Mathematics and Statistics

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Mon, 07/14/2025 - 13:48

GirlsGetMath introduces teen girls to programming, coding, algorithms and more. It’s in its fifth year.

High School students Camille Gray, left, and Sena Segbefia work on image processing during a GirlsGetMath lesson. Photos by Annie Barker

��-Dearborn earns nationwide recognition for exceptional mathematics program

stuxbury — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:40:46 +0000

��-Dearborn earns nationwide recognition for exceptional mathematics program stuxbury Mon, 06/10/2024 - 12:40

There is only one collegiate math program in the state that’s accredited by America's two leading actuarial societies — and it’s right here at ��-Dearborn.

The ��-Dearborn Actuarial Mathematics program — a campus major that has a core curriculum of mathematics, statistics, economics and finance courses — earned the seal of approval from the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries, acknowledging it as a strategically designed program that actively guides students towards attaining the qualifications of an actuary associate.

Mathematics Associate Professor Mike Dabkowski

The campus’ actuarial mathematics major, which had SOA recognition for years, earned the CAS University Recognition Program honor in May, which evaluates universities around the world. Other institutions on the 2024 CAS list include Penn State, Temple University, University of New South Wales Sydney, Boston University, University of Toronto and Arizona State.

Mathematics Associate Professor Mike Dabkowski said this is an important milestone for the university. “There are two major career pathways in actuarial science and now we are officially recognized for having an exceptional program and being student-centered for both,” he said, noting the CAS path focuses exclusively on property and casualty risks; the SOA path focuses on life insurance, health insurance, pensions and retirement. “The mission of the university is to give our students the tools and skills they need to succeed after graduation. This is the seal of approval to say we are doing just that.”

The accolades sound great — but what does an actuary actually do? Dabkowski described the position as providing a safety net for an organization. Actuaries assess financial risks in various sectors, such as insurance, investments, pensions and environmental sustainability, and they develop models to predict and manage future events, even under uncertain circumstances. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s a great job to have. The median pay for actuaries is $120,000 per year, and employment of actuaries is projected to grow 23% by the end of the decade, much faster than the average for all occupations.

This credential, which lists ��-Dearborn at the bronze tier, gives students access to CAS exam resources, provides avenues for actuarial conference attendance, shares job opportunities and more. Mathematics Associate Professor Mahesh Agarwal — who said the university was evaluated based on course topics, faculty involvement with CAS, student achievement and exam prep — said the university is already striving for silver.

Mathematics Associate Professor Mahesh Agarwal

“Our strength is that we are a small program with individualized attention that combines the resources of U-M,” said Agarwal, who mentioned that Dearborn Wolverines attend the ��-Ann Arbor Actuarial Career Expo, which attracts large companies from around the world. “It is wonderful to have organizations vouching for the quality of our program. But, for the CAS recognition, we are not stopping at bronze level. We are getting more alumni engaged and students are forming an actuarial society on campus. We are actively progressing and working towards fulfilling the criteria for the silver designation. We view achieving the bronze level as an initial milestone in our journey.”

Prep for actuarial exams in part of the evaluation. And exams are not easy, Agarwal said. On average, the effective pass rate for the first actuarial exam is 46%. ��-Dearborn's first exam pass rate is 20-plus percentage points higher at 67%.

Alum Autumn Tashman, Class of 2023, passed both the first exam (probability) and the second one (financial mathematics) on the first try while she was a student. “To help me understand the concepts, Professor Dabkowski and Professor Agarwal began twice weekly study sessions with me six months prior to taking the first exam,” said Tashman, who went the CAS route for her career. “They even reached out to me right before the exam to help me calm down — I was so stressed — and I think that helped me have better focus.”

Autumn Tashman

Tashman is now an associate actuarial analyst at Ally Financial in Detroit. She heard about Ally Financial job opportunities through the ��-Ann Arbor Actuarial Career Expo, which she learned about from her ��-Dearborn professors. She’s currently preparing for her next exam — and even though she is no longer a student, Dabkowski met with her over Zoom last week to do a material overview. “The professors I’ve had at ��-Dearborn are the best and I credit them for where I am today,” she said.

Have questions about the actuarial science career field or the program? Dabkowski and Agerwal said they look forward to talking with parents, prospective students and anyone who would like more information. You can reach them at mkagarwa@umich.edu and mgdabkow@umich.edu. Learn more about the CAS University Recognition Program.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury.

Academic Excellence

Awards

Off

Mon, 06/10/2024 - 16:40

The formula of active learning, dedicated professors and student success leads to a new actuarial science society honor.

Students in the actuarial math program brainstorm solutions together. Photo/Julianne Lindsey

Finding solutions through math and mentoring

stuxbury — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 17:20:56 +0000

Finding solutions through math and mentoring stuxbury Mon, 07/17/2023 - 13:20

In the medical field, mathematics is essential to understanding outcomes. There’s modeling when it comes to predicting the success rate of treatment, dosage in prescriptions, mathematical functions in CT scans and X-rays and more.

��-Dearborn senior Louisa Hoback wants to work in a medical-focused field to make a difference in people’s lives. At first, she studied chemistry. Then, after taking time off in college to focus on her own medical concerns, she returned to campus and took mathematics courses to fulfill a few degree requirements. That’s when Hoback’s career goals started to come into focus.

