Dr. Egon Schulte is a Professor in Mathematics and the Chair of the Mathematics Department at Northeastern. His main areas of expertise include Discrete and Combinatorial Geometry, Combinatorics, and Group Theory, and his recent teaching activities have focused on graduation education and the supervision of PhD students. Egon witnessed Bridge to Calculus grow from a small outreach program for Boston area high-school students, launched by his former colleague, Bob Case, about 25 years ago, to a vibrant program of modest size based on an alliance between Northeastern University’s Mathematics Department and the Boston Public Schools. The program is as much about college access for underserved high-school students as it is about Calculus and mathematics! Egon has been part of the team reinvigorating Bridge to Calculus this year including implementing the Math Question Center, a new program component added in 2020 to support students throughout the academic year.

After being rescued from failing eight-grade mathematics by an inspiring algebra teacher Professor Porter went on to receive his PhD in mathematics from Yale university. At Northeastern, he has served as Vice President of Cooperative Education and Chair of the Mathematics Department as well as professor of mathematics.

Professor Porter’s research focuses on algebraic constructions related to geometric problems and then using the algebraic constructions to solve geometric problems. He has given invited lectures on his mathematics research throughout the country and Europe. He has been visiting professor at the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, France; the University of Sussex England, and the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, Germany.

Through his teaching, his work in support of cooperative education, and a multiyear grant from the Science Science Foundation to promote the excitement of research and discovery for first-year college students, Professor Porter aims to encourage and support students to shape their future through learning. This is a critical goal of the Bridge to Calculus program, and he is honored to be a member of the team.

Rajini Jesudason teaches mathematics at Northeastern University and directs Northeastern Math Departments signature outreach program, Bridge to Calculus, which has been running in partnership with Boston Public Schools for over 25 years. In the past, Raj was Program Director in Mathematics, serving the Boston Public Schools. Raj has taught and worked closely with teachers in the Boston, Cambridge and Watertown Public School districts, and has played a leading role in state initiatives for asset-based instruction and teacher development in mathematics education. Raj’s experience in higher education includes serving as a Dean of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering at Foothill Community College in California, teaching QuantitativeReasoning and Pre-Calculus mathematics at Harvard University,co-implementing a Quantitative Reasoning Program at Wellesley College, and teaching in the teacher education programs both at UMass Boston and Wheelock Colleges.

Raj has presented her work at regional conferences, including the Southern California Community College Consortium, MathWest conference in Massachusetts, Quantitative Literacy Consortium of the Northwest, BU’s Aframath conference and at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government’s Black Policy conference.

Raj has an Ed. M. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

As a Boston Public Schools alum and the salutatorian of her graduating class, Daniela was awarded the Boston Public High School Scholarship by Northeastern University and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. She is a proud Latina and Bridge to Calculus alum excited to have had the opportunity to participate in the BtC Question Center over the summer and to continue to provide mentorship to BPS students through the BtC program. Daniela is also grateful to be part of the Bridge to Calculus Committee and be able to advocate for the program and for the needs of BPS students.

Mr. Howland has an extensive history with Boston Public Schools (BPS), as a “homegrown” student educated in the district grades K-12. Mr. Howland is a graduate of Boston Latin School (BLS) and worked in BPS for almost five decades as a teacher and administrator. He has served as headmaster of Another Course to College, an administrator in charge of discipline at the former Jamaica Plain High School, and head of the math department at The English High School. Additionally, Mr. Howland served as interim associate headmaster at his alma mater BLS. More recently, in the winter of the 2018-19 school year, Mr. Howland filled in as interim head of school at Boston Latin Academy.

A veteran math teacher and an attorney who has long instructed students in law and in mock trials, he has earned Boston’s “Golden Apple” and the Massachusetts “Teacher of the Year” awards. He was also nominated as a finalist for “National Teacher of the Year.”

Mr. Howland teaches 8th grade physics and 11th grade computer science at the Josiah Quincy Upper School. Teaching all incoming 8th graders for years at the Arlington Street campus that serves 8th-12th graders has led him to reach over 95% of all the students under the same roof in the school!

Tony Iarrobino is a professor in Northeastern’s Department of Mathematics. He has expertise in algebraic geometry, commutative rings and their deformations, commuting nilpotent matrices, families of points on a variety, gorenstein algebras, and singularities of maps.

Beth Qudah is the budget coordinator for the Math Department at Northeastern University. However, she has been involved with Bridge to Calculus for over a decade and has supported the program and watched it grow. She is delighted to see it take root and to be such an integral part of it.

Rekha Bai is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Northeastern’s Department of Mathematics.

Kutub Gandhi is a PhD student at Northeastern studying games, specifically how games can make us think about ourselves and the world around us. In his spare time he loves going rock climbing, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and exploring Boston!

Luis Garcia is a PhD student at Northeastern researching human-computer interaction through games. He’s interested in developing game AI that players can interact with meaningfully. For fun, Luis likes reading, making procedural art, and petting his cat, Ziti.

Prof. Adrian Feiguin grew up and obtained his education in his home country, Argentina. He earned his PhD in Physics from the National University of Rosario in 2000, when he moved to the US to continue his research. After postdoctoral stays in the National High Magnetic Field Lab (Tallahassee, FL) and UC Irvine, he joined Microsoft Research to study the feasibility of building a quantum computer based on novel topological states of matter. He joined Northeastern in 2012.

Prof. Feiguin got interested in computers and programming at an early age. He learned to code by programming games for Tandy and Commodore 64 computers, before the advent of the PC. When it was clear that he wanted to study physics, it made sense to combine it with his passion for games and computers. His research involves developing algorithms and using computer simulations to understand phases of matter of quantum origin, such as magnetism and superconductivity.

