Ian VanderBurgh, Director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing recently visited India with a message of the magic of math.
The trip was organized along with colleagues from the Faculty of Mathematics Undergraduate Recruitment team to attend conferences and special events. A highlight of this trip was VanderBurgh’s talk at the International Career and College Counseling (IC3) Conference and Expo, which took place late August in Hyderabad.
The topic of VanderBurgh’s talk was “Mathematics: Omnipresent and the way of the future.” He explored the fundamental role of mathematics and mathematics education in technological, social, and ecological advancement.
As part of the trip, VanderBurgh engaged with educators, school administrators, and guidance counselors, facilitating the exchange of best practices in mathematics teaching, enrichment and teacher training. As a part of the CEMC’s commitment towards empowering educators, he facilitated workshops on problem solving for 90 educators from The Shri Ram School, New Delhi, Modern School Barakhamba Road and Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram. VanderBurgh also facilitated student workshops for 120 students from Sanskriti School, New Delhi and Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon.
“I was happy to see how well-known the University of Waterloo was among the school community and guidance counsellor circles in India. Students were very interested in studying abroad, which assures us of a pool of highly talented international students in the near future.” says VanderBurgh.
VanderBurgh met with two senior officials from the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service Team at New Delhi to discuss Waterloo’s collaborations in India and seek advice on future initiatives. The Undergraduate Recruitment team also hosted networking events with 70 guidance counsellors in New Delhi and Hyderabad and a dinner for incoming math undergraduate students.
As part of outreach efforts on the trip, VanderBurgh penned two op-eds that appeared in major Indian media outlets. You can read them here and here.
