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Sofya Kovalesvskaya Day at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics
On November 8, 2025, the Concordia Chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) held its first Sofya Kovalevskaya Day as an orientation event for CEGEP students. This type of event, organized in AWM chapters across North America, is named after the pioneering 19th century Russian mathematician who was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, as well as the first to become a full professor of mathematics, and whose research led to fundamental results in areas such as partial differential equations.
Despite the transportation difficulties caused by the STM strike, CEGEP students from across the island of Montreal arrived at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics on Saturday morning and filled the 9th floor conference room. They were greeted by the AWM Chapter officers (Concordia graduate and undergraduate students) who had organized the event. Breakfast was followed by a tour of the SGW campus.
On returning to the Department, the visitors learned about the AWM and Sofya Kovalevskaya, and were treated to mathematical presentations by their hosts. Master's student Thu Trang awed the audience with "The Amazing World of Fractals", while undergraduate student Marianna dazzled them with "The Golden Ratio". Two more presentations followed lunch: PhD student Samaneh’s intriguing talk on "Mersennes Primes and Cryptography", and, last but not least, Master’s student and AWM Chapter President Mykaelle’s brilliant exposition of "Colouring Maps on Surfaces".
The day ended on a more practical note, with a panel and Q&A to inform the visitors and answer any questions about Concordia, the multitude of programs in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, its faculty members, and, of course job prospects following graduation.