“It’s very interesting how many mathematical applications there are in biology, chemistry and biochemistry,” said Hoback, an Allen Park resident who is majoring in mathematics and minoring in chemistry. “Until I took those classes, I didn’t know the extent that math was involved. But once I realized it, I was excited to learn more.” Noticing Hoback’s work ethic and natural ability with numbers, two of her mathematics professors, Yulia Hristova and Aditya Viswanathan, encouraged her to work with them on a research project that — in simple terms — looks at reducing the distortion and improving the clarity of medical imaging results. She spent the last year working as a teaching assistant and research assistant.

To gain even more research experience with math, Hoback recently attended a prestigious undergraduate program where she worked on projects with other exceptional students from across the country.

As part of the eight-week ��-Dearborn Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Mathematical Analysis and Applications,19 student participants worked with ��-Dearborn faculty mentors on a variety of mathematics research projects. Involved ��-Dearborn faculty include John Clifford, Yulia Hristova, Keshav Pokhrel, Aditya Viswanathan, Alan Wiggins, Tian An Wong and Yunus Zeytuncu. The ��-Dearborn REU program concluded Friday, July 14, with a regional REU conference hosted on campus. CASL Dean Dagmar Budikova welcomed the crowd that included student researchers from Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley and more.

Mathematics Professor Zeytuncu, who initiated the ��-Dearborn REU a decade ago with Associate Professor Hyejin Kim, said the Dearborn REU — which is funded by the National Science Foundation and National Security Agency — has grown significantly. “With us hosting a site, Dearborn students have an opportunity to take part in an REU on their campus each summer.”

Each student admitted to the REU program received a stipend, room and board near campus, and an expanded professional network of mentors and peers. In addition to ��-Dearborn’s Hoback, this summer’s program hosted students from Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, ��-Ann Arbor and others. For more information about the ��-Dearborn REU program, contact Yunus Zeytuncu.

Hoback, who graduates in the fall and is exploring graduate school options, said the REU experience went beyond networking and research. She said it was also a masterclass in team collaboration and in presenting complicated information — and that while her REU project focused on abstract number theory, the experience illuminated the connections between various areas of mathematics. Hoback said she’s grateful for the opportunity to attend the program — and to all the ��-Dearborn professors who have shaped her journey so far.

“I recommend doing research and the REU program to any math student who wants to broaden their horizons. I’d say the same about someone who is considering ��-Dearborn,” Hoback said. “I chose ��-Dearborn because I wanted a close-to-home university. I liked that it was U-M, but with class sizes where I could personally connect with my professors. Because my professors got to know me and reached out with opportunities, I’ve had experiences that help me better understand how I can improve processes in the medical field and be successful in my future career.”

Article by Sarah Tuxbury.

Academic Excellence

Off

Mon, 07/17/2023 - 17:20

Students from across the nation — including Dearborn Wolverine Louisa Hoback — worked with ��-Dearborn faculty mentors during the campus’ Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Mathematical Analysis and Applications program.

Dania Bazzi’s American Dream

lblouin — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 19:10:27 +0000

Dania Bazzi’s American Dream lblouin Wed, 02/08/2023 - 14:10

Dania Bazzi’s family story is a reminder that the narrative of the American dream, however problematic, isn’t without roots in reality. In the late 1970s, Bazzi’s parents immigrated from Senegal to metro Detroit, where Mary and Al started a convenience store business in Wayne, a working class community in the inner ring of western suburbs. It wasn’t an easy life, though it was unquestionably a good one. Her parents worked a permanent schedule of 12-hour days with no days off, and Bazzi says at least one of them was at the store until they both retired. But it was never boring, nor were they ever lonely. “My parents’ store was almost like a neighborhood meeting place,” Bazzi says. “People would come and talk about their problems or have a cup of coffee. They saw my mother and father as confidants and friends, and that won them a lot of loyalty in a community where running a business wasn’t always easy.” That social currency no doubt served her father well when he later decided to go into local politics, first as a Wayne City Council member and later as the city’s mayor and Wayne County Commissioner. Bazzi and her siblings enlisted as his campaign door knockers to support their dad’s dreams, the way he’d done for them.

Bazzi says Mary and Al were always clear about the reason for moving to the U.S. Ensuring they’d have access to free, quality education was a ticket to giving their kids a more comfortable life, and ideally, one where each of them could pursue careers that fit their passions. Studying hard and getting good grades were taken for granted in their home, and there was never any question about whether Bazzi or her four siblings would go to college. She says it was an easy choice to follow in her two older sisters’ footsteps and enroll at ��-Dearborn, where the smaller class sizes and down-to-earth professors and staff made a shy kid feel safe.

To say Bazzi was a dedicated student is an understatement. Taking advantage of a block-tuition program that allowed students to take up to 18 credits per semester for the price of 12, she earned her bachelor’s in mathematics in three years. During that time, she basically lived on campus between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., squeezing in study sessions between classes and surviving on Cottage Inn pizza at the U Mall, a forerunner of the University Center. During her final semester, she interviewed for and landed a job at Ford as a project management consultant, where she was tasked with wrangling white-collar engineers and blue-collar suppliers to make sure cars got built on time. “It’s funny to think about now, but there I was, a 21-year-old, on the phone, trying to get tough with suppliers, threatening that we’d find another supplier or that I’d be there on the due date to pick the parts up myself. And they’d be like, ‘Who is this?’”

