics. Co-sponsors include the Office of the Provost, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Women's Center at Virginia Tech, the Math Club, and Womanspace. For more information, call Susan Anderson at 1-8041 or e-mail her at anderson@math.vt.edu .
Anyone with a disability who desires any assistance, services, or other accommodations to participate should contact Susan Anderson at 1-8041 at least one week before the event.