UMD mathematicians teach math classes inside a Washington, D.C. correctional facility.

University of Maryland Mathematics Professor Sandra Cerrai has always loved teaching, but the new math class she led this spring has been especially inspiring.

“I have rarely seen such participation, such a commitment, such engagement in a classroom,” Cerrai said. “It’s unbelievable.”

The students in this class aren’t from the university, they’re inmates at the Washington, D.C. Jail. Since March 2023, Cerrai and others from the UMD Department of Mathematics have been going to the jail (also known as the D.C. Central Detention Facility) every week to teach pre-college math to men incarcerated there. For Cerrai, it’s a unique and special educational opportunity—and not just for her incarcerated students. 

“This is not only a service we are doing for the prisoners, this is also a service that they are doing for us,” Cerrai explained. “I think as educators it’s extremely important to engage in these types of initiatives because we can learn so much and become better teachers, and I think we have the possibility to make a significant difference.”

Building on an idea

The idea to start the D.C. Jail math program came from Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner, an associate professor who joined UMD’s Department of Mathematics in 2020. Inspired by a prison education program he was involved with during his postdoc in New Jersey, Cristofaro-Gardiner wanted to create a similar experience for his faculty colleagues and students at Maryland. 

“Teaching in prison really feels a lot different than teaching in a classroom in a very special way,” he said. “I really wanted there to be a space in our department for our undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty to be able to get together and have easy access to these opportunities and partner with each other. From the beginning, the department was very supportive.”

But starting a UMD math program inside the D.C. Jail was no small task. It took weeks of research, emails and phone calls before Cristofaro-Gardiner finally connected with the Petey Greene Program, which operates volunteer education programs inside the nation’s correctional facilities. Petey Greene agreed to partner with the UMD math initiative as part of their College Bridge Program for Incarcerated Learners, a program that helps incarcerated men and women acquire pre-college level academic skills. 

Holding in-person classes for incarcerated students was not a new idea at the jail. Inmates were already being taught subjects like English and reading. But Cristofaro-Gardiner was excited to learn that the UMD program would likely be the first to bring in mathematics.

“The idea is to give incarcerated students access to mathematics education that can bridge gaps between where they are currently with their math and where they need to be,” he explained. “Ideally, when they’re released from prison, they can have positive educational experiences at the college level as well as a good understanding of the mathematical concepts that are helpful in their day-to-day life.”

Recruiting volunteers and building a program

During the planning phase for the program, representatives from Petey Greene took charge of administrative challenges like determining which inmates would be selected to participate, while Cristofaro-Gardiner focused on planning and recruiting a team of mathematics department volunteers.

“Something I want to emphasize is that the time commitment for volunteers in a program like this is substantial,” he noted. “It’s important that they come regularly to build relationships with the students in the program and help them learn.”

Cerrai, who has previous experience working with prison education programs, stepped up to help Cristofaro-Gardiner lead the new math initiative. She and Alice Oveson, a Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation were the program’s first teachers. Senior mathematics major Joanna Hung and mathematics Ph.D. student Connor Martinez Lockhart agreed to help with tutoring, and Mathematics Assistant Professor Boyu Zhang provided curricular support. 

By the beginning of March, the first UMD math class at the D.C. Jail had begun.

“There are generally 15 to 20 students, we have a small classroom in the jail with a blackboard and we teach the class in person like a regular class,” Cerrai said. “Alice and I go there on Fridays and we stay there for an hour and a half to teach, and then on Mondays the students go there and they do tutoring.”

“We tutor in one-and-a-half hour blocks and the time flies by every time,” Martinez Lockhart explained. “I have always enjoyed teaching, especially in mathematics, and working with incarcerated students has been a wonderful opportunity for me to teach in new ways to new types of students.”

From the beginning, participants in this jail math program have been involved, enthusiastic and eager to learn.

“For these students in the jail, this is really something important. This program is really moving something inside of them,” Cerrai observed. “You can’t imagine the level of commitment and participation that you find in that tiny classroom, it’s incredible.”

“For sure this is something they want to do, these are students who are highly motivated to do this,” Cristofaro-Gardiner added. “In my experience with incarcerated students, the potential is really striking when you teach them. It’s extremely easy to imagine if circumstances were somewhat different that they would just be students in your classroom.”

For Oveson, teaching at the jail has been enlightening and inspiring.

“It has been a transformative experience working with students who are so committed to their education,” Oveson reflected. “It has made me realize how much I take my educational opportunities for granted.

Because inmates at the D.C. Jail generally serve short sentences or get transferred to another facility, learning time is limited. Lesson plans for the math classes aim to give students the most meaningful educational experience possible, based on their knowledge of math and the time they have to participate.

