I am passionate about mathematics education and outreach. See below for some of the projects, events, and organizations I have been involved with recently.
YouTube Videos
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!)
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!
Desmos Graphs
Here are some Desmos graphs I’ve made for various classes and outreach activities. Click on each picture to be taken to the corresponding graph. The first one was made in collaboration with one of my Geometry Lab students, Claire Guleyupoglu.
Other Activities
- I have served as a mentor for UVA’s Math Circle since the fall of 2023.
- Ryan Stees and I were awarded a “DEI Small Grant” from UVA’s College of Arts and Sciences in the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 academic years, and have run many departmental activities via our grant, such as: a peer mentoring network and various workshops and seminars for graduate students, qualifying exam study sessions, the inaugural AWM colloquia, and transportation funding for AWM volunteering initiatives.
- I have volunteered for the AWM on the national level in various capacities: as a mentor for the Mentor Network, as a judge for the AWM/MfA Essay Contest, and as a reviewer for their 50th Anniversary Volume.
- 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 the fall of 2018 UGA’s AMS student chapter participated in STEMzone, which is basically “science fair” meets “football tailgating.”
- I co-organized and co-led a group for UGA MathCamp, a week-long day camp for high school students, in the summer of 2018. Here’s the flyer.
- During the 2016-2017 academic year I was a coach for the Athens Area Girls Math Team.
Sarah Blackwell 