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45 undergraduates named top researchers in SURCA competition

SURCA 2014 Applied Sciences Winners
SURCA 2014 Applied Sciences Winners

Thirty-nine awards were presented recently to 45 WSU students—many in the College of Arts and Sciences—at the third annual Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA) 2014.

The work of 192 students University-wide was detailed in 11 oral and 145 poster presentations open to faculty, staff, students, and guests. More than 100 judges evaluated the presentations. The judges included WSU emeriti faculty and retirees, faculty, staff, and post-doctoral students as well as experts from companies outside of WSU.

While many students from urban campuses traveled to participate, SURCA was made available to two place-bound students thanks to web conferencing provided by the Global Campus. A Pullman student studying abroad in Mexico and a WSU Vancouver student who was unable to attend SURCA in person talked “live” to their judges who were in the senior ballroom of the Compton Union Building.

More about the competition and list of winners

Math tutors in lab coats add to student success

Mathematics Learning Center (MLC) is a free resource for all WSU students
Mathematics Learning Center (MLC) is a free resource for all WSU students

During every one of the 56 hours the WSU Math Learning Center is open each week, anywhere from three to eight tutors roam the large, tabled room dressed in distinctive white lab coats, ready to help anyone with a raised hand or a question.

The center opened quietly 18 months ago and attendance has been on the rise ever since. In fact, student visits more than tripled last semester, rising to a 1,729 weekly average and a grand total of nearly 26,000 student visits over the course of 15 weeks of instruction.

“I think this is one of the most important things WSU has done for undergraduate students in the 25 years I’ve been here,” said Sandy Cooper, associate professor of mathematics and associate chair of the Department of Mathematics.

Learn more about the center and watch the video

Summer institute helps teachers make math reasoning explicit

Libby Knott
Libby Knott
It’s mid-way through the WSU summer session and nearly every table in the Math Learning Center on the Pullman campus is full. Look closely, though, and you’ll see that these aren’t your traditional undergraduate students: it’s a special summer institute for 75 elementary and secondary math teachers designed to help them help their students.

“In traditional math instruction, students are taught how to use a certain formula,” said Libby Knott, professor of mathematics and director of the summer institute, “but they aren’t taught why it works or what the reasoning is behind the process.”

Read the article in WSU News

Getting explicit with math

Photo credit Geoff Crimmins/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Photo credit Geoff Crimmins/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
A seminar offered this summer at WSU gives rural teachers opportunities to learn in-depth and engaging methods of teaching mathematical reasoning. The three-week course focuses on geometric reasoning and is just one part of a project titled Making Mathematics Reasoning Explicit, begun two years ago and based on a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership. Read more about MMRE