As co-director of the Girls Talk Math summer camp at UMD, Whitley shows underrepresented students that everyone has a place in mathematics.

Victoria Whitley always loved numbers—until she took high school calculus. The course was so hard and so frustrating that she nearly swore off math for good.

“It was awful,” she recalled. “I cried my way through the whole thing.”

Several years later, as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, she gave calculus a second chance—and this time it clicked. Her professor’s enthusiasm for the subject was so contagious that she decided to drop her physics major and pursue a different path. 

“After that I thought, ‘Oh, maybe math is for me,’ so I decided to switch to an applied math major,” Whitley said. “One good teacher or one bad teacher can really make a difference.”

Now a Ph.D. student in the University of Maryland’s Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation (AMSC) program, Whitley wants to help others find joy in math. She is working to make the field more inclusive as co-president of UMD’s Women in Mathematics group, president of AMSC’s Student Council and co-director of UMD’s Girls Talk Math summer mathematics camp for high schoolers.

On top of all that, Whitley works as a teaching assistant (TA) while conducting research at the intersection of ocean physics and applied math. She works closely with her advisor, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Jacob Wenegrat, who appreciates Whitley’s dedication to her field.  

“Taking on any one of these roles—while also TAing introductory math classes and making progress on a complicated research project—would be a lot for any graduate student,” Wenegrat said. “That Victoria has stepped into leadership roles in so many different ways speaks both to her capabilities and to her commitment to improving the field of mathematics.”

Making waves

As an undergraduate, Whitley learned about a new campus organization called Girls Talk Math, which planned to offer a free two-week math camp to high school students of underrepresented genders. Inspired by the group’s commitment to representation, Whitley signed up as a volunteer and planned experiments and games for the campers.

She helped at the camp for two summers and enjoyed it so much that she chose to attend UMD for graduate school—partly because it had a Girls Talk Math camp, but also because she liked AMSC’s hands-on, interdisciplinary approach to applied math.

She knew she wanted to study fluid dynamics but wasn’t sure what her research focus should be. When she met with Wenegrat, they discussed the various applications of math and oceanography, and Whitley decided she was all in—despite not considering herself an “ocean person.”

“I thought Jacob’s research was really cool, even though I knew nothing about the ocean,” Whitley said. “I finally broke down and told him about a year into our advisee-advisor relationship that I don’t know how to swim, and he gently reassured me that it wasn’t a prerequisite for oceanography.”

In her research, Whitley uses a numerical simulation called the immersed boundary method to study the breaking of internal waves below the ocean’s surface. These processes, which occur continuously on small scales around the world, are thought to play an outsized role in global currents.

“Just like a wave on the surface could break on the shore, you could have a wave inside of the ocean break on sloping boundaries,” Whitley said. “Depending on the angle, if it’s sharp enough, you can get some really interesting dynamics and a lot of mixing, which is really important in the ocean. Global circulation is thought to rely on small-scale mixing on these sloping boundaries.”

‘It can be done’

In the meantime, volunteering for Girls Talk Math continues to be an important part of Whitley’s life. 

Beyond offering new and engaging ways to learn about math, Whitley believes that programs like Girls Talk Math can help prevent “leaky pipelines”—the phenomenon of underrepresented students dropping out of STEM due to systemic factors—by giving students positive experiences early in their education. 

“You have people that leak out of the pipeline early on—in high school, middle school or even elementary school—and that continues through the higher levels until suddenly you see no one who looks like you,” Whitley said. “Without mentorship and without someone there to show you that it can be done, it can be really difficult to stick with it.”

Whitley is currently gearing up for the next Girls Talk Math camp, which will run June 20-30, 2023. She handles most of the camp logistics, from processing applications to hiring team leaders, but says the most rewarding part is making a difference in students’ lives.

“It’s nice being able to reach out and grab high schoolers before they run off to biology or something else—not that there’s anything wrong with the other STEM fields,” Whitley said with a laugh. “I hope by exposing them to these things early on that they’ll remain interested in math and push through their calculus course.”

After all, Whitley has shown that if at first you don’t succeed in calculus, try again. It could just be the start of a long career in mathematics.

Written by Emily Nunez

This is the highest honor bestowed on a graduating senior. 

In the disquiet of an emergency room, on the floor of the University Senate or across the table from a struggling math student, the five finalists for the 2023 University of Maryland medalist advocated, empowered and changed their university and world.

The highest honor bestowed on a graduating senior, the university medal commends academic achievement, service to the community and exceptional character. Finalists earned at least a 3.96 GPA and 60 or more credits during their undergraduate career at UMD.

For Sriya Potluri, mathematics is as universal a language as the spoken word—and one she uses fluently. As a mentor, researcher, accomplished student and peer, Potluri has relied on math to explore her passion for life sciences, connect with classmates, discover her talents as a leader and to help others find success.

