Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Finding Your Mathematical Roots: Inclusion And Identity Development In Mathematics, Linda Mcguire

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This paper details a semester-long course project that has been successfully adapted for use in mathematics courses ranging from introductory level, general-education classes to advanced courses in the mathematics major. Through creating aspirational mathematical family trees and writing mathematical autobiographies, this assignment is designed to help battle belonging uncertainty, to challenge students to self-situate in relation to the history of mathematical and scientific knowledge, and to make visible a student’s developing identity in mathematics and, more broadly, in STEM.

The construction and scaffolding of the project, assignments, examples of student work, foundational readings, assessment and outcomes, and adaptation strategies for …

Fitting A Covid-19 Model Incorporating Senses Of Safety And Caution To Local Data From Spartanburg County, South Carolina, D. Chloe Griffin, Amanda Mangum

CODEE Journal

Common mechanistic models include Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) and Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) models. These models in their basic forms have generally failed to capture the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic's multiple waves and do not take into account public policies such as social distancing, mask mandates, and the ``Stay-at-Home'' orders implemented in early 2020. While the Susceptible-Vaccinated-Infected-Recovered-Deceased (SVIRD) model only adds two more compartments to the SIR model, the inclusion of time-dependent parameters allows for the model to better capture the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic when surveillance testing was common practice for a large portion of the population. We find …

Ode Models Of Wealth Concentration And Taxation, Bruce Boghosian, Christoph Borgers

CODEE Journal

We refer to an individual holding a non-negligible fraction of the country’s total wealth as an oligarch. We explain how a model due to Boghosian et al. can be used to explore the effects of taxation on the emergence of oligarchs. The model suggests that oligarchs will emerge when wealth taxation is below a certain threshold, not when it is above the threshold. The underlying mechanism is a transcritical bifurcation. The model also suggests that taxation of income and capital gains alone cannot prevent the emergence of oligarchs. We suggest several opportunities for students to explore modifications of the model.

Odes And Mandatory Voting, Christoph Borgers, Natasa Dragovic, Anna Haensch, Arkadz Kirshtein, Lilla Orr

CODEE Journal

This paper presents mathematics relevant to the question whether voting should be mandatory. Assuming a static distribution of voters’ political beliefs, we model how politicians might adjust their positions to raise their share of the vote. Various scenarios can be explored using our app at https: //centrism.streamlit.app/. Abstentions are found to have great impact on the dynamics of candidates, and in particular to introduce the possibility of discontinuous jumps in optimal candidate positions. This is an unusual application of ODEs. We hope that it might help engage some students who may find it harder to connect with the more customary …

The Collegiate Tennis Effect: Measuring The Impact Of College Attendance On A Tennis Player’S Professional Career, Ian Freer

CMC Senior Theses

Our study examines the influence of college attendance on the professional tennis careers of the 502 American male players who earned a ranking point between 2014 and 2023. Initial analysis suggests that attending college may lower a player’s career-high ranking by 159 spots. However, after controlling for career length, we observe a significant improvement of 214 spots among players with similar junior rankings. Our analysis of career trajectories reveals that college players often start their professional careers at higher rankings and achieve their career-high rankings earlier than non-college players. Additionally, the career-high rankings of the most promising juniors tend to …

Entremezclando Sueños: Reimagining Education Through Community-Centered Program Evaluations, Cassandra Hernandez

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis fuses Chicane Latine Studies (CLS) and Public Policy methodologies to explore how student-centered organizations can incorporate Decolonial Feminism into their program evaluation pedagogy. In today’s society, the political economy, influenced by structural biases, gravely impacts marginalized communities by overlooking holistic wellbeing as a valid priority. Embodying Decolonial Feminism can help community organizations fight back against systemic inequities and redefine for themselves their existence. A starting point is adjusting how organizations conduct program evaluations. Using Chicana Latina Feminista (CLF) Pláticas, concepts from these pláticas culminated into a collaborative decolonial feminist program evaluation guide called "Entremezclando Sueños." This guide serves …