Video: MUW Holds Women’s Math Event

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Girls like math too.

That’s one of the messages Tuesday at MUW. Mississippi University for Women hosted an event for young women to show off their math skills.

It’s a competition that the W hopes will increase awareness of math for high school girls. It encourages them to pursue math in college and math-related fields.

Organizers named the event after Sonya Kovalevsky, the first woman to receive a doctorate in math.

“When they are in high school they may not see the job opportunities,” MUW math professor Dr. Josh Hanes said. “So we [are] exposing them to new ideas, mathematical ideas, and just showing them what they are capable of.”

Hanes said he hopes that some of these students will use their math skills to go into STEM research.