For associate professors Teresa Moore and Dani Novak, community outreach is an integral part of the educational equation.

Their students in computer science and mathematics routinely work with area schoolchildren on math projects that enhance the learning experience for kids and Ithaca College students.

Moore and Novak helped organize a pair of "math fun day" events that linked IC students with local young people. During the fall semester IC students worked with grade-school children to create fun, math-related puzzles, projects, and problems, which were presented to the broader community at the math fun day event.

In the spring Moore and Novak organized another math day for high school students. The event brought together more than 60 high school sophomores and juniors for a team math competition, followed by math games in topology, paper folding, origami, computer art, cryptology, card shuffling, and more. Ithaca College students assisted at the event, working with high schoolers in small group activities. "The students benefit because they have to demonstrate the concepts they have been studying, and the children benefit because they are discovering that mathematics isn't something scary or boring," Novak said.