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Math education

White House pushes for STEM education, mentorship

Ryan W. Miller
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Mathletes and science whizs gathered at the White House Friday evening to discuss math's role in education in the 21st century and to reflect on The Man Who Knew Infinity, a new film about Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian mathematician who made extraordinary discoveries for the field despite no formal training.

Ken Ono, a math professor at Emory University, explained that brilliant math minds, like Ramanujan, always need help and support along the way to cultivate the interest in the subject. In order to support modern-day students like Ramanujan who do not come from traditional math backgrounds, Ono founded of the Spirit of Ramanujan initiative, which works to identify extraordinary young math minds that may not otherwise get the chance to showcase their talents.

A White House panel discussed the importance of math education and mentorship at a screening of The Man Who Knew Infinity in Washington, D.C.

Kendall Clark, a tenth-grader from Baltimore, became one of these students after her teacher told Ono about her penchant for math and encouraged her to apply to the initiative.

"It was an amazing application. The maturity with which she wrote her essay meant I had to follow up," Ono told USA Today. "She's proving theorems on her own. Imagining theorems. And that's just so unusual that we had to give her a prize."

The award will allow Clark to pursue university-level research. Clark, whose passion is for applied mathematics, said, though, that her love for the subject did not come until last year when her teachers pushed her in new ways. The high schooler explained she now sees math everywhere — whether it's thinking about the volume of a room or the rate at which a pen loses an ink when she writes. Yet these complex ideas are not just for the math elites, Clark said.

"(Math) just broadens your perspective. It allows you to look at your surroundings in a different way," she said. "And I feel like being good at math is an accomplishment and people like to place those who are good at mathematics on a high pedestal, and I want it to be known that just anyone can do it."

Panelists echoed Clark's sentiment about the ability of all to pursue mathematics, and they challenged others to work to remove the stigma around the subject.

"You often hear from people not in math that they’re not good at math, as if you need some given natural talent to go into math. That’s so crazy. If you want to be a distance runner, you train," Ono said. "In anything in life, you train."

Although math requires hard work and practice, the panelists also noted the creative aspects that go into solving math problems.

Noted actor Jeremy Irons, who plays Ramanujan's mentor G.H. Hardy in the film, came to the project without any knowledge of advanced mathematics and admitted he did not like the subject. But he explained working on the project expanded his perspectives on the field.

"Pure mathematics actually is rather similar to poetry, similar to art. It’s something about which you are compassionate. Something you search for wherever it is. Something which requires a mind that is really open and free and allows whatever to come to you," Irons said.

Hardy, Iron's character, served as a teacher for Ramanujan, who had dropped out of college twice before meeting the professor. Together, Hardy and Ramanujan worked to make numerous accomplishments in the field, and Ono said that some of Ramanujan's notebooks are still being mined through today for new understandings.

The theme of mentorship permeated throughout the discussion as well. U.S. chief data scientist DJ Patil said that while every mathematician has an initial interest in the subject, there always needs to be someone to support it.

"“It’s more than a spark, there’s someone who has to nurture the flame,” Patil said. Patil also praised programs like Ono's because of their ability to find undiscovered math talent.

"We're really good at finding the amazing kids who are going through the really classic incredible high-performing schools. But we really haven't looked, we haven't tried to find the kids that are in some inner city school that just have the natural aptitude," Patil said. "When you take them and put them in the environment with these other people who have passion for an area, you see remarkable things."

For Patil, having different students from different backgrounds in the same room is key for addressing the issues that math can solve.

"Diversity of opinion changes our framing of how we look at a problem. We always get better answers," he added.

Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter @MILLERdfillmore

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