As part of the continuing effort to encourage young women to consider careers in math and science, Purdue math professors Patricia Bauman and Zhilan Feng participated in Purdue's fifth "Expanding Your Horizons" program on April 26. Sponsored by the Chemistry Department and Iota Sigma Pi (a national honor society for women in chemistry and related sciences), the program drew 400 girls and 130 teachers and parents. For the first time in the program's history, hundreds of applicants had to be turned down. Over 40 women from Purdue and the surrounding community conducted hands-on workshops for 6-9th grade girls. Other workshops were offered for adults and teachers.
In their popular workshop (one of 32 offered this year) entitled "Mathematicians Playing with Soap Bubbles," Bauman and Feng conducted demonstrations using buckets of soapy water to make bubbles. With cubes made of plastic, circles of wire, and rectangles consisting of straws and yarn, the students fashioned bubbles of various shapes and sizes to learn more about mathematical concepts, including angles, elasticity, minimal surfaces, and three-dimensional principles.