Prof. Feiguin is fascinated by the pedagogical challenges of teaching quantum mechanics. The probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory (“God does not play dice!”) remains one of the most puzzling unresolved questions in physics.

Kledia Spiro creates videos, performances, installations, and paintings. Kledia was born in Albania and was part of an olympic weightlifting team. She uses strength and weightlifting as a symbol of survival, empowerment, and celebration. Weightlifting becomes a vehicle for discussing women’s role in society, immigration, and times of war. She is currently a Post Graduate Teaching Fellow at Northeastern University. For fun, Kledia likes the outdoors, swimming, and talking about art with friends.

Colin McCormick is a graduating high school student from Lynnfield Massachusetts. He started his own non-profit organization — The FMG Robotics Association — dedicated to improving STEM education in New England. He’s had a passion for robotics since youth and uses his projects as a chance to inspire the next generation of engineers. He has spoken at a variety of high schools and universities advocating for networking and pursuing your career at a young age.

Luis Brens is a photographer. Born in the Dominican Republic, Luis graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with two bachelors in photography and Printmaking. He has been a professor of photography at Northeastern for over decade. Luis likes motorcycles, outdoor sports and is very passionate of music.

Althea Bennett is an art teacher at Boston Public Schools who is a Boston native herself. “As an arts educator, my teaching is hip hop, with that I mean it is a pastiche of history, culture, art, respect, representation, expression, and experimentation. My classroom is tranquil yet active, a sculpture classroom open to all mediums. Through my lesson plans and the experiences, I give my students opportunities to uncover their personal histories to understand their futures. My students discover new connection with materials and techniques, being innovative and resourceful. My students are expressive, inquisitive, and inspired in the classroom, art is a tool they can be used to share their thoughts, feeling, and opinions.”

Ellie Schimelman graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1960 with a degree in Art Education. She was an art teacher and supervisor in public schools for over 20 years and taught adult education classes in the Boston area. She was also a professional potter and part owner of the Cambridge Artists Cooperative crafts gallery in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.

Always attracted to African art, Ellie took her first trip to Ghana in 1978. Since then she has returned many times to research and study traditional crafts, do volunteer teaching and take people on crafts and culturally centered tours of Ghana. She now devotes herself full-time to directing Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. and facilitating workshops held at its cultural center in Ghana.

Dan grew up in Israel. After completing his military service he immigrated to the US in 1990 to pursue a Ph.D. in Mathematics at MIT, in the field of Algebraic Topology. After graduating in 1994 Dan taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for a year and then left academia to pursue a career in high tech. He worked at EMC Corporation for many years, developing products for business continuity and disaster recovery. Dan spent a few years with two startups, and recently worked at Google on the infrastructure for live-streaming over YouTube. In 2018 he retired and since then has dedicated his time to studying a few areas of mathematics, primarily the Robertson-Seymour theory of graph minors, and the theory and practice of machine-assisted mathematical proofs. In his spare time, Dan loves baking and reading.

Robert received his PhD in Mathematics from Northwestern University. His research interests lie at the intersection of microlocal analysis of spectral problems arising from quantum mechanics, probability, and complex geometry.

Aliska is math education researcher and professor in Northeastern’s Department of Mathematics. Her research interests include college freshman retention, mathematical agency, and novel mathematical representations.

Dr. Bindu Veetel teaches Mathematics at Northeastern University and is the coordinator of the Bridge to Calculus (BtC) program. She has been associated with Northeastern from 2007, initially as a student and later as instructor. She received her PhD from Northeastern in 2014 in the area of partial differential equations. Within Northeastern’s Mathematics department, Bindu has been teaching various levels of courses in Calculus, Statistics etc. and coordinating one of the largest math courses in the department.

Additionally, she teaches online courses for Elementary School teachers at Grand Canyon University. In the past, she has also taught at Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston) and Mount Carmel College (Bangalore, India).

Her research is in the area of Partial Differential Equations, with a focus on Inverse Problems which has applications in areas like cancer research. She inspires students to focus on the beauty and compelling influence that Mathematics has in the rapidly evolving world.

Rajini Jesudason teaches mathematics at Northeastern University and directs Northeastern Math Departments signature outreach program, Bridge to Calculus, which has been running in partnership with Boston Public Schools for over 25 years. In the past, Raj was Program Director in Mathematics, serving the Boston Public Schools. Raj has taught and worked closely with teachers in the Boston, Cambridge and Watertown Public School districts, and has played a leading role in state initiatives for asset-based instruction and teacher development in mathematics education. Raj’s experience in higher education includes serving as a Dean of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering at Foothill Community College in California, teaching QuantitativeReasoning and Pre-Calculus mathematics at Harvard University,co-implementing a Quantitative Reasoning Program at Wellesley College, and teaching in the teacher education programs both at UMass Boston and Wheelock Colleges.

Raj has presented her work at regional conferences, including the Southern California Community College Consortium, MathWest conference in Massachusetts, Quantitative Literacy Consortium of the Northwest, BU’s Aframath conference and at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government’s Black Policy conference.

Raj has an Ed. M. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Chris King grew up in Ireland where he enjoyed exploring wild landscapes and listening to Irish music. His love of science fiction and puzzle-solving led him into a scientific career, and he was a professor of mathematics at Northeastern University. Chris supported Bridge to Calculus over many years and contributed to both Calculus Field Day and the Summer Program. He enjoyed being a part of the Question Center and sharing time with the young scholars from BPS.