Real World Math & Science

University of Massachusetts > STEM > February | Real World Math & Science

PROBLEM SOLVING | The Forester

High up in Washington's Cascade Mountains, Tami Sabol is loading up her truck to start her day.  She has her chainsaw, snowshoes, bear spray and an ax; she even has a space blanket "just in case I have to spend the night some place."  Her office? The forest.  Tami uses math and science every day to keep hundreds of thousands of acres of trees healthy.     

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ALGEBRA IN THE REAL WORD | Communication Satellites

It takes a sophisticated network of hundreds of communication satellites orbiting the earth to connect the dots of the global economy. But have you ever wondered what keeps those satellites in orbit, or exactly where they need to do their job?  The answer: math!

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WILDLIFE BIOLOGY | Cheetahs

Meet Susan Millard, whose job takes her up close and personal with cheetahs. Through her research, she helped to develop one of the world's most successful captive-breeding programs.

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SCORES OF PATTERNS | Music for Movies

Whether he's trying to make the chase scenes exciting or the scary scenes scary, Oscar-nominated film composer James Newton Howard explains that he relies on patterns to write the musical scores for movies.

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Undersea Treasure

HANDS-ON MATH | Designing Toy Cars

Every Hot Wheels car is exactly 1/64 the size of a real car. Show your students how this designer measures hundreds of dimensions to make toy Corvettes, Camaros and 1957 Chevy Bel Airs exactly to scale.

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PROBLEM SOLVING | Growing Bugs

To keep their crops healthy and free of pesticides, some farmers use good bugs that attack the bad bugs. Meet a woman who raises good bugs, like ladybugs, by the gallon.

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NUMBER WRANGLING | Horses in the Movies

A Western wouldn't be a Western without stampedes and shoot-outs on horseback or simply cowboys riding into town. So, who does the producer call when he needs stagecoaches, buckboards and horses to make the script come alive? And how much will it cost to bring those horses and wagons to a movie set? Give your students the back-story and show them how math plays a role in keeping a movie from going over budget.

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GEOLOGY & PATTERNS | The Surface of Mars

Currently the worldwide collection of Mars rocks totals 37. They've come to Earth over the eons as meteorites. As a scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Molly McCanta's job is to study rocks for clues to Red Planet's geological history. She loves the challenge.

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Flowers by the Millions

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