WWU Student Mayla Ward Wins Best Presentation at Gonzaga Math Competition

On Saturday, April 1, Western’s Mayla Ward, a third-year student from Spokane majoring in both math and data science at Western won the Best Presentation Award at the Pacific Inland Mathematics Undergraduate Conference (PiMUC) hosted by Gonzaga University.

Ward presented her project, “Measures of Symmetry for an Optimal Transformation of the Chi-Square Distribution,” a research project completed alongside faculty advisor Kimihiro Noguchi.

Western’s Mayla Ward won the Best Presentation Award at the Pacific Inland Mathematics Undergraduate Conference (PiMUC) hosted by Gonzaga University on April 1.

“The research that I presented at this conference was very recent, so the greatest challenge was making sure that I had developed a strong understanding of the intricacies of the results before delivering my presentation,” said Ward.

Many of the universities and colleges in the Pacific Inland Region are isolated and the PiMUC is designed to provide an opportunity for students to meet each other, show off their hard work, and bond over their love of Mathematics.

“Knowing that students who present at PiMUC are highly competitive Mathematics majors, we were not expecting this award. When she told me that she won the Best Presentation award, I was very happy for her,” said Noguchi.

Ward has a passion for sharing her interest in math with people around her. She hopes to continue her studies and obtain a doctorate, pursue teaching opportunities, and continue her research in applied and pure mathematics.