NWC professor gives conference presentation to Joint Mathematics Meetings

Dr. Kim Jongerius, professor of mathematics at Northwestern College, gave a presentation at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM), held Jan. 15–18 in Denver. Her talk was titled "Pattern and Structure: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Understanding a Mathematical Mind."

"Mathematically-minded people can sometimes focus almost obsessively on pattern and structure, while theatrically-minded people tend to focus on emotion," Jongerius explains. In her presentation, she explored a meeting of the two minds as senior math and actuarial science majors worked with actors, designers and stage crew to understand and visually represent the patterned thinking of the play's teen-aged character who is on the autism spectrum.

JMM is the largest mathematics meeting in the world, attracting members of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. Jongerius is a member of the latter organization, as well as of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences, for which she served as president from 2011 to 2013.