Activities for Advanced High School Mathematics

NICK ABRUZZO has been a member of the mathematics department of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts since 2000, having taught first and second year Algebra, Geometry, Probability & Statistics, Trigonometry, Mathematical Analysis, AP Calculus AB and BC, Mythology, Acting for Non-majors. He has also been a lecturer for CSU, Los Angeles, mathematics department. During Summers, Nick has taught for the Jaime Escalante Accelerated Math Program at East Los Angeles College. He has written curriculum for LACHSA's pilot STEAM project exploring wire sculpture connectivity to geometry, underwritten by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and co-taught by LACHSA VA sculpture instructor Liz Young and Caltech chemical engineering professor (and LACHSA parent) Julie Kornfield; additionally with NSF/Caltech support, he has co-written (with Liz Young & science teacher Jay San Agustin) curriculum for LACHSA's STEAM project exploring polystyrene connectivity to physics, chemistry, biology, algebra 2, geometry, and sculpture; and, he has written curriculum for LACHSA's pilot course “New Genres-Geometry,” underwritten by the Keck Foundation and co-taught by Japanese American National Museum resident artist Clement Hanami. He has been a tutor for the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) Calculus Camp, a mathematics judge for the Los Angeles County Science & Engineering Fair and for the Student Poster Session of the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) SoCal-Nevada section meeting, and a mentor for the Freshmen Summer Research Institute (FSRI) at Caltech doing mathematics of enzyme kinetics. His students have been awarded honors from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (Benjamin Banneker Award), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (NEST Award), Questbridge (College Scholarship for Juniors), Los Angeles County Science & Engineering Fair (2nd Place Award, 3rd Place Award, Mu Alpha Theta Award, Navy Research Grant, Honorable Mention) and California State Science Fair (Honorable Mention), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 1st Place Award for EFRI poster competition), earned admission to California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science (COSMOS) and Summer work with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and through NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research & Innovation (EFRI) Research Experience & Mentoring (REM) Program with the Kornfield Group chemical engineering lab at Caltech doing photo-responsive polymer science toward an intervention for Parkinson's Disease. He has presented his research into the connectivity between mathematics and theatre for Directors Lab West at the Pasadena Playhouse (2009) and at the Los Angeles Theater Center (2010), for the Mathematics Club of CSU, Los Angeles (2010), where his research into stage performance within a surface-volume got its genesis and was subsequently presented at the international Bridges conference (2010) on mathematical connections in music, art and science in Pécs, Hungary, and for the contributed papers session of the MAA SoCal-Nevada Section Fall Meeting (2010) at UC Irvine. His short paper “Toward a Tesseract Theater” is published in Bridges Pécs Proceedings (July 2010).

Facilitator

Mentored 1st Place Award-winning Emerging Frontiers in Research & Innovation (EFRI) Poster Presentation at American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Conference in DC (2016); Coached MESA Los Angeles City Regional 1st Place-winning Mathematics Team (2015); Coached 3rd Place & Navy Research Grant-winning Los Angeles County Science Fair Mathematics Project (2013); Coached 2nd Place & Mu Alpha Theta Award-winning Los Angeles County Science Fair Mathematics Project (2010); Who's Who Among America's High School Teachers (2006-2007)

MST in mathematics, University of New Hampshire (Durham); Graduate studies in mathematics education, California State University Northridge; Undergraduate studies in mathematics, Los Angeles City College; BFA in theatre, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)

Aside from his interest in mathematics and the arts, Nick is an avid hiker and trail photographer and enjoys swapping trail stories with his students. He most recently hiked Lion's Ridge in the Greenhorn Mountains (Fall 2014), where he inadvertently stayed the night, and Panorama Trail in Yosemite NP (Spring 2015).