Overall, it was a good job, with a good salary and health benefits, and Bazzi says she grew a lot, especially when it came to building professional relationships. But it wasn’t long before she started seriously considering a dream that had always been hanging out somewhere not quite in the back of her mind. She credited her public school teachers with giving her “belief in myself when I didn’t always have it” and had often felt inspired to follow in their footsteps. So while working full-time at Ford, Bazzi headed back to ��-Dearborn for a master’s program designed for working professionals like her who already had a bachelor’s in a teachable subject and wanted to make a pivot to education. Her memory of the program is that it was “robust.” When she hit her first in-classroom practicum, there was definitely part of her that wondered if she’d made the right choice. Even once she took her first job as a high school math teacher, the doubts didn’t disappear immediately. “I remember at the end of my first year, I was talking with my teaching partner who was next door, and I told her ‘I’m never coming back. I’m going back to Ford!’ I was semi-joking. Semi. But I was exhausted. And she literally put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Hey, go have a good summer, relax, but I’ll see you next door. After a week or two, you’ll be fine.’”

Her colleague was right. Every year, Bazzi says her confidence grew. She also got more excited about new methods for making math exciting for her students. Her classroom was noisy — in a good way — and she describes her style as a “warm demander,” a term she borrows from teacher educator Zaretta Hammond. Between bells, the expectations for participation were always high, but outside of class, students could come to her for anything. Those five years leading a classroom produced countless good memories. But Bazzi’s strong interest in pedagogy and curriculum innovation eventually led her to take an interview for a school improvement consultant in another district. When she got the formal offer, it was a hard decision to leave the classroom, but ultimately, she thought she’d have a broader impact helping teachers and districts develop exciting new practices. She loved the work, and after two years, it led to a curriculum development director gig at a district near Grand Rapids, a job which still ranks as her all-time favorite. “I basically was able to do all the fun stuff,” Bazzi says. “My job was to listen to the things that teachers or students or administrators needed help with and then figure out how we could do that at a high level. I had no direct reports, no evaluations. I just got to be the creative, fun person and help everybody.”

"I remember at the end of my first year, I was talking with my teaching partner who was next door, and I told her ‘I’m never coming back. I’m going back to Ford!’ I was semi-joking. Semi. But I was exhausted. And she literally put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Hey, go have a good summer, relax, but I’ll see you next door. After a week or two, you’ll be fine.'"

Given her passion for new ideas and now with some substantive administrative experience under her belt, a superintendent position was probably inevitable. Her first was at a rural district in west Michigan with barely a thousand students — an experience she still cherishes because of the skills you build in a place with an all-hands-on-deck culture. She talks about leading Ferndale schools, her next stop, the way a proud parent talks about their cool kid with an independent streak. Bazzi came in at a time when school choice was triggering enrollment and financial churn for metro Detroit districts, and under Bazzi’s leadership, Ferndale stabilized enrollment, improved achievement and passed a bond for a new lower elementary school. “Ferndale is a hidden jewel,” she says. “People don’t realize it, but it actually serves four different municipalities, so it’s a very diverse district. In many communities, people have lost connection with their local schools, but I think it’s a great example of what you can accomplish if people are willing to come together, and everybody’s rowing in the same direction.”

More recently, Bazzi has taken a new post, one which she expects will be a more permanent stop. As the superintendent of West Bloomfield School District, she’s again leading a community brimming with diversity and anxious for new ideas. Defying images of the ethnically homogenous outer suburbs, the schools serve large Jewish and Chaldean communities, African American students, who make up about 40 percent of enrollment, and numerous immigrant communities. In all, 61 languages are spoken in West Bloomfield schools. Bazzi says it’s also a district with a history of embracing new ways of doing things. Right now, that means pushing for more diversified learning opportunities, especially focused programs in the trades, career preparation and STEAM. It’s something that’s a big part of their messaging as they advocate for a new bond proposal, which will be in front of voters later this year. She says it makes it a little easier that another bond is expiring, so people will either see their taxes stay the same, if it passes, or go down a little, if the bond fails. Bazzi is hopeful that the community will choose to have strong schools at the heart of their community over a tax break.

Bazzi says West Bloomfield is indeed still one of those places where the schools feel like the center of gravity of community life. Even so, she’s not taking that ethos for granted. Bazzi says she mostly tries to stay out of politics, but her positions are pretty firm when it comes to some of the issues that have recently divided communities and eroded faith in public schools. “To me, and to my parents, our public schools were always one of the things that felt very special about this country,” Bazzi says. “It was a collective commitment that a free, quality education was something every child needed and deserved. I’d be disappointed to see us lose that. I see parents chasing the ‘best-rated’ schools, or being wary, whether consciously or unconsciously, of districts that serve students with lower socioeconomic status or that may be going through troublesome times. But I wish people understood this kind of diversity is part of what makes a school strong. Your child isn’t going to lose out on anything because they sit next to a kid who has different circumstances. They’re going to gain from that. I see it all the time. Our schools are here to ensure that some baseline level of equity in our world can exist. They are not the whole solution, but if we abandon ship on our public schools, I don’t see how this helps anyone. The world is diverse. The world is complex. And I think we’re all better off when we face it together.”

###

Story by Lou Blouin

Opinion or Voices

Alumni Engagement

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

Education

Off

Wed, 02/08/2023 - 19:09

The two-time ��-Dearborn alum and West Bloomfield superintendent talks about why she’s dedicated her life to education and what we stand to lose when we abandon our faith in public schools.