A mathematics major in the Integrated Life Sciences honors program with a 4.0 GPA, Potluri has bridged math and science to contribute to integral research—including four publications—for mathematics Lecturer Wiseley Wong and Distinguished University Professor of biology William Fagan, where she developed a mathematical disease model for optimal resource allocation. Among her awards and scholarships, she was awarded the Presidential Scholarship.

“In the 11 years I have been teaching, I have never come across a pre-med student with such a strong ability in mathematics,” said Wong. “The intuition she is developing from problem solving in mathematics will be invaluable to the medical research she does in the future.”

Outside of the lab, Potluri was a mainstay in Maryland’s Math Club, where she helped shape the program as president. She tutored students in math throughout her undergraduate experience; during the pandemic, she partnered with a nonprofit to offer a free virtual summer program for middle school students. Potluri will matriculate to the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine after graduation.

Written by Maggie Haslam

UMD’s 49 scholarships in the past 15 years rank No. 1 in the nation.

Deven Bowman, a junior physics and mathematics double-degree student at the University of Maryland, has been awarded a 2023 scholarship by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which encourages students to pursue advanced study and research careers in the sciences, engineering and mathematics.

Bowman, as well as UMD bioengineering majors Corinne Martin and Neel Panchwagh, are among 413 Goldwater Scholars selected from 1,267 nominees nationally. Goldwater Scholars receive one- or two-year scholarships that cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year.

Over the last 15 years, UMD’s nominations yielded 49 scholarships—the most in the nation. The Goldwater Foundation has honored 79 UMD winners and five honorable mentions since the program’s first award was given in 1989.

“We are immensely proud of all that Deven, Corinne and Neel have accomplished to this point and the bright futures ahead of them. Their success is a win for everyone at the University of Maryland and highlights the commitment of the university to provide opportunities for our students to advance knowledge in their research disciplines and address grand challenges that impact people and communities, both locally and globally,” said Robert Infantino, associate dean of undergraduate education in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. Infantino has led UMD’s Goldwater Scholarship nominating process since 2001.

Bowman started working remotely in a UMD research group the summer before his freshman year—during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent the next two years in that group led by Eun-Suk Seo, a professor of physics with a joint appointment in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, studying the cosmic ray spectrum by fitting physically motivated models to data and investigating the connections to atmospheric neutrinos.

This research resulted in a first-author paper published in the journal Advances in Space Research, as well as a co-authored paper and a conference proceeding.

In summer 2021, Bowman joined the lab of Professor Steve Rolston, chair of UMD’s Department of Physics and Joint Quantum Institute Fellow, where he continues to work today on long-distance quantum communication.

Taking advantage of an eight-mile-long fiber optic cable buried on campus, the researchers in Rolston’s lab want to send polarization-encoded quantum information through the fiber for long distances. However, optical fibers can perturb and scramble the polarization signals due to stresses and temperature variations along the path, especially for long fibers like this one.  

To address this challenge, Bowman first measured the amount of variation in the signal and then devised a feedback system to correct for the perturbations of the fiber and the environment. Then, he designed two unique, complex polarimeters to compensate for signal drift and allow for continuous calibration. He presented this work at the Frontiers in Optics+Laser Science conference in 2022.

“Over my career, I have interacted with many undergraduates and graduate students—and it is clear Deven has an exceptionally bright future,” Rolston said. “He is highly motivated and very self-sufficient in both understanding the science and figuring out technical solutions.”

Outside the lab, Bowman spent time tutoring two high school students in math, science and English and advised them on preparing for college for the past three years. He also competed in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition in 2021.

Bowman spent the spring 2022 semester studying abroad in Italy through the Maryland-in-Florence (PHYS) program. There, he took three classes taught by UMD Physics Professor Emeritus Luis Orozco, who has since become a key physics mentor for Bowman.

“Studying in Florence, Italy, was a great opportunity to delve into advanced physics coursework, form enduring professional relationships and benefit from the unique experience of touring the gravitational wave detector Virgo,” Bowman said.

Visiting Virgo also set Bowman on a new research path for the coming summer, where he’ll work at Caltech on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the U.S.-based gravitational wave detector, as part of a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

During his time at UMD, Bowman received the President’s Scholarship and the Angelo Bardasis Scholarship from the Department of Physics.

After graduation, Bowman plans to pursue a Ph.D. in physics, following in his father’s footsteps. Bowman’s father Steven received his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from UMD in 1980 and 1986, respectively. His mother Anuradha is also a Terp, receiving her B.S. in physics in 1986 and M.A. in geography in 1997 from UMD.

“Their unwavering support for my education has been paramount to my success thus far,” Bowman said of his parents. “Their support played a vital role when I first sought out research opportunities. Their encouragement helped me take myself seriously as a researcher and gave me the confidence to speak up in meetings, ask questions and seek help when confused. I hope that my parents will continue to be active in my academic life and we can continue to connect over our shared passion for physics.”

Written by Abby Robinson