| Name of AAPI Figure | Poh Shen-Loh |
| What is the person’s Asian heritage or ethnicity? | Singaporean American |
| Area of Influence | Academic |
| Date of birth or time period | 18-Jun-82 |
| How did this individual make a contribution to their field or to society/culture at large? | Poh-Shen Loh is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and teaches the field of mathematics. He is most known for being the coach of the International Mathematical Olympiad. As coach, he has led the US notable victories in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019 over countries such as China and Russia, who are known to be strong at math. Recently, Poh-Shen Loh has been emphasizing a more direct method to solve quadratic equations rather than guess + check. This was significant as it encouraged many teachers to teach different ways to solve quadratic equations. He has made a youtube video on that subject which gained about 500,000 views. Poh-Shen Loh has also created an app called NOVID which helps for contact tracing. |
| How does this person inspire you? | I chose Poh-Shen Loh because I found him to be really inspiring when I listened to one of his talks. Recently, Poh-Shen Loh came to Lexington and talked about the mathematics of dice, which was extremely interesting as he didn’t use a standard die; instead his die had the numbers in different positions, which ended up having really interesting mathematics. This taught me that being curious can end up leading to cool and new discoveries. Also, his new approach on quadratic equations has taught me that there are many different ways to do everything, and it is up to me to find the one that best fits me. Most importantly, he has sparked my interest in mathematics due to his ability to bring math, fun, and humor together. |
| Resources to share if others want to learn more (optional)–list websites, books, or other resources you used to learn about the person | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg0oVnHgj7A&t=684s https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyChallengewithPoShenLoh/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid |
| Submitted by | Jaden Leung |
| Age | 16 |
| City, State | Lexington, MA |