As part of a project for their Math 100 course–taught by math faculty members Monique Chyba and Sarah Widiasih Post and gradaute students Moriah Aberle, Shubham Joshi, John Dukes, Christa Gogue– undergraduate students worked to combat pollution in in the Ala Wai Canal in Honolulu.  In mid-October, students made 1972 genki balls, which are balls of dense soil that contains nutrients and beneficial microorganisms, guided by their professors, TA’s, and volunteers from the  Genki Ala Wai Project.  In class, students performed computations with scientific notation and analyzed data to understand the positive effects that these genki balls could have on the ecosystem of the canal.  The balls were released into Ala Wai Canal on November 9, and the event was covered by UH News and by KITV.

“Quantitative reasoning and critical thinking are incredibly important skills to develop to understand and adapt to environmental as well as societal changes,” said Professor Monique Chyba.  “Math 100 is designed to teach those skills in context, students are exploring how to mathematics are interconnected with relevant aspects of their life regardless of their majors. The Genki balls project served as a bridge to expose the students to the benefits of a mathematical approach to maximize the impact of actions in environmental issues. “