I am passionate about mathematics education and outreach. See below for some of the projects, events, and organizations I have been involved with recently.
The Mathematics of Gerrymandering
Here’s an introductory video on the mathematics of gerrymandering that I made with Zack Garza, Terrin Warren, Peter Woolfitt, and Skylar Zhang for UGA’s Capturing Science Contest in December 2020. (Update: we won 2nd place!)
Knots Model DNA
Here’s my “elevator talk” on the usefulness of the study of knots, submitted as part of the #ElevatingMath video competition in January 2020. (Update: I won!)
Torus Tic-Tac-Toe
In May 2018 I gave a talk at Project MEGSSS, a math program for middle school students, in which I taught students how to play torus tic-tac-toe. “Torus tic-tac-toe” is tic-tac-toe played on a torus, which means the opposite sides of the square grid are identified together. The result is that there are more ways for X’s and O’s to be in a line, and thus more ways to win. I first came across torus tic-tac-toe in the wonderful book Shape of Space by Jeffrey Weeks.
I also gave an “Ignite talk,” which is a five minute presentation using 20 auto-advancing slides, about this outreach activity at PCMI in July 2019.
In January 2021 Devashi Gulati and I created a SciREN lesson plan about torus tic-tac-toe. In our lesson plan students build a torus out of felt and practice playing torus tic-tac-toe on paper. We then ask students to think about some open-ended questions, with the goal of giving students a glimpse into what it means to do mathematics research. We aimed for our lesson plan to be suitable for middle school students, although it may be modified to be appropriate for high school students. The materials below are free for anyone to use, although we would love to hear feedback from any teachers who use our materials on how the lesson went!
Other Activities
- I am currently serving as a mentor in the AWM Mentor Network.
- During the summer of 2021 I was a mentor for UGA’s Directed Reading Program, in which I guided an undergraduate student through a project on knot theory.
- In the 2020-2021 school year I served as a graduate peer mentor in the UGA math department. At the start of the 2021-2022 school year I helped organize and lead a topology problem session as part of the graduate student orientation. I have also helped out in various capacities at past graduate visitation days.
- During the summers of 2020 and 2021 I was an assistant mentor for a group of very motivated high school students at Camp Euclid. We explored some famous open questions in number theory.
- I was president of UGA’s AMS student chapter from 2017-2019, and secretary of UGA’s AWM student chapter from 2016-2019.
- In November 2018 our AMS student chapter participated in UGA’s STEMzone! See below for some pictures.
- I co-organized UGA MathCamp, a week-long day camp for high school students, in the summer of 2018. Here’s the flyer.
- During the 2016-2017 school year I was a coach for the Athens Area Girls Math Team.
Sarah Blackwell 
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