6^th Annual NEMATYC Fall Dinner/Speaker Event

NEMATYC's 6th Fall Dinner/Speaker event was held on Friday September 12, 2014 at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. The facilities were in the beautiful Hogan Center at the college.

The event was arranged and coordinated by NEMATYC Vice President Anne O'Shea of North Shore Community College.

The speaker was Catherine Roberts, Professor and Chair in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the College. She is also an instructor and senior trainer for Intel Mathematics, an initiative to deepen the math content knowledge of our nation’s elementary and middle school teachers. Catherine teaches Mathematical Modeling and Environmental Mathematics as Community-Based Learning courses.  Her research involves using mathematics to model real-world scenarios that arise in nature.

The title of the presentation was Mathematics and Planet Earth.

Catherine presented some of her research in mathematical modeling to support efforts of the Grand Canyon National Park to schedule white-water rafting trips down the Colorado River.  Her talk included spectacular photographs and videos, and a description of the resulting computer program, the Grand Canyon River Trip Simulator.

Professor Roberts talks about the mathematical model she and her students
created for the National Park Service.

Spectacular campus view towards Worcester from the Hogan Center.