Students Encouraged to Share Video Math Pitches

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/05/19

Students who appreciate math have almost a month to create an "elevator speech" video telling others why math is important and relevant. One winner will have his or her one- or two-minute movie shown during an upcoming math conference and win $1,000.

The contest is being hosted by the National Academies' Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics (BMSA). It's open to students as well as early career professionals. The video submission can be an unedited selfie, an animation or any other format publishable to YouTube.

The winning entry will be announced and played during the upcoming Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) conference on Computational Science and Engineering, which takes place Feb. 25 through Mar. 1 in Spokane, WA. (The winner need not be a SIAM member or attend the conference.)

As officials explained on the contest site, "The mathematical sciences are part of everyday life. Modern communication, transportation, science, engineering, technology, medicine, manufacturing, security, finance, and many other disciplines depend on the mathematical sciences, even if we don't always realize it. It is important for mathematical researchers to convey the importance of their work to diverse audiences. This often comes down to being able to quickly and simply describe what you are doing and why."

The deadline for video submissions is Feb. 27, 2019. The winner will be announced by Mar. 1.

Learn more on the contest site.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • DreamBox Math

    Discovery Education Announces Updates to Experience, DreamBox Math

    K-12 learning solution provider Discovery Education has announced enhancements to its Discovery Education Experience and DreamBox Math products, designed to create a more personalized, engaging learning experience for students.

  • abstract pattern of cybersecurity, ai and cloud imagery

    Report Identifies Malicious Use of AI in Cloud-Based Cyber Threats

    A recent report from OpenAI identifies the misuse of artificial intelligence in cybercrime, social engineering, and influence operations, particularly those targeting or operating through cloud infrastructure. In "Disrupting Malicious Uses of AI: June 2025," the company outlines how threat actors are weaponizing large language models for malicious ends — and how OpenAI is pushing back.

  • digital dashboard featuring a shield icon, graphs, a world map, and network nodes

    IBM Launches Agentic AI Governance and Security Platform

    IBM has introduced a new software stack for enterprise IT teams tasked with managing the complex governance and security challenges posed by autonomous AI systems.

  • laptop and fish hook

    Security Researchers Identify Generative AI 'Vishing' Attack

    A new report from researchers at Ontinue's Cyber Defense Center has identified a complex, multi-stage cyber attack that leveraged social engineering, remote access tools, and signed binaries to infiltrate and persist within a target network.