MIT launches “Yulia’s Dream” Program to support young, at-risk Ukrainian students of mathematics

MIT Department of Mathematics launches a free math enrichment and research program for Ukrainian high school students and refugees.

The program has been develop in memory of Yulia Zdanovska, a talented 21-year-old Ukrainian mathematician, who was working as a volunteer in a residential area of Kharkiv and was killed in a fire caused by a Russian missile. Yulia graduated the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She was a silver medalist at the 2017 European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, and an instructor for the “Teach for Ukraine.”

The MIT PRIMES program will use its resources to support the mathematics education of Ukrainian high school students. Numerous Department of Mathematics graduate students and MIT math majors have already expressed an interest in working as mentors for the program. The goal is to enroll up to 30 students in the program who will meet online in small groups to study advanced math topics or will work on math research projects under the guidance of academic mentors, with instruction available in Ukrainian, English, and Russian. Weekly meetings will begin by the end of April, and will continue through the fall, with a possible extension through spring 2023. Starting this as a pilot program seed-funded by an anonymous donor, the department hopes to raise funds to make it a regular annual program.

As Science recently reported, Ukraine’s mounting death toll includes a growing number of researchers.