Today, May 5, 2021 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tarleton State University’s Math Department will hold their tenth annual Math Day. Ten students from the math department here at Tarleton will present their research to a panel of VIP judges, faculty and students from the College of Science and Technology (COST).
Math Day has been an event held here at Tarleton since 2011. The event was started by Dr. Bryant Wyatt as a way to expose his students to a learning environment that taught them how to market their research to people outside of their field of study, like the VIP Judges.
“It is to give them a different experience. When you go to a regular conference, you just go up and present. We wanted to be a bit more like Shark Tank, make it a little more exciting. We also want to let the Provosts and the Deans of other departments know what we’re doing here and know that these students are superstars,” Wyatt said.
The VIP judges that will be attending Math Day are: Dr. Karen R. Murray the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Rupa Iyer the Vice President of Research Innovation and Economic Development, Dr. Credence Baker Dean of the College of Graduate and Global Studies, Dr. Jordan Barkley the Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Administration, Dr. Barry Lambert the Associate Dean of College of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Dr. Kelly Styron the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Keith Emmert the Head of the Math Department, Dr. Leslie Leach the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development and Dr. Michael Huggins the Dean of COST.
Math Day is also an event that allows students from other departments in COST to meet each other. Wyatt explains that while all of these departments could work together to create incredible innovations, they are all separated by buildings.
“It’s kind of hard, because we’re here [while] biology and chemistry are over in the Science building and engineering is in the engineering building. We tend to forget we all used to be a lot closer, but now we just don’t see each other very much, especially during [COVID-19],” Wyatt said.
Overall, Math Day is a way to give these students a pat on the back for the hard work they’ve done over the course of the academic year and send them on their way for summer break.
While Math Day is slightly more closed off to the public, you can still learn more about these students work by visiting the Math Building. In some of the hallways there are posters showing the research these students have done.
To view the full schedule for math day, as well as other information regarding events that the math department has planned you can visit: https://www.tarleton.edu/math/index.html.