Seminar I : Raising a THOUGHT FULL Generation in the Age of AI 

Time: 1-2PM

Presented by Prof. Po-Shen Loh

Seminar II : Beyond Numbers: Building Confidence, Creativity, and Problem-Solving Skills Through Math 

Time: 2:30-3:30PM

Presented by: Prof. Po-Shen Loh, Prof. Candace Walkington, Kaitlyn Fan, and Colin Wei.

Seminar Speaker Profiles:

Prof. Po-Shen Loh at CMU
Prof Loh is a Math Professor at CMU. 
Po-Shen Loh is a social entrepreneur and inventor, working across the spectrum of mathematics, education, and healthcare, all around the world. He is a math professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and served a decade-long term as the national coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad team from 2013–2023. He has pioneered innovations ranging from a scalable way to learn challenging math live online at comparable engagement to live-streaming entertainment, to a new way to control pandemics by leveraging self-interest.

As an academic, Po-Shen has earned distinctions ranging from an International Mathematical Olympiad silver medal to the United States Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. His scientific research considers a variety of questions that lie at the intersection of combinatorics (the study of discrete systems), probability theory, and computer science. As an educator, he was the coach of Carnegie Mellon University’s math team when it achieved its first-ever #1 rank among all North American universities, and the coach of the USA Math Olympiad team when it achieved its first-ever back-to-back #1-rank victories in 2015 and 2016, and then again in 2018 and 2019. His research and educational outreach takes him to cities across the world, reaching over 10,000 people each year through public lectures and events, and he has featured in or co-created videos totaling over 21 million YouTube views.

Po-Shen received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Caltech in 2004, graduating with the highest GPA in his class. He received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 2005, where he was supported by a Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship. He continued his studies at Princeton, supported by a Hertz Foundation Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, where he completed his Ph.D. in mathematics at the end of 2009, and has been on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University ever since.

Prof. Candace Walkington , Annette and Harold Simmons Centennial Chair Professor at Southern Methodist University.

Dr. Walkington specializes in mathematics education. Her research examines how abstract mathematical ideas can become connected to students’ concrete, everyday experiences and “funds of knowledge,” such that mathematical ideas are more understandable. She conducts research on “personalizing” mathematics instruction to students’ out-of-school interests in areas like sports, music, shopping, and video games, and their intended careers like nursing or software design. Some highlights of her academic achievement:

• Chair (incoming), Advanced Technologies for Learning SIG, American Educational Research Association
• United States Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) Recipient
• Principal Investigator, Using Artificial Intelligence to Personalize Mathematics Instruction to Students Interests (National Science Foundation, ITEST)
• Principal Investigator, Using Generative AI to Create Illustrative Diagrams to Support Mathematical Problem-Solving (National Science Foundation, RITEL)
• Principal Investigator, Seeing the World through a Mathematical Lens: A Place-Based Game for Creating Math Walks (National Science Foundation, AISL)

Kaitlyn Fan, Plano West Senior HS Senior

• Admitted to Stanford, Princeton, UC Berkeley MET, UT CSB
• Top 100 at 2025 Math Prize for Girls
• Young Women in Math Winner by Citadel
• 4x American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME)
• Texas State Champion in Persuasive Speaking at UIL
• 2025 Simons Research Fellow
• 2x National Finalist in Extemporaneous Speech National Finalist
• AAPT PhysicsBowl Contest: Texas Champion & 3rd in the US (team)
• Executive Director of Be The Light

Colin Wei , Lowery Freshman Center, Allen TX

Academic Achievements: 
• 5-time AIME qualifier 
• 3-time USAJMO qualifier with 2 Honorable Mentions 
• Led school team to 1st place at 2025 MATHCOUNTS State Competition and Individual 6th place ranking 
• Top scorer/Honorable mention award recipient at CMIMC/HMMT/MMATHS