From left, ��-Dearborn alum Dania Bazzi, her sons Danny and Norman, her niece Celine Haidous, and husband Zach cheer on the West Bloomfield high school football team. Photo courtesy Dania Bazzi

Doing the Math: Research opportunity adds to campus

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 14:52:34 +0000

Doing the Math: Research opportunity adds to campus Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/29/2022 - 10:52

This article was originally published on July 19, 2021.

Mathematics major Timothy Batt, who will be a junior in the fall, had a series of firsts this summer. It was his first time in a campus classroom since the pandemic began. It was his first time conducting research. And it was the first time presenting his work at a national mathematics conference.

“It felt great to be back on campus and to collaborate with my peers and professors,” Batt said. “Not only did I feel productive, but I also felt engaged and comfortable working in-person.”

Batt took part in the National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Mathematics on the ��-Dearborn campus. Mathematics Associate Professor Yunus Zeytuncu said the prestigious REU program has less than 50 sites across the country and is extremely competitive. “With us hosting a site, Dearborn students have an opportunity to take part in an REU on their campus each summer.”

The REU teams — there were five groups each working on a separate complex mathematics problem — bonded over math research and sightseeing.

They traveled to Greenfield Village, ate dinner together at Buddy’s Pizza, spent time walking around campus and gathered in downtown Dearborn cafes.

Batt said his team started the day by grabbing coffee before heading to the Math and Statistics Library on the second floor of the CASL Building, where they’d stay and work on their research until 4 or 5 p.m.

Batt said his group studied the numerical range and spectrum of a composition operator in the infinite-dimensional Hardy space induced by an anti-diagonal matrix. Which, according to Batt, is as complicated as it sounds. And while many areas of mathematics have application to the real world, the one his group worked on was a bit more abstract — but he said today’s research can lead to future application.

“I think about (mathematician and logician) George Boole and how he created the system of Boolean Logic, the foundation for computer operations, about 100 years before there was an application. His work was seen as impractical at the time. But then research caught up to his work and what was once seen as not having any application changed the way we live,” Batt said. “Sometimes problems are answered before we know where the solutions will take us.”

Each student admitted to the REU program received a stipend, room and board and an expanded professional network of mentors and peers. During the week, five groups met with guest speakers and worked closely with ��-Dearborn Mathematics faculty like John Clifford, Kelly Jabbusch, Yulia Hristova, Aditya Viswanathan, Tian An Wong and Zeytuncu.

“Every math professor that I’ve had at ��-Dearborn in my classes has been fantastic and getting to know professors as a research student was a great experience too,” Batt said. “I’ve heard stories from friends at other colleges about the bad math professor and I keep waiting, but I’ve never had anything like that.”

During the last day of the program, each student group took part in a mathematics conference, where they had an opportunity to present their work; they also spent time with guest speakers talking about the graduate school admissions process.

Batt said students interested in mathematics and considering a graduate degree in the subject should apply — it gave him insight into the research process and what goes into a successful Ph.D. application.

“��-Dearborn professors offer highly regarded opportunities like these, but in a way that doesn’t feel out of reach. If you have an interest in mathematics, apply for next year’s program. I was nervous because I haven't done math research before. But I quickly learned that there wasn’t any reason to be nervous — everyone was nice and they know you are there to learn,” Batt said. “I met great people and had a lot of fun being back on campus and working with everyone.”

Story and photos by Sarah Tuxbury. For more information about the REU program, contact Yunus Zeytuncu.

Undergraduate Research

Mon, 07/19/2021 - 05:00

The eight-week mathematics research experience took place from May 24 to July 16. With pandemic restrictions easing, students, who initially met over Zoom, came to campus during the program’s final week.

Mentors create a path for math

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 15:45:34 +0000

Mentors create a path for math Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 06/26/2022 - 11:45

Mathematics Associate Professor Yulia Hristova started an outreach program to encourage women to enter science, technology, engineering and math fields. Associate Professor Yunus Zeytuncu created a math-centered sports-based workshop for kids at a local community center. And Assistant Professor Michael Dabkowski spent his summer teaching math through fun activities to children in underserved communities.

This is in addition to the work the Mathematics and Statistics department already does, like hosting a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates site on campus and running the math mentoring initiative Maize and Blue Math Circle, which is a problem-solving program for middle- and high-school students.

Mathematics and Statics Chair Joan Remski said the department’s community-minded culture has existed for many years. But faculty members became more strategic and collaborative in their approach recently, which has led to more grant awards and added outreach. “Our faculty aren’t just excellent researchers and grant writers — they are phenomenal teachers. That’s a magical combination.”

��-Dearborn educators know how important it is to understand mathematics and they see the low standardized test scores in the subject — a problem further aggravated by the pandemic year. So they look for ways to work with community organizations and schools, Remski said.

“Mathematics is the secret to success in any STEM field and our professors want to go out and give students a strong foundation to build on.”

Professors started the summer GirlsGetMath@Dearborn program.

Over the past decade, Associate Professor Yulia Hristova detected a pattern in her math courses. The more advanced, the less women.

“It’s better than it used to be, but it’s still a concern,” she said. “In any field, if half the population doesn’t participate, you lose a lot. I wanted to find ways to reach girls at a young age, help them feel empowered and see that math leads to interesting career paths.”

Reading about Brown University’s GirlsGetMath@ICERM — a summer program that shows high school students the impact math applications have on our day-to-day lives — Hristova wanted to know more. So she attended a 2019 training on Brown’s campus about how to implement a similar program in Michigan.

This summer, Hristova and her colleagues made it happen. Metro Detroit high school students participated in the first GirlsGetMath@Dearborn summer camp, which took place online in July. Through the support of Elsevier's Mathematical Sciences Scholarship Fund, it was free for students to attend.

