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Aug. 19, 2008

Catalano presents on the mathematics of social justice

Michael Catalano

MITCHELL, S.D. – Michael Catalano, DWU professor of mathematics, gave two presentations at MathFest, an annual conference for mathematics faculty and students hosted by the Mathematical Association of America, July 30 - Aug. 1 in Madison, Wis.

The first presentation was titled “Measuring Energy Inequality: Integration and the Gini Coefficient,” and was given as part of a session called “Teaching Mathematics and Statistics Through Current Civic Issues.”

“This presentation stemmed from work I began with Tom Pfaff of Ithaca College, Tanya Leise of Amherst College, and Dan King of Sarah Lawrence College at the second workshop on the Mathematics of Social Justice that I attended at Middlebury College in June 2007,” said Catalano. “Tom, Tanya, and I have written an article we plan on submitting for publication in the near future, and MathFest provided a good opportunity to share this work with interested colleagues.”

The Gini Coefficient is well known in economics circles as a method for measuring inequality in resource distribution.

“The four of us worked on developing ways that math teachers could use the Gini Coefficient as an example in first year calculus courses,” said Catalano. “Given recent interest in energy issues, we decided to focus on that resource. The goal is to provide students with a real-world application of calculus, one that is relevant to an important social issue.”

The topic of Catalano’s second presentation, given in the same MathFest session, was a National Science Foundation Grant titled, “College Algebra in Context: A Learner-centered Approach Incorporating Data-driven Activities Related to Social Issues” (DUE-0442979). Catalano is the Principal Investigator for this grant, which is funding his work on the development of a college algebra text.

“We have been using preliminary versions of this text for several years here at DWU,” he said. “I hope to identify a willing publisher some time this year. The text incorporates a variety of social issues, including hunger, poverty, energy and the environment. One of the motivations for the project is to support the themes of the McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service.

“Through development of this text, we are trying to provide DWU students with a more relevant and interesting mathematics general education experience, and also prepare students who are going on to take statistics as part of their major or minor.”

Slides from both presentations are available at http://myweb.dwu.edu/micatala.