Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Georgia Tech's BS DMTH alumna (2011) Michelle Delcourt is now a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She recently received the Graduate Student Leadership Award from the university's Graduate College. This award is sponsored by The Graduate College and its student advisory group, SAGE (Students Advising on Graduate Education). It was created to recognize graduate students who have exhibited outstanding service that has positively impacted the campus or wider Urbana-Champaign community.

Through her work with two math department organizations – Illinois Geometry Lab and Association for Women in Mathematics, Michelle has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills. She single-handedly pioneered and raised over $25,000 for the Sonia Math Days for Girls and Girls Engaged in Mathematics and Science (GEMS), wherein she created extremely successful workshops that have affected the lives of many young girls by introducing them to beauty within deep mathematics. Her work has led to ongoing partnership with Chicago Preparatory Science and Engineering Program that provides non-traditional learning opportunities in math and science to some of Chicago’s most underserved populations.

Now, a 5th year PhD candidate, she uses her love of math and art to engage young girls and underrepresented minority students in math through community outreach programs. She hopes that her approach could help attract students who might not otherwise choose mathematics. The Graduate Life blog has a nice article about Michelle.