Four faculty members from Mathematics and Statistics led interactive lectures and computer labs: Hristova, Associate Professor Hyejin Kim, Assistant Professor Aditya Viswanathan and Remski. Student Maya Hamka, a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Mathematics and the ��-Dearborn chapter of Association for Women in Mathematics president, helped facilitate the computer labs and talked to participants about her college experience.

GirlsGetMath@Dearborn participants discussed graph theory and its applications to modeling epidemics, studied how recommendation systems — for example, what Netflix suggests to you — work, saw the role mathematics plays in image processing, and more. They also learned the programming language MATLAB, which is used by engineers and scientists to analyze data and develop algorithms.

“I want people to have a positive experience, to grow their confidence, to appreciate the beauty in mathematics and to see the positive change it brings forward.”

The program will continue in summer 2022.

Math Matches partners with Verizon, expands program.

Assistant Professor Michael Dabkowski said math is everywhere. To prove this point, ��-Dearborn faculty created the Math Matches program by merging two seemingly unrelated topics: boxing and math lessons.

So what’s the connection?

“There are patterns in boxing movements. Logic governs your next move. Physics comes into play: momentum and energy dissipation guide your decisions. Mathematical reasoning is definitely involved in boxing,” Dabkowski said. “It’s also active, fun and different. Our students loved the boxing activities; it garnered their attention and helped the daily math lesson saturate in a way that a more traditional math mentoring program might not.”

Associate Professor Yunus Zeytuncu, Mathematics Education Associate Professor Angela Krebs and Dabkowski helped develop the Match Matches program at the Jefferson-Barns Community Vitality Center’s Norwayne Boxing Gym in Westland in coordination with the gym’s Director Jan Mnich.

During the academic year, students meet on Saturdays to learn math and participate in physical education sessions; over the summer, they had the Math Matches summer day camp experience. Twenty students took part this summer.

Dabkowski said that it is easy to forget some of the mathematics that you learn in middle and high school, so students may arrive at college academically unprepared. Math Matches seeks to close the educational gaps that may exist. “No one is to blame. For whatever reason, some may view math as an abstract concept. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cooking, woodworking, balancing your budget or securing cryptocurrencies require mathematics. Students may never see these applications of mathematical ideas, so they lose interest. We hope to open their eyes.”

The program focuses on math lessons at the beginning of the day, along with collaborative activities, games and organized outside play. Later in the day, the participants reflect on what they’ve learned and head to the boxing gym. Math Matches, which includes healthy meals, is free for participants.

The unconventional approach and focus on increasing fluency in arithmetic, geometry and algebra in Metro Detroit communities caught the attention of Verizon Wireless. Looking to support pathways into STEM fields, Verizon is sponsoring the program with a $25,000 gift and future volunteer support.

"Verizon is proud to support the University of Michigan Dearborn's Math Matches Program. As a company, we have pledged to prepare 500,000 people for the jobs of the future by 2030 and this program is setting the critical framework for youth to excel in a fun and engaging way," said Verizon Community Engagement Director Brianna Ellison. The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan also supports the program.

Dabkowski said as the program continues to grow, more students will sharpen their math skills while staying healthy and active in a safe community space.

Educators plan to bring a Math Corps site to campus.

From personal finance to cell phone data transmission to machine learning — and everything in between — mathematics permeates our daily life.

To help preteens and teens see how math is connected to so much of what we do, ��-Dearborn educators worked with nearly 60 Math Corps students over the summer.

The mission of Math Corps — which started in 1992 at Wayne State University and is now a nationwide initiative — is to empower and inspire children from under-served communities.

��-Dearborn faculty members Dabkowski and Zeytuncu participated in the Ypsilanti Math Corp program, which was hosted by U-M and directed by Mathematics Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Sarah Koch.

Serving as a Ypsilanti Math Corp senior staff member, Dabkowski said he enjoyed the experience because teaching in Math Corps goes beyond math skills. It prioritizes mentorship through a kids-teaching-kids model, providing a positive learning environment and a strong sense of community.

“(Professor) Yunus (Zeytuncu) would teach the high school students. Then the high school students would go out and mentor the middle school students. It created an educational ecosystem.” Dabkowski ran an activities room where students exercised, played games and did a variety of math activities.

��-Dearborn faculty have participated in Math Corps for multiple years and have done it in person and online. With the experiences gained, Zeytuncu and Dabkowski said ��-Dearborn plans to host a Math Corps site in 2022.

“We continue to ask ourselves: How can we better serve our communities? We are uniquely positioned between Detroit and Ypsilanti and know the need is there. Having a Math Corps site here will provide more opportunities for local students,” Dabkowski said. “We love when kids realize math is everywhere — it changes how they see it. It becomes useful, interesting and fun. That opens doors for learning.”

Article by Sarah Tuxbury. For more information about the Mathematics and Statistics Department’s community focused efforts, contact Chair Joan Remski.

Volunteer or Community Service

Wed, 09/15/2021 - 05:00

Games, art, design, sports and more — math is everywhere. And ��-Dearborn's Mathematics professors are doing all they can to get kids to embrace the field at a young age to increase proficiency, confidence and interest in STEM fields.

