NSF grant mixes math and science

Spinning through space, a strand of DNA is displayed on a VCR to a room filled with chemistry students -- one of the multimedia graphics developed from a National Science Foundation grant Penn received two years ago. With the $2.2 million grant, math and science professors have created visual aids to integrate and demonstrate the usefulness of these two subjects in the real world. "This video shows DNA replication and illustrates differential equations," Chemistry Professor Ponzy Lu said. "Students learn how to do math in a biology course." The Middle Atlantic Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications was formed by Mathematics Undergraduate Chairperson Dennis DeTurck from the NSF grant funds. The organization, committed to integrating math with other subjects, includes numerous colleges and high schools from the Philadelphia and New York areas. Beginning in 1993, DeTurck spent two years revising the undergraduate calculus program, adding Maple to the curriculum. Other universities followed Penn's calculus reform and became the first participants of the consortium. "We don't want projects that are at one institution," said Jacob Abel, a principal investigator in the consortium. "The more schools that take part the better." Most students are interested in projects applied to the real world, according to DeTurck. "I intend to use multimedia, video, CD-ROM, and computation to allow students to see people they imagine themselves becoming -- like physicians, business people, technologists," he said. In addition to multimedia modules, the consortium plans on introducing new interdisciplinary classes. DeTurck and Physics Professor Lawrence Gladney plan to start a physics/chemistry/math course for the Pre-Freshman/PENNCAP program. The National Science Foundation has already provided a grant for the next two years and DeTurck is confident the University will continue to receive funding.