Research at Rochester: Sammartino’s mathematic explorations | Math - Campus Times

The challenge was to find a square or prove that one cannot exist. “Most research in mathematics is scribbling on a whiteboard and banging your head in frustration.” says Hawraa Ahmed, Author at Campus Times.

Photo: Courtesy NICOLE SAMMARTINO

From May to August, while most UR students were enjoying their time off from classes, Nicole Sammartino spent her summers studying million dollar math problems. “They look so easy, but they’re actually very difficult,” she said. 

Sammartino is currently a Take 5 Scholar who will be studying conservation biology, focusing on the “Extinction of Species from the Dinosaurs to Today.” After transferring to UR from Villanova University, Nicole switched her mathematics minor to a major. “Sometimes, math students are afraid of hard science, while biology students tend to be afraid of math, so I want to explore both.”

Last summer, Sammartino worked as a research intern through UR’s Department of Mathematics under Dr. Alex Iosevich and Professor Ayla Gafni. The program, called “Grad STEM For All,” focuses on mentoring students from the Western New York area to pursue advanced degrees in mathematics and statistics...

After the lecture series, she worked on her project and tackled complex “unsolved math problems” that can be found online. One of the problems she worked on was the “magic square of squares,

“Most research in mathematics is scribbling on a whiteboard and banging your head in frustration.”

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Source: Campus Times