Actuarial Mathematics program offers rewards when it comes to risk

stuxbury — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 00:34:12 +0000

Actuarial Mathematics program offers rewards when it comes to risk stuxbury Wed, 04/20/2022 - 20:34

An actuary is a business professional who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. What isn’t risky? Majoring in Actuarial Mathematics at ��-Dearborn.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median pay for actuaries is nearly $110,000 per year, and employment of actuaries is projected to grow 24 percent by the end of the decade, much faster than the average for all occupations.

And students in the ��-Dearborn Actuarial Mathematics program — a newer campus major that has a core curriculum of mathematics, statistics, economics and finance courses — say their professors are among the best they’ve ever had. They are energetic and inspiring, help students prepare for industry certification tests, connect them with work opportunities and more.

So what does an actuary do? A variety of things, said Associate Professor Mahesh Agarwal, who advises students in the Actuarial Mathematics program. For example, they are the people who are behind the scenes when it comes to products or services we interact with every day like our cars, homes and more.

“Actuaries analyze the financial cost of risk and uncertainty. They work with companies to help predict risk to minimize costs. For instance, behind every insurance quote you see, there is an actuary who has analyzed the likelihood and cost of an accident,” he said. “Their work to help predict risk is rooted in ensuring financial well being for businesses and people.”

Associate Professor Mahesh Agarwal

��-Dearborn junior Blake Hanson said the core duo running the program, Agarwal and Assistant Professor Mike Dabkowski, not only teach — they also get people excited about the topic.

“I don’t think there is anything about math that those guys don’t know,” Hanson said. “Professor Dabkowski is so into math that you want to learn it and you’ll get pumped up too — he might be the most enthusiastic person that I’ve ever met. And Professor Agarwal is so patient and intuitive. He can tell just by looking at me if I have a question and he’ll sit with me until I figure it out. They are two of the best teachers I’ve ever had. If you like math now, you’ll end up loving it.”

In addition to classroom lessons, Hanson said campus professors help students fulfill the Society of Actuaries course requirements and prepare them for passing the seated exams needed for the professional actuary designation.

Noted for being among the hardest professional exams to pass, the preparation is working: Nearly all of the Actuarial Mathematics majors who recently took an exam passed it. And some on the first try — which even the Wall Street Journal says is quite a feat.

Junior Autumn Tashman is among the first from ��-Dearborn to sign up for the major and take the exams. She passed both the first exam (Probability) and the second one (Financial Mathematics) on the first try.

With the two exams behind her, she recently accepted an internship at Ally Financial in Detroit.

Junior Autumn Tashman works on a mathematics problem in CASL's Math Resource Room.

“I’m going to get to work downtown, right in front of Campus Martius. I’m really excited about working there, learning from people in the industry, and seeing where this internship takes me,” said Tashman, who connected with Ally Financial through the virtual U-M Actuarial Career Expo.

Among people taking at least one exam from the Society of Actuaries — the field’s biggest U.S. credentialing body — only 15% pass the multiple tests required to become an associate, a designation allowing them to practice.

Junior Sarah McCann works on mathematical formulas.

Junior Sarah McCann, who works part time at Coldwell Banker, passed the first exam. Senior Ovy Apintei, who worked as a financial specialist at PNC Bank, is studying for the first exam. And Hanson passed his two exams and recently accepted an actuarial internship at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Senior Ovy Apintei

“I couldn't even give you an exact number on the added time my professors spent with me preparing for the exams,” Hanson said. “I spent four to five hours each day, every day, focused on exam materials and my professors were there every step of the way. You could email them any time of the day with a problem and they’d always answer with enthusiasm and support.” For students who take the exams and pass, ��-Dearborn has a scholarship that reimburses the students for the testing fees. There are seven tests in all, but typically exams three through seven are taken by working professionals.

Hanson said he’s especially impressed with how his professors are keeping current on the exams and continue to take the rigorous tests so they can advise their students how to best prepare.

“Those exams are hard. Harder than I could have even imagined,” Hanson said. “Our professors have set tenure-track careers, but they are still putting themselves through those exams and learning what changes are happening in the field and how those changes impact the exams so they can help us study. When you see someone going above and beyond for you like that, it inspires you to work even harder.”

To help students prepare, courses in the major are specifically tailored to exam information, there are practice problems with recorded solutions on Canvas, and the Mathematics and Statistics faculty host recurring study sessions.

Junior Blake Hanson takes time to review his math work.

“To help me understand the concepts, Professor Dabkowski and Professor Agarwal began twice weekly study sessions with me six months prior to taking the first exam,” Tashman said. “They even reached out to me right before the exam to help me calm down — I was so stressed — and I think that helped me have better focus. The professors I’ve had here are the best and I credit them for where I am today.”

Tashman said she’s learned a lot from her time at ��-Dearborn, which includes how it’s ok to change career plans. She said incoming students, herself included, put pressure on themselves to know their major right away. Tashman, who originally thought about a career in accounting, suggests trying to remove that pressure and focus on exploring subjects you find interesting.

“��-Dearborn has a lot of majors. There’s no way to know them all when you first come to campus. Take classes you think sound interesting.Talk to your professors and advisers. It will come together,” she said. “If you are still exploring what you’d like to do, I suggest looking at the Actuarial Math program if you like math. A lot of people don’t know what actuarial math is when they first get to college — I didn’t — but it gives you different tools to answer risk questions businesses or people have.”

Tashman said knew she liked calculus in high school, but wasn’t sure what to do with her math interest when she first got to ��-Dearborn until she heard about the Actuarial Mathematics program, which was launched in 2019.

