Staying busy is not a problem for Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su. Creating projects, conducting research, and collaborating with schools across the nation to advance the study of mathematics has become a vital part of her life.
Growing up, math was just something Su did for fun.
“Math always came very easily for me. I remember when I was in school, I was the odd child doing different, more challenging work because I already knew how to do the problems the rest of the class was assigned,” said Su.
Originally from Taiwan, Su moved to Queens, N.Y. at a young age. It was while in elementary school that she realized she wanted to become a teacher.
“I admired my teachers and said that I wanted to do what they did when I grew up so I pursued that,” said Su.
Su received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Brooklyn College, which, at the time, was ranked among the country’s top 10 education programs.
After getting married, Su and her husband moved to Texas, where she attended Texas A&M University and received a master’s degrees in curriculum instruction and computer science and industrial engineering.
In 1981, Su and her family moved to Florida where she received her doctoral degree in education from NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler School of Education and got her first teaching job as a high school computer teacher where she found new ways to integrate math into her curriculum to help improve the way her students learned.
“Whatever I was doing in terms of mathematics really helped the students and test scores were up,” said Su.
Because of the improvement that her student had shown with her teaching method, the Palm Beach County school district asked for her to help improve the test scores of the entire county.
At that time, she was also an adjunct professor at the Fischler School, and by 2001, Su had become a full-time math education professor and program director in mathematics education.
Besides teaching her students how fun math can be, Su has also been working on the program Project M.I.N.D. which stands for “Math is not difficult.” She created the program while completing her thesis on mathematics research.
“The philosophy of the project is to help student learn strategies to make very difficult concepts easy,” said Su.
Since Project M.I.N.D started, it has been implemented in schools all around the country, including California, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Florida and more.
Su is also the president of the Florida Distance Learning Association and president of Florida’s Association of Mathematic Teacher Educators.
She also works with Ohio State University’s medical school on researching ways for students to learn nutrition through mathematics.
Su hopes to collaborate with other NSU professors who conduct similiar research. She hopes that this collaboration will improve the educational system and advance NSU’s reputation.
“NSU is so progressive. This is why I am here and continue to work here, because I love what I do and the people I work with,” said, Su.
For students who are interested in a career in mathematics, Su said that there are so many things to do within the field.
“You have to enjoy what you do, and with math, everything comes together. It is so logical and encompasses all aspects of life,” said Su.