“Students get a certificate for completing the program, but I would say the main thing we want to give them is knowledge,” Cristofaro-Gardiner noted. “Since it’s part of the College Bridge Program, we’re teaching them pre-college material, things like exponents, whole numbers and fractions. We want them to have this knowledge so they can thrive in college classes and use these skills to improve their lives.”

Cristofaro-Gardiner believes that in addition to the benefits for incarcerated students and the volunteers who work with them, the new math initiative can contribute to an even bigger mission.

“I think this program is a really good thing from the point of equity and fairness,” he said. “The number of people behind bars in this country is huge, and if we’re not reaching them, it’s a really big missed opportunity.”

A successful start

Thanks to the success of the first inmate math class, plans are underway to teach another class at the D.C. Jail in the fall. The hope is that with enough interest and volunteer help from math department students, faculty and staff members, the program will continue and even expand in the years ahead. 

“This is something that is so rewarding for us,” Cerrai said. “I think it’s something everyone should do.”

“Working with this program has taught me so much,” Oveson added. “Getting to work with these students has been an absolute privilege.”

It’s all about making a difference—teaching math and changing lives, one incarcerated student at a time.

“If you can have a real impact in one, three, five people’s lives, just imagine, I mean that’s huge,” Cristofaro-Gardiner explained. “A lot of these students have not had enough positive educational opportunities and if you can give them some sense of the importance and joy of education and help them, it’s a fantastic thing.”

Written by Leslie Miller

As part of his Grand Challenges project, Yanir Rubinstein will transport his sports analytics lab to local schools and show students the relevance of STEM to their everyday lives. 

This summer, University of Maryland Mathematics Professor Yanir Rubinstein has big plans in the classroom and on the basketball court.

Rubinstein’s plans began to take shape in February 2023 when he received an award from UMD’s Grand Challenges Grant Program, an institution-wide initiative that provides funding for researchers to tackle major societal issues.  

Rubinstein will use his award funding to address educational disparities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Rubinstein’s approach is simple and even a little unconventional. He plans to help bridge the educational gap by bringing math directly to students traditionally underrepresented in STEM, particularly minorities and women—not through textbooks or lectures, but in the form of sports analytics and experiential learning. 

According to Rubinstein, the idea sprouted from his own passion for sports as an amateur basketball player and sports writer.

“I’m a teacher, so I’m constantly looking for ways to engage students and retain their interest in math,” Rubinstein explained. “And personally, I’ve always been drawn to sports. I played basketball for years and I continue to write about sports even now. I realized that this could be a good way to have students connect math with something they’re already passionate about. Because of this, pairing math and sports just clicked for me.”

A mobile math lab

Although he is primarily a pure mathematician who focuses on more abstract ideas, Rubinstein knew that his desire to directly address societal needs with his skills meant that he would have to investigate more applied forms of mathematics. To prepare for his Grand Challenges project, Rubinstein talked extensively to people in the sports industry to find out how his research could help address their problems and improve overall athletic performance. He quickly realized that his background in optimization had the potential to be immensely helpful in the world of sports.

“We can optimize the way someone throws a baseball after seeing what happens when they move their shoulder or hand,” Rubinstein said. “We can classify these movements using math models and get some insights into how they can improve their performance. And with data we capture through cameras, we can ask—is there a better way of throwing the baseball? Is there a way to position their shoulder or hand to make that perfect throw?”

For his Grand Challenges project, Rubinstein will begin by creating a mobile version of his existing math sports performance research lab. To do that, he plans to scale down his lab’s resources by assembling smaller sets of motion capture tools such as cameras and laptops to transport to local schools. With this portable adaptation of his lab, students will have the opportunity to interact with state-of-the-art software and equipment developed by Rubinstein while learning about sports performance analytics in a hands-on way. Rubinstein also intends to pair the technological features of his lab with a series of bimonthly experiential learning experiences that will help put context behind the numbers and hone the students’ analysis skills. Students will be able to access both the lab and its equipment, as well as the extracurricular course, after their normal school hours. 

“The math part of this project involves looking at the relationships between geometry, data and human movement,” Rubinstein said. “The outreach component aims to connect those points to things that high school students can find relatable to their everyday lives—in this case, sports and athletics.”

By partnering and collaborating with local schools and teachers, Rubinstein plans to design a curriculum that showcases the potential real-world applications of math in sports while remaining accessible to students who are relatively unfamiliar or uncomfortable with STEM. He believes this type of early exposure and introduction to STEM will make the subjects less intimidating and could change any pre-existing stereotypes students may have had of math or people who pursue math. 

Ultimately, Rubinstein hopes that the mobile math lab and its accompanying course will reach students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM and inspire them to pursue careers in those fields. 

