Barrett Honors College student wins prestigious Circumnavigator scholarship

Julia Anglin plans to travel the world next summer in search of the most successful methods for teaching mathematics.

Anglin, a Barrett Honors College junior majoring in computational mathematics, has received the 2013 Circumnavigator Travel Study Grant – a $9,000 grant awarded to only four students in the country each year.

The Circumnavigator Travel Study Grant is a privately funded award for a self-designed, around-the-world research trip during the summer. Students are required to circumnavigate the globe, stopping at a minimum of five countries on three continents.

The award will fund Anglin’s travel to Finland, Italy, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and New Zealand, all countries where students are achieving above the international average in math. She will leave the United States in May and return in August. 

“I am so ecstatic to win this award, not only because I will be able to explore so many amazing places, but because I believe that the information I collect will add valuable insight to the ongoing research aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics. My project will delineate innovative and successful mathematics strategies teachers can apply in their classrooms in order to improve students’ mathematical performance, and in turn, graduate students with the mathematic skills they will need to compete in the global marketplace,” she said.

Anglin will interview math teachers and their students to uncover successful and innovative teaching strategies that are used in countries whose students excel in math.

When it comes to finding effective teaching methods, Anglin, a certified math teacher, knows what she is looking for.

“While I am a certified mathematics teacher in Arizona, I chose to go back to school to obtain a second degree in computational mathematics in order to improve my mathematical knowledge. As I progress with my studies, I plan to continue my involvement in educating others about math at Arizona State University through ‘Project Inspire: Math Without Boundaries’, a club I co-founded which aims at encouraging middle and high school students to become more involved in mathematics and science,” she said.

After completing her bachelor’s degree at ASU, Anglin plans to pursue a doctorate in computational neuroscience and conduct mathematical and computational research in the field of neuroscience in academia. The School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences is an academic unit in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.