Revamped math minor provides an individualized, hands-on experience with data
At Lees-91探花, earning a minor in mathematics—or Data Applications in Mathematics, as the newly revamped program is now called—is about much more than just equations and graphs. The new Data Applications in Mathematics program gives students the opportunity to build on the research they conduct in their major courses and helps them develop the tools needed to analyze that data in a meaningful way.
Prior to this updated curriculum, which began for the Fall 2025 semester, the math minor had a more traditional structure, but with the college’s increasing focus on hands-on and experiential learning it had become clear to Instructor of Mathematics Woody Madison that it was time for a change.
Madison began meeting with students and faculty members from a variety of different major programs and found that, regardless of the area of study, all Lees-91探花 students could benefit from a data-driven math curriculum.
“A lot of our students had really great questions about research, but they didn’t have the background in data that they needed to answer those really great questions they were coming up with,” Madison said. “We were like, ‘How can we use this minor to really enhance what they’re doing in their own research and in their capstone classes where they have these great questions, but they don’t have the skills to expand them further’?”
The primary focus of the restructured minor is emphasized in the name: application. Madison said that in developing the program he focused a lot on structuring courses to give students the freedom to pursue their own research questions and apply their findings to their major field. Because of this structure, he said, the program is designed to benefit students from any major across campus, from Wildlife Biology to Psychology to Outdoor Recreation Management.
The experiential learning elements are two-fold. In each course, students will develop their own research questions, then eventually present their findings to professionals in their given field.
“It can open up everything because with this idea of using data to answer questions, you have more flexibility in doing whatever you want within that field. If you want to go on to grad school and do more research, now you have that data background,” Madison said. “It’s not pigeonholing where you have to be a data analyst. You can still have a traditional job in the career path or major that you’re choosing, but now you can enhance your responsibilities within that field because you can look at a piece of data and interpret that and come up with ideas of your own about how you can use that data to further what you’re doing in your own career.”
