2024 SK Day group photo

The day-long program includes workshops, interactive talks, math related games and panels of professionals with math-related jobs. Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day is an opportunity for young women to engage in a day of networking, mentoring, and fun!

There is no cost to attend the event, and participants have opportunities to meet and talk with university professors and students.

Where: MacLean Hall at University of Iowa
When: Saturday, March 30, 2024
Who: High-school-aged women, their teachers, and parents or guardians
Cost: Free
Registration deadline: March 6 at midnight

Note: Every student must be accompanied by a parent/guardian/teacher. A parent/guardian/teacher may bring more than one student.

Objective

Promote career opportunities in math and science to young women

Who was Sonia Kovalevsky?

Portrait of Sonia Kovalevsky
Sonia Kovalevsky

Sonia Kovalevsky was a Russian mathematician, writer, and advocate for women’s rights in the 19th century.

She is known for her contributions to the areas of mathematical study: analysis, partial differential equations, and mechanics, for which she won the Prix Bordin award.

She was the first major Russian female mathematician, the first female member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the first modern European woman to attain full professorship. Despite social conventions of the time restricting the involvement of women in such fields, Sonia Kovalevsky made major contributions to academia.

In honor of her, the Department of Mathematics at the University of Iowa organizes Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day yearly with the goal to inspire young women interested in math and show them that math is like solving a puzzle.

Get ready for SK Day

All activities will be held on the University of Iowa Campus at MacLean Hall (MLH) between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

TimeEventsRoom
9 to 9:30 a.m.Sign in and breakfastMuhly Lounge (MLH 3)
9:30 to 10:10 a.m.Welcome and meet Sonia sessionMLH 118
10:10 to 10:15 a.m.Dr. Tong Li introduces speaker, Dr. Emine BaymanMLH 118
10:15 to 10:45 a.m.Dr. Emine Bayman
Deputy Director of the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center
Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health
'My long-term relationship with Statistics'
MLH 118
10:45 to 11 a.m.Group photo and break 
11 to 11:45 a.m.University of Iowa Admissions Office presentation by Sabrina DukeMLH 118
11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.LunchMuhly Lounge (MLH 3)
12:45 to 1:20 p.m.Dr. Beste Basciftci
Business Analytics, Tippie College of Business
'Integrating Data and Mathematics Towards Better Decisions in Various Applications'
MLH 118
1:20 to 1:30 p.m.Break 
1:30 to 3 p.m.Game sessionMathLab (MLH 125)
Parent and teacher panelMLH 110
3 to 4 p.m.Academic and career panel discussionMLH 118
4 to 4:30 p.m.Awards ceremony and closing remarksMLH 118

SK Day would not be possible without its many sponsors and supporters–thank you!

2024 sponsors

  • American College Testing (ACT)
  • Mathnasium
  • UI Department of Mathematics
  • UI Graduate Program in Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences (AMCS)
  • UI Math Graduate Student Board
  • Underground Printing
  • UI College of Engineering
  • UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
  • UI College of Dentistry
  • UI Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG)
  • Texas Instruments
  • Hills Bank

Organizers

George Clare Kennedy

George Clare Kennedy

Title/Position
Graduate Student
Paria Karimi Kousalari

Paria Karimi Kousalari

Title/Position
Graduate student
Portrait of Tong Li

Tong Li

Title/Position
Professor
A portrait of Nandita Vijayakumar Nair

Nandita Vijayakumar Nair

Title/Position
Graduate Student
Evelyn Smith

Evelyn Smith

Title/Position
Graduate Student