Summer Math Program for Young Scholars

Selin Kalaycioglu, Principal Investigator of the Center for Mathematical Talent, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Mathematics at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU. Growing up, she was always a math enthusiast but her discovery of her love for teaching mathematics while she was a math major in Istanbul, Turkey made her decide to pursue math as a career. She finished her Ph.D in Mathematics at University of Arizona (UA) in 2009. She has taught at UA, Kenyon College, and still teaches in the summers at the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Program at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. In her role as a math educator she meets more than 200 students every semester majority of whom are recent high school graduates. The inaccurate belief of some of those students that they are not good in math has always been heartbreaking for her.

That’s why she always believed that it is extremely important to catch these students before they even enter college, before they are convinced with their misconception of their talent in mathematics. She believes that mentoring those talents, giving them the courage for not giving up, and directing them in the areas they are good at is a must and building that network and confidence at the early ages is extremely important for reaching the maturity level to learn, apply, enjoy, believe and to become successful, especially the ones who receive little support and are coming from underserved communities or are underrepresented in science related fields. She is the faculty mentor of Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) Student Chapter at NYU, faculty mentor for the Putnam Competition at Courant and is one of the authors to five college textbooks.

Corrin Clarkson is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU. Prior to joining NYU, she was a Zorn Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana University. She earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Columbia University and an AB from the University of Chicago. In addition to her work with CMT, Prof. Clarkson has also taught in the Columbia University's Science Honors Program and the University of Chicago's Young Scholars Program. She enjoys sharing the joy of mathematics with her students and strives to empower them to become independent producers of mathematical thought.

Fred Greenleaf joined the NYU/Courant faculty in 1968, after 4 years on the faculty at UC Berkeley, has held several visiting appointments at UC Los Angeles. At NYU he taught and developed courses at all levels, from seminars in Analyis, Algebra, and Geometry to courses in Business Calculus and in the Math and Science components of the undergraduate NYU Core Curriculum. From 1991-95 Prof. Greenleaf led the development of that "Science Core Curriculum" as head of a committee that included nearly all NYU Science Department chairs.

Prof. Greenleaf retired in February 2016, as Emeritus Professor, but remains in residence at Courant engaged in (many) writing projects, research, and especially efforts to improve the abysmal level of K-12 math teaching in New York City schools. He was one of the founding members of the group of Courant mathematicians who have been fighting the "Math Wars," on both local and national levels for the past 15 years.

Along the way he (and several other Courant professors) have personally encouraged and mentored mathematically talented high school (sometimes even middle school) students who have come to their attention. Their interest in the CMT program seeks to enlarge those efforts.

Fanny Shum is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU. She grew up in New York City and was educated in the NYC Public School System. Throughout her life, Fanny has always enjoyed solving abstract math problems, and she continues that passion as a mathematician and an educator. After completing her PhD in Probability at the University of Connecticut, she returned to NYC to teach at NYU, where she has the opportunity to learn and share her love for mathematics with a wide array of students. In particular, as an instructor of the Center for Mathematical Talent, she gets to show high school students that mathematics is more than just algebra, and it is fun and interesting.

The students do not receive course grades or academic credit for participating in the Summer Math Program for Young Scholars. It is a pass/fail program. After the program ends, students who pass will be given a certificate of completion and have the opportunity to request a non-credit transcript from NYU.

Not at this time. NYU offers other programs for High School students that do admit international students. Please visit our website for other options.

AnswerPlease email university.programs@nyu.edu with a description of the issue you are having that includes the name of the student and their application number. If it’s a technical issue or you are receiving an error message, please include a screenshot of the error message.

No. The first, most important step is to submit your online application. In the application, there is an opportunity to identify a recommender and email them about submitting a recommendation. After this, the student should complete and submit the online application. Your recommender may submit a recommendation before or after you submit your online application. Once a recommender submits the recommendation, it will be linked to your application which will then be marked as complete. Once an application is complete, an email will be sent to the student’s personal email address.