“Applying math to sports will obviously attract student-athletes who want to eventually reach a professional level when they grow up, but we also want to attract students who may not become athletes yet still want to contribute to something they’re passionate about,” Rubinstein said. “Skills like geometrical reasoning, data analysis and a basic understanding of quantitative concepts will be crucial in many career paths.”

Planning for the future

The Grand Challenges funding for Rubinstein’s mobile math sports lab project is expected to continue for the next three years. During that time, he hopes to gradually expand his lab to more schools in the D.C. metro area. This summer, he will begin by assembling the equipment and determining the necessary logistics. 

Rubinstein also looks forward to building a team of researchers who share his love for sports and his dedication to addressing the educational disparities in STEM. As part of his recruitment efforts, Rubinstein piloted a new course—called “Experiential Learning: Mathematics of Sports Performance Analytics”—which emphasizes the connections between mathematics, data and sports. The course has so far drawn an eclectic and very motivated audience of students in Spring 2023 and will return in Spring 2024. 

“This is an ambitious project and an amazing opportunity to give back to the communities around us, so I welcome any UMD students, faculty and staff who share my passions for sports and inclusivity in STEM to join me,” Rubinstein said. “I also can’t wait to see how the mobile sports lab will grow, thanks to all the students who will have a hand in creating something for their own futures.”

Written by Georgia Jiang

Read more about the members of our community who have been honored recently for their outstanding contributions to the university and the field of mathematics.

Faculty

AAAS Fellow:

Abba Gumel

Bourbaki Seminar:

Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner

CMNS Outstanding Lecturer Award:

Jonathan Fernandes

Champion of Women Award: 

Rodrigo Trevińo

Graduate Students

Ivo and Renata Babuska Endowed Student Award for Graduate Research in Mathematics:

Christopher Dock

James C. Alexander Prize for Graduate Research in Mathematics:

Jin-Peng Liu

Monroe Martin Spotlight Award:

Max Auer, Ethan Dudley

Seymour Goldberg Spotlight Award:

Michael Rozowski, Connor Lockhart

Mark E. Lachtman Award:

Jianlong Liu, Sanghoon Na, Vlasios Mastrantonis, Xiaoyu Zhou

Patrick & Marguerite Sung Fellowship in Mathematics:

Keith Mills, Xuze Zhang

Ralph P. Pass Award:

Foivos Chnaras, Qihang Li

Aziz/Osborn Gold Medal in Teaching Excellence:

Nathan Janus, Pablo Cedillos, Amandeep Chanda, Chang Chen, Foivos Chnaras, Tyler Clark, Samuel DiPasqua, Brandon Kolstoe

Hauptman Summer Research Award: 

Josue Avila Artavia, Mengzi Xie, Nathan Janus

Hauptman Summer Fellowship: 

Morgan Bryant, Qi'an Chen, Foivos Chnaras, Noah Chrein, Yong Cui, Samuel DiPasqua, Jacob Erickson, Jordan Hirsh, Canran Ji, Maia Karpovich, Dohoon Kim, Eric Kubischta, Haoran Li, Ishfaaq Mohammed Imtiyas, Turner Pepper, Mirna Pinsky, Geoffrey Sangston, Shashank Sule, Ran Tao, Efstratios Tsoukanis, Neng Wang, Melanka Wedige, Victoria Whitley

Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship:

Chenzi Jin, Shuo Yan

Summer Research Fellowship (Grad School):

AlFahad AlQadhi, Mengting Chao, Qihang Li, Vlasios Mastrantonis, Sanghoon Na, Michael Rozowski

Undergraduate Students

Outstanding Senior Award:

Leopold Bertholet                                                                                 

Higginbotham Award:

John Brownfield                                                                                

Aziz Mathematics Scholarhip:

Latka Karthik Sellakumarin                                                                                                                  

Strauss Scholarship:

Adam Melrod                                                                               

Abramowitz Award:

Ezra Aylaian, Emerson Hemley, Isaiah Hilsenrath, Saul Hilsenrath, Hugh Turner McLaurin, Matthew Simmons, Geroge Li, Sriya Potlury              

Daniel Sweet Undergraduate Research Fellowship:

David Koralov, Daniel Levy, Matthew Schneider                                 

Dan Shanks Award:           

Samuel Lidz                                                                                                    

Konter Award:

Maria Nikolaichik, Diana Shin

Strauss Teaching Assistants:

Akash Dutt, Sydney Gravel, Jacob Riddle, Matthew Tremba, Uma Tikekar, Matthew Schneider, Daniel Levy, Karthik Sellakumaran, Samuel Lidz 

Honors/High Honors:

Saul Hilsenrath, Isaiah Hilsenrath, Matthew Simmons, Saahiti Potluri, Danae Rupp