Kangaroo goes Science

Meike Akveld, President of Kangaroo Switzerland, opened the event with some facts about the Kangaroo mathematics competition, which this year had over six million global participants, with more than 40,000 from Switzerland, of which approximately 8,000 were in the category represented by the top girls attending the Kangaroo goes Science event.

Sarah Springman, Rector of ETH Zurich, welcomed the girls and parents on behalf of ETH Zurich, with an inspiring presentation about mathematics, engineering, and studying at ETH.  

The welcome messages were followed by two presentations on "Mathematics in everyday life" where Christina Heinze-Deml showed how one can increase the chances to win the famous Monty Hall game using statistics and Laura Keller taught the audience in a short origami workshop how to construct angles on paper using folding techniques. Christina is postdoctoral researcher and Laura senior scientist at the Department of Mathematics.

ETH students Michelle Rüegg (D-BAUG), Lena Csomor (D-INFK), and Mojgan Hosseinzadeh (D-MATH) shared their personal journeys and motivation to study at ETH, highlighting their experiences and their dedication to their fields of studies.

The morning ended with an award ceremony recognizing the top five best girls of the Kangaroo competition. After dividing the girls into small groups they where taken to lunch and escorted to the afternoon programme by student volunteers who also served as mentors.

In the afternoon every group attended a mathematics workshop on graph theory or geometry and visited a laboratory of one of the following departments: Environmental Sciences (D-USYS), Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT), Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) or the Medical Virology at the University of Zurich.

During the girls' laboratory visits, the relatives were invited to take part in the afternoon programme that included a presentation of the ETH study programmes by Reto Kreuzer, Departement of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, a public tour on the ETH campus, and a question and answer session with female students and staff.

The day ended with a final reception, bringing all participants back together for a time of reflection and sharing about the inspiring day at the ETH.