Category Archives: Praxis II Courses

Math Modeling and Sustainability (Math B295)

Instructor: Prof. Victor Donnay

Course Description:

In this course, we will use mathematics to study issues of sustainability. Is it possible to meet all of our energy needs using renewable energy? How much energy does a typical person in the United States use per year – for transportation, food production, home heating and cooling? What is the carbon footprint associated with this energy use? How much energy can be produced by solar panels and wind turbines (per square meter of installation) and so how many square miles of land would need to be devoted to solar and wind farms?  By how much can we reduce energy use via conservation or new technologies? Are these approaches cost effective? What do we mean by “cost effective”?

Praxis Component: During the semester, students will work in teams to analyze a real world sustainability issue of interest to a community partner.

Haverford Township Solar Project

Modeling Solar Panel Finances for Non-Profit Organizations

A Praxis Project in Prof. Donnay’s Praxis II Course on Math Modeling and Sustainability

Student Team: Laila Ali, Shriya Fruitwala, Ruth Mullin and Hemlata Sharma

Community Partner: Haverford Township

Field Supervisor: Dr. Joy Baxter

Praxis Presentation:

Please click here or on the image below to watch a recording of the students’ Praxis presentation in class on May 11, 2021. The students’ Field Supervisor attended the presentation.

 

Executive Summary of Praxis Project:

Executive Summary_Haverford Township Solar

Please click here to access a PDF version of the document.

BMC Electric Bus Project

Evaluating the Addition of Electric Buses in Bryn Mawr College

A Praxis Project in Prof. Donnay’s Praxis II Course on Math Modeling and Sustainability

Student Team: Nhi Nguyen, Hayley Shi and Alice Yang

Field Site: Bryn Mawr College

Field Supervisor: Steve Green

Praxis Presentation:

Please click here or on the image below to watch a recording of the students’ Praxis presentation to Kim Cassidy, President of Bryn Mawr College, and other members of the Bi-Co community on May 20, 2021.

 

Executive Summary of Praxis Project:

Evaluating the Additional of Electric Buses in Bryn Mawr College

Please click here to access a PDF version of the document.

Green Stormwater Infrastructure Project

Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects in the Philadelphia School District

A Praxis Project in Prof. Donnay’s Praxis II Course on Math Modeling and Sustainability

Student Team: Rubia Fernandes, Golda Glasser, Amirah Hewitt and Pelagia Majoni

Community Partners: Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia School District, Philadelphia Water Department

Field Supervisor: Ellen Schultz (Fairmount Water Works)

Praxis Presentation:

Please click here or on the image below to watch a recording of the students’ Praxis presentation in class on May 14, 2021. The students’ Field Supervisor attended the presentation.

 

Executive Summary of Praxis Project:

Executive Summary

Please click here to access a PDF version of the document.

Abington Township Climate Action Project

Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Abington Township Municipal Buildings

A Praxis Project in Prof. Donnay’s Praxis II Course on Math Modeling and Sustainability

Student Team: Clara Tazelaar, Julia Billera, Miranda Kong and Vimbai Mawoneke

Community Partner: Abington Township Environmental Advisory Council

Field Supervisors: Cakky Braun-Evans and Mark Connolly

Praxis Presentation:

Please click here or on the image below to watch a recording of the students’ Praxis presentation in class on May 14, 2021. The students’ Field Supervisors attended the presentation.

 

Executive Summary of Praxis Project:

Final Executive Summary

Please click here to access a PDF version of the document.

Sunrise Berwyn Project

Making the Switch: A Renewable Transition Project

A Praxis Project in Prof. Donnay’s Praxis II Course on Math Modeling and Sustainability

Student Team: Ada Marcovitz, Joan Ndichu, Shaylin Chaney-Williams, Katherine Hahn

Community Partner: Sunrise Berwyn

Field Supervisors: Lilly Shui, Clara Steege and Aishi Debroy

Praxis Presentation:

Please click here or on the image below to watch a recording of the students’ Praxis presentation in class on May 11, 2021. The students’ Field Supervisors attended the presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary of Praxis Project:

Executive Summary_Sunrise Berwyn Project

Please click here to access a PDF version of the document.

 

Telling Bryn Mawr Histories (Prof. Gallup-Diaz)

Instructor: Prof. Ignacio Gallup-Diaz

TA and Praxis Student Coordinator: Emma Burns, BMC ’21

Course Description and Reflection by Prof. Gallup-Diaz: 

The members of the Spring 2021 offering of H268 gathered at a particularly disorienting moment in time — a history class, filled with participants experiencing a jarring historical moment.

Why jarring?

The members of the seminar met at the confluence of the ongoing pandemic (a global event), the Black Lives Matter movement (as a US process with global ramifications), the MeToo movement (a global process), and the Bryn Mawr Student Strike (a local one).

Although one might assume that we are in a ‘post-Strike’ situation/world, the historian in me would suggest that we’re still in midst of ‘The Strike Process,’ even tho’ the strike-event itself is over.

While the resolution of the Strike (through the acceptance of most-of the student demands) does provide the College with a path forward, the administration’s engagement with ‘the Strike’ exposed some uncared-for wounds, while re-opening others that were partially- or only recently-healed.

“Telling Bryn Mawr Histories” — the goal of the course — makes the tellers acutely aware of their position with regards to the archive and the institution they are studying/analyzing.  Although this is a complex situation for a scholar-researcher to navigate and analyze under ‘neutral’ circumstances, it is a necessary part of the knowledge-gathering process.  In this case, students navigated an additional complication, as they were not ‘on neutral ground,’ they were critically thinking about decisions and processes placed in motion and controlled by ‘BMC-players’ who have more power than they do at their educational-home.

So, this seminar convened within a situation filled with possibilities, and the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements — one with it’s imperative to recognize and dismantle white supremacy, and the other with it’s attention to consent, empathy, and volition — opened spaces for ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and drew our attention to issues of ethics and our responsibility to ‘the past.’

The Instructor found his interactions with the members of the seminar to be both enriching and rewarding.