 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Activity Guide
A Delicate Balance
Ask students the following questions:Explain to the students that this program is about "making it" as a professor. One of the marks of success for professors is earning tenure. Tenure means job security at a university. It also means that a professor's peers have recognized that he or she has made an important contribution to the field. The scientists in this program face the pressures of working in a university setting while continuing their own research.
- How do you rise to the top level as a professor?
- What does it take to get tenure?
- How do you work within the university system and still do your own research?
Valerie Taylor, Ph.D., assistant professor of engineering/computer science, Northwestern University
As a young girl, Dr. Taylor had a special role model to inspire her to a career in science - her father, who owned his own engineering company. Today, she is also an engineer, but instead of working with circuits and wires, Dr. Taylor works with computers. She also remembers the importance of having an African-American scientist as a role model, so she visits public schools in Chicago to speak to the students and explain her work. Her specialty is an area of computer science known as parallel processing. Dr. Taylor creates computer programs that instruct many computer processors to work at the same time, increasing problem-solving speed. She hopes to complete a large, long-term project and publish the results. If she is successful with the project, it will give her a better chance of earning tenure at Northwestern University.
Discussion and Activities:
- In this video, we see Dr. Taylor with her parents in an elementary school classroom. Discuss this segment with your students. If Dr. Taylor and her parents came to your class, what questions would the students have for the family?
- To demonstrate the basic theory behind parallel processing, Dr. Taylor uses a puzzle. Repeat this activity with your own class, using a puzzle for younger students or a more difficult problem that involves several components for older students. Assign different sections of the problem to different groups of students. Measure how long it takes for the teams to complete the challenge. Then give the entire challenge to one team to see if it takes longer to complete individually than in parallel teams.
Freda Porter-Locklear, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics, Pembroke State University
Dr. Porter-Locklear is a mathematician and a professor at Pembroke State University in North Carolina. One of only 12 Native-American women with Ph.D.'s in mathematics, she is now on leave from her teaching position to complete a post-doctoral project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is creating a mathematical model of the treatment of an oil spill. The treatment project uses microorganisms to break down toxic chemicals. Dr. Locklear hopes that her data will show this treatment to be at least as effective as pumping, and safer for the environment. Working on the project involves balancing herself between her family and her Lumbi Indian community in Pembroke and her studies in Chapel Hill. The challenge is made even more difficult when she is offered an important new job.
Discussion and Activity:
Dr. Locklear faces a number of decisions in this program. The choices involve family, community, professional development, and research. As the students watch, have them keep notes of the various areas in which Dr. Locklear has a role. After watching, discuss the priorities she places on each area. What choices must students make about their own lives? How would they divide these choices into categories, or assign priorities? Compare the priorities of different students, emphasizing the importance of diversity in people's life choices. What values do people place on different areas of their lives? How are some of these choices influenced by outside forces?
Richard Tapia, Ph.D., Noah Harding Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Rice University
Dr. Tapia uses mathematics to help large companies become more efficient. He has created a way of applying mathematics to very large problems, such as making sure that all the parts of a factory are functioning at an ideal, or optimal, level. He uses a method known as interior point technique to find the best solution for the company. First, he creates a geometric model of the company's resources and limitations. Then he uses his technique to move through the model, stopping at key points and calculating the production level given a certain combination of resources. Dr. Tapia is the first Mexican-American to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Because of his prominence, he is often asked to speak to African-American and Latino groups. His life involves balancing the demands of consulting with his family responsibilities, lectures, and his job as a tenured professor of mathematics at Rice University.
Discussion and Activity:
As an applied mathematician, Dr. Tapia must have a strong understanding of many mathematical processes. When faced with a problem, he then must determine which process will be best for finding a solution. Depending on the mathematical level of your students, create a real-world problem that can be solved using the mathematics skills they have, such as determining how much paint would be needed to cover an irregular shape, or estimating the size of a piece of paper that would be needed to cover a particular book when they have only been given the length of three of the book's edges. As they solve the problem, ask the students to explain what formulas they are using and how they decided that those formulas were the most useful in each situation.
Resource CenterAbout the Series || Directories Resources || Educational Materials