Panel Discussion: Science Communication

Anna Maria Hartkopf, Yudhistira Andersen Bunjamin, Moira Chas, Érika Roldán Roa, Coumba Sarr

Innovative Formats of Science Communication – A Conversation with the Experts 

Moderator: Anna Maria Hartkopf
Anna Maria Hartkopf is the project manager of MIP.labor, a research project for science journalism in the subjects of mathematics, computer science, and physics at Freie Universität Berlin. The mathematician completed her doctorate on "Science Communication in Mathematics" in 2020. She had also previously specialized in the communication of mathematics; as a research assistant at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, as a mathematics teacher at a Berlin comprehensive school, and in the Collaborative Research Center "Discretization in Geometry and Dynamics". 

Yudhistira Andersen Bunjamin 
Yudhi is from Indonesia. He recently was awarded his PhD at UNSW Sydney and is now an Associate Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics there. His research is in combinatorics with a focus on block designs. Since 2017, Yudhi has worked with a large team including students and staff at UNSW to design and develop mathematics outreach workshops for school students that aim to convey aspects of mathematical thinking and its associated virtues. These workshops have been delivered in various contexts, including in some rural parts of Australia. 

Moira Chas 
Moira Chas is a Professor of Mathematics at Stony Brook University, specializing in low-dimensional topology and the history of mathematics. She is passionate about discovering new ways to communicate mathematics and engaging diverse audiences through creative representations of mathematical ideas. Her work spans various mediums, including computer programs, pictures, knitted shapes, and wire sculptures, to make complex concepts more accessible. She is the recipient of the Godfrey Teaching Excellence Award and won the Simons Center Science Playwriting Competition for her play The Mathematical Visions of Alicia Boole. Moira collaborates with students at all levels, integrating computational experiments into her research, and, together with Dennis Sullivan, co-discovered and formulated string topology. Her mathematical art brings objects like Klein bottles into the realm of art, bridging the gap between mathematics, history, and creative expression. 

Érika Roldán Roa 
Érika Roldán Roa is a mathematician who integrates gamification and visualization technologies with their research in biomathematics, stochastic topology, topological and geometric data analysis, extremal topological combinatorics, discrete configuration spaces and recreational mathematics. Their work is dedicated to fostering a deep appreciation for mathematics and its practical applications among the general public, with a particular emphasis on increasing the participation of underrepresented communities in STEAM fields, especially at the intersection of STEM and the arts.Érika is the founder of the outreach initiative BAMM at Ohio State University and the co-founder of Matemorfosis at CIMAT and Play My Math in Mexico. Currently, they lead the Stochastic Topology and Applications research group at the Max Planck Institute MiS. Additionally, they are affiliated with the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at Universität Leipzig, where they lead research projects in AI and machine learning, computational complexity, educational technology and learning analytics. 

Coumba Sarr
Coumba Sarr holds a PhD in Number Theory from the University of Caen, Normandy. After a year as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Paris-Saclay, she moved into consulting in Cloud Computing and Generative AI at Atos France. Sarr is actively involved in science outreach with Animath (French Association for Mathematical Animation), serving on the Administrative Committee, and co-founded TerangaMath, an association dedicated to promoting mathematics and computer science in Senegal.