Assistant Professor Mike Dabkowski

She liked how the field could help her understand how to apply math to making educated professional and personal decisions, like understanding insurance premiums, mortgage interest rates, hedge funds, warranty costs and more. “What I’m learning integrates math into our every day,” she said, noting that her parents recently built a house and shortened their mortgage to 10 years to save money on interest — which is figured out by using an actuarial math formula. “What I’m learning now is good to know so I can make the right financial decisions for myself later on too.”

As the three-year-old major grows, Dabkowski and Agarwal continue to focus on ways they can support students in the program. For example, they are looking to connect with industry partners in finance, real estate, health insurance, data science and more to help students gain experience and exposure.

“We’re here to open doors for students so they can realize their potential and learn what’s out there for them. That doesn’t stop at the end of a class,” Dabkowski said. “The students we have at ��-Dearborn are talented, hardworking and dedicated to mastering this material.”

The Dearborn Wolverines agree. And the more they get into the program, the more confident they become.

“You study with your classmates, who become your friends, and you work through the hard stuff together. You know you can reach out to your professors at any time and they’ll respond. You are encouraged and prepared to get the credentials you need to land a job,” Hanson said. “I like where I am at. But it’s not just because I like math. It’s also because of the people.”

Interested in learning more about the Actuarial Mathematics program? Reach out to Professor Agarwal or Professor Dabkowski. Article by Sarah Tuxbury.

Careers or Internships

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Thu, 04/21/2022 - 00:34

Students in ��-Dearborn’s Actuarial Mathematics program, which began in 2019, find success in passing rigorous industry exams and landing actuary internship opportunities.

Graphic by Violet Dashi and photos by Mike Dabkowski

Coronavirus Communications

How the pandemic experience is pushing teaching into the future

lblouin — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:54:31 +0000

How the pandemic experience is pushing teaching into the future lblouin Mon, 10/11/2021 - 09:54

You can’t say that Associate Professor of Statistics Keshav Pokhrel’s transformation of his statistics courses was completely a pandemic thing. Pre-pandemic, he was already interested in changing up his teaching approach, especially in his intro statistics classes, which always brought in lots of non-math and non-statistics majors. Getting students to be genuinely interested in the subject was the core challenge, one that inspired lots of hallway conversations with colleagues, student feedback sessions, and some meetings with instructional designers at the Hub. Then the pandemic hit. And while he hadn’t had a chance to implement many changes yet, by that time, he was conceptually fluent enough in new teaching techniques to see that his traditional formula of lectures, homework, quizzes and exams was likely going to fall flat in a remote format.

Initially, he started with recorded lectures, following one of the Hub’s main suggestions to break the videos into short, easily digestible segments. But the real breakthrough came after a conversation with a colleague, who pointed him to a student-focused New York Times feature called “What’s Going on in This Graph?” The Times' graphs and data visualizations focused on all kinds of subjects, from COVID trends to global economics to sports. But the thing Pokhrel really loved was the type of questions the authors paired with the graphs. “It was always very general, like, ‘what do you find interesting about this graph?’ Or, ‘what does it make you wonder about?’” he says. “The beauty of that is you don’t need any advanced mathematical background to answer a question like that."

Pokhrel decided he’d throw something similar at his students. One of the first was a dynamic U.S. population pyramid graph, an intriguing data set that prompts important socio-economic questions about aging baby boomers and today’s declining birth rates. He then asked his students to write about what they found personally interesting in the graphs, and he was blown away by their responses. “It was just intended to be a five or 10-point discussion post assignment,” Pokhrel remembers. “But they’d write pages and pages and they were commenting on each other's posts.” He tried again with other themes — the relationship between GDP and poverty, criminal justice, basketball. Again, he got these highly engaged responses. “And that’s when I started thinking, what if I made this my whole class? Like, what if I made my course project-based, instead of ‘remember this math, and put this formula here’? I became convinced that I had to connect the material to things that felt relevant to them.”

He began writing projects for his students — a time consuming but enjoyable task — and ultimately reorganized his course around a series of 10 of them. Now, the majority of the actual work his students do in the intro course isn’t formula-based statistics. It’s writing, interpretation and analysis of huge data sets. “Rather than asking them to memorize how to calculate a standard deviation, the focus was, ‘what does that standard deviation mean?’” Pokhrel explains. “My feeling was that if this is the only statistics course they ever take, they likely aren’t going to remember all the math. But I can teach them how to conceptually interpret and analyze data, and that’s something they can use in their lives and future careers.”

Not that Pokhrel has totally abandoned the math part. Statistics is a very quantitative discipline, and even if his students don’t memorize every formula, it’s important for them to understand conceptually how statistical computations work. That’s why he still has one assignment per week that requires some math done by hand, the old-fashioned way. And they spend a lot of time learning modern statistics software, which lets the computers do the complicated computations, but teaches students how to organize and model data in ways that reveal what it all means.

This approach has worked exceedingly well in his intro courses, but Pokhrel has also been inspired to similarly reorganize his upper-level courses. At the beginning of the semester, he posts six to nine projects from a diverse range of subjects, and then lets the students choose one that they’ll work on the whole semester. Teams of three self-organize based on interest. And then they basically start digging into their data sets, with the projects broken down into two mid-semester “mini-projects” so he can check their progress. A final presentation and 15-page report, worth about 25 percent of their grade, replace the traditional final exam. Notably, in his upper-level courses, the students are doing a lot more computational and advanced software work. But as in his intro classes, the context is real-world problems and relevant applications of theoretical concepts. The result is his students are way more engaged.

