Outreach

Duke Math Circles

The Duke Math Circles program is designed to expose students to math problems that are exciting and challenging without the pressure of grades, “right” answers, tests, or homework.  The topics covered are generally not ones that show up in school and aim to enliven the math interests of students.  The problems involve in-depth thinking and creative problem-solving techniques.  Students meet other like-minded students and improve their critical thinking skills. Our goal is to focus on learning to think like a mathematician - to see the beauty of mathematics in the world through the exploration of ideas and the asking of difficult questions.  Current organizers include Duke Math Professor Shira Viel and Assistant Research Professors Edna Jones and Anna Nelson.

Duke Math faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students and staff work with Central Park School for Children in downtown Durham.  You can read more about the program in this January 2023 Duke Today article.

Pares Ordenados

Pares Ordenados is an online Directed Reading Program in Spanish that pairs mathematics undergraduate students with graduate student mentors, or early career mathematicians, for a semester-long reading project. Pares Ordenaods specifically aims to provide such mentorship to Spanish-speaking students in Latin America and Africa from historically excluded groups or non-traditional backgrounds, as well as to students at non-research oriented colleges and universities.

The organizers include Duke Math Assistant Research Professor Niny Arcila-Maya, Maye Cárdenas Montoya (University of Toronto), and Carlos Ospina (University of Utah).

MEEHS

In Mathematics Employment Experience for High School Students (MEEHS), teams of high school students, teachers and researchers work together on mathematical problems and exposition during a week of the summer.  An example of a problem student may work on is such:  Data was collected on 42 similar cases involving one prosecutor. The prosecutor has a pool of eligible jurors of variable sizes and may strike a variable number of eligible jurors off the jury. The data includes the number of African American jurors in each pool and the number of African American jurors struck by the prosecutor. It is illegal to strike jurors for being black. The question is: did the prosecutor break the law?  Check here to see what they decided.

MEEHS is organized by Duke Math Professor Kirsten Wickelgren.

GEM

Girls Exploring Math (GEM) is a mathematics enrichment program and research study through Duke. The free program includes Saturday math enrichment workshops that focus on encouraging middle school girls to explore math.  At these workshops, participants work on challenging puzzles to build problem-solving skills and engage with math outside of the standard school curriculum. Participants also discuss gender stereotypes and the current environment for women in math.

GEM is organized by Duke Math Professor Tori Akin and Duke Mechanical Engineering and Material Science Professor Sophia Santillan.

Duke Math DRP

The Duke Math Directed Reading Program (DRP) pairs Duke undergraduate students with graduate student mentors for semester-long independent study projects. The DRP is committed to providing an inclusive learning environment. All students are welcome to participate in the DRP, regardless of mathematical background, coursework, or academic performance. We especially encourage students from groups historically underrepresented in (or excluded from) mathematics to apply.

This year, the Duke DRP is organized by Duke Math graduate students Jack McErlean and Stanley Pritchard.

PLUM

The Public Lectures Unveiling Math (PLUM) lecture series are aimed at general audience and focused on promoting mathematics in general by presenting inspiring stories about mathematics. They could be based on an incredible journey for finding fundamental truths or could be about how mathematics is used for real world applications.

PLUM is organized by Duke Math Professor Heekyoung Hahn and is supported by the generosity of Goh Peng Ooi, Duke Math, and by Duke iiD. 

SWiM

Summer Workshop in Math (SWiM) was a seven-day workshop for rising high school seniors interested in mathematics, with a particular focus on advancing underrepresented groups in math.  The SWiM program ran from 2016-2023 and was created by Duke Math Professor Ingrid Daubechies.