Staff's blog

 One student's master's thesis uses math to predict the placement of non-BCS players in the NFL. Take a look.

Check out this great ad from the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering

 In a disaster, having the right warnings can help to prepare people and save lives.

Mathematicians in Australia have created models that can help locate the best places for positioning buoys that can warn the maximum number of people of coming tsunamis.

Graphic designer Simon Page uses his background in mathematics to incorporate geometric shapes into his designs. For his creative work, he was selected as graphic designer for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 by the International Astronomical Union and UNICEF.

Check out his designs and read his interview, in which he talks about his use of math in his design work.

Interested in medical science?

Mathematical models developed at Purdue University in Indiana are helping scientists understand how embryonic stem cells later turn into specific tissues. This research opens new implications for understanding and treating developmental disorders and even some diseases.

When will I use this?

Meet professionals from a number of exciting fields, who use mathematics in their jobs every day, in the We Use Math video series.  After months of planning and filming, the introduction segment is now complete and ready for viewing.

While many developed civilizations have left written language for us to interpret through the centuries, others developed their own less-understood means of writing, often through pictures.

With the help of mathematics, researchers in England are cracking the code, so to speak, on the writings and images left to us by ancient inhabitants of Scotland.

Their findings have recently been published the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Actually, make that more specific: the underwater world.

Using mathematical models, Cornell University researchers have developed tools to help marine biologists better understand the processes that occur underwater, including coral bleaching and bacterial diseases.

Jaime Escalante changed minds and opinions about the possibility of successfully teaching demanding subjects to inner-city students. In 1982, 14 of Escalante's students at Garfield High School in working-class East Los Angeles passed the Advanced Placement calculus exam. Many more students took and passed the challenging exam during Escalante's years teaching at the school.

Maybe math hasn't contributed much to improve your daily rest. (Or maybe, at times, it has.)

But while we don't understand all the reasons for why the human body even needs sleep, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York state are taking a new approach to understanding the science of sleep, using mathematics. The research includes mathematical models measuring how environmental, medical or physical changes to the human body affect sleep, in order to more fully understand the sleep-wake cycle.