Angela Kraft, a senior at Bethany, will graduate on December 14 and go on to attend the prestigious international Math in Moscow program. Math in Moscow is a program for international undergraduate and graduate students to study math in the Russian style. The program focuses on “discovering mathematics yourself under the guidance of an experienced teacher” rather than memorizing proofs and theorems. Courses are taught in English. The program opens on January 31, 2013, and Kraft will be arriving in Russia on January 27. It runs a full semester ending on May 17, 2013.
Kraft notes, “I think it will be a great experience to learn advanced mathematics and experience a different culture. I have heard many great things about the program and I’m sure it will be a life-changing experience.”
While at Bethany, Kraft was a member of the Scholastic Leadership Society (SLS), and she competed in debate as a member of the speech team. Her math studies have allowed her to be involved in two different Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) during summer breaks. The first in the summer of 2011 was at California State University Channel Islands on matrix completion problems. More recently she did an REU at Clemson University on classifying field extensions. Kraft has also presented research at a few different conferences including Pi Mu Epsilon, Young Mathematician’s Conference, and the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM). She’ll be doing a poster presentation at the JMM in San Diego Jan 9-12, 2013.
Kraft plans on pursuing graduate studies in mathematics focusing on some area of algebra.