May 10, 2024
Shawnee State University’s Abigail McKinney presented her own research “An Exploration of Spherical Geometry” at this year’s Celebration of Scholarship conference. An Adolescent-to-Young Adult Integrated Mathematics Education major, McKinney based her project on a specific subject in geometry not usually studied and received the Dean’s Award for her research.
“The idea behind the paper was to compare linear geometry – Euclidean geometry – and spherical geometry,” she said. “To put that plan into action we used a sphere model called Lenarts Sphere and a book that Lenart wrote going through different exercises.”
Being recognized for her work, McKinney is grateful for how her research was received by the conference committee and Deans Dr. Inman and Dr. Raber.
“I went into the competition knowing that I just wanted to put out my best work and show what I had been working on,” she said. “I put a lot of dedication into writing the paper and making sure that it was mathematically accurate and accessible. Knowing that that paid off makes the research that much more rewarding, and it invigorates me to keep on doing projects of that nature.”
Taking a deeper dive into a subject she enjoys, McKinney sees how her research has been able to aid her confidence and growth within her field.
“Going through this process has been extremely rewarding in my future field as a teacher and my math brain really enjoyed the journey,” she said.
Participating in Celebration of Scholarship gave McKinney the opportunity to not only showcase her work to the campus community, but appreciate the other work being done by students across different academic departments.
“It’s a great experience to be able to showcase a project that you've put a lot of work in,” she said. “Not only are you able to grow in that project even more, but other people are able to see the work that you have done. When you are able to step outside of your major and see what else is happening at Shawnee, it can be an awesome experience.”
To learn more about the annual Celebration of Scholarship conference at Shawnee State University, visit shawnee.edu/cos.