In a necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention kind of way, Pokhrel says the pandemic definitely accelerated changes in his teaching approach that otherwise would have taken him years. And he personally enjoys this version of his course so much more, though he notes that compared to grading quizzes, it is more work for him to review individual, often lengthy, examples of student analysis. (He’s not going to argue, though, with the fact that his students are so engaged they’re actually “overdoing” assignments.) He also finds that, particularly in a totally asynchronous format, he has to watch out a bit more for students getting hung up on certain concepts. “If they get stuck on something, it can really set them back. It’s like a virus. It’s small, but it can have a big impact.” His remedy is to make sure they have ample access to him during office hours and quickie Zoom sessions, where he can usually help get a student over the hump in “just a couple minutes.” Then it’s back to the action of a dynamic statistics course that’s so much more fun than it was before.

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Story by Lou Blouin. Are you a faculty member who also has a story about how you've grown your teaching style or redesigned a course during the pandemic? If so, we'd love to hear about it. Drop us a line at ��Dearborn-News@umich.edu.

Coronavirus

Faculty and Staff

Opinion or Voices

Teaching Resource

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Mon, 10/11/2021 - 13:40

A ��-Dearborn statistics professor shares how the sudden shift to remote education pushed him to make his statistics classes more relevant to students.

A colorful graphic featuring a headshot of statistics professor Keshav Pokhrel surrounded by charts, arrows, stick figure drawings and other statistics icons.

��-Dearborn’s Yunus Zeytuncu, Mathematics associate professor, named Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year

stuxbury — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 13:46:33 +0000

��-Dearborn’s Yunus Zeytuncu, Mathematics associate professor, named Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year stuxbury Tue, 06/15/2021 - 09:46

Associate Professor teaching mathematics to a Maize and Blue Math Circle participant.

Mathematics Associate Professor Yunus Zeytuncu speaks about complex math problems in a way that captivates listeners. When helping students understand foundational math concepts, he uses games. To explain differential equations, he talks about pouring creamer into the coffee. When teaching students about spectrum, he plays a 3D-printed drum. And if there are still questions on the material, Zeytuncu exhibits both patience and persistence.

“Making connections and using metaphors help you learn something new; it becomes relatable,” said Zeytuncu, who is also the director for campus’ Center for Mathematics Education. “Academics learn through research — but it’s also important to share that gained knowledge through teaching and training. To me, research and teaching are together under one umbrella of scholarship. As a scholar, it’s important to me to produce new knowledge and to find new ways to share knowledge. ”

At ��-Dearborn, Zeytuncu is known for his dedication to teaching mathematics. And thanks to a recently announced award, he’s getting recognized for it across the state too.

Zeytuncu received the 2021 Michigan Association of State Universities’ (MASU) Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions to undergraduate education exhibited by faculty at Michigan’s 15 public universities.

“Professor Zeytuncu is a tireless and innovative educator who has dedicated much of his career to creating transformative opportunities for undergraduate students at ��-Dearborn, as well as the broader southeast Michigan community of all ages,” said Susan E. Alcock, ��-Dearborn provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Zeytuncu brings top math students from across the nation to ��-Dearborn during the summer and leads a Research Experiences for Undergraduates site focusing on mathematics analysis and applications. Zeytuncu teaches hundreds of ��-Dearborn students in up to six courses each year and mentors others. And because he wants to help prepare the next generation of learners, he developed the Maize and Blue Math Circle tutoring program for middle and high school-aged kids.

For the Maize and Blue Math Circle program, Zeytuncu secured multiple grants to travel to Detroit-area schools after speaking with one of his young students. “He was a 14-year-old who was taking two buses to get here [��-Dearborn campus] — to do math after school,” Zeytuncu said. “That’s when I had the idea to go out to the urban schools and offer the program there too.”

Zeytuncu said he’s honored by the MASU award. He credits his Mathematics and Statistics Department colleagues, professional mentors, past teachers, and his parents for his success.

The ��-Dearborn professor grew up in a household centered around education — both his parents were teachers in Turkey — and at a young age he emulated what he learned from that supportive environment.

“At school, we had before- and after-school study sessions. I was doing well in mathematics. Other students would come up to me and ask for help. Even if I knew how to solve a problem, it was still a challenge because I needed to explain it in a way that makes sense to others. If one way didn’t work, I’d try another until I could see that the person understood it. I found satisfaction in explaining complicated ideas to others.”

Reflecting on his career, Zeytuncu said his students motivate him to find new and innovative ways to share his love of problem-solving. And the MASU Distinguished Professor of the Year Award lets him know that he’s on the right track.

“This award is a signal to me that what we are doing at ��-Dearborn is working,” he said. “My name is on the award, but I couldn’t do this alone. I’m proud to be a part of a team that does amazing work because our priority is making sure our students have everything they need to be successful. There are many caring, dedicated people at ��-Dearborn, and I’m happy to represent what we do.”

Associate Professor Zeytuncu earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in 2010 and his B.S. in mathematics from Bilkent University in Turkey in 2004. He was a visiting assistant professor at Texas A&M University before joining the University of Michigan-Dearborn faculty in 2013. In 2019, he received the Mathematical Association of America Michigan Section’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Academic Excellence

Awards

Faculty and Staff

Center for Mathematics Education

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Tue, 06/15/2021 - 13:40

The statewide award recognizes the outstanding contributions to undergraduate education exhibited by faculty at Michigan’s public universities.