Program Director: Scott Hallyburton (scott_hallyburton@unc.edu), (919) 685-5545
For more information, please email scott_hallyburton@unc.edu and chapelhillmathcircle@gmail.com.
Lead Teachers
Moebius Noodles: Maria Droujkova and Dmitri Droujkov
Beginners Group: Dilip Barman
Elementary Group: Dorian Varney
Intermediate Group: Scott Hallyburton
Advanced Group: David Yavenditti
About the Staff
Maria Droujkova focuses her research and development efforts on learning communities, informal education, online education, advanced mathematics for young children, and game design. She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from NCSU, and M.S. in Mathematics from Tulane. Maria is the founding director of Natural Math, an educational design, consulting, and publishing company. Her approach to teaching focuses on the easy complexity (such as calculus for five-year-olds), openness, and kindness. She co-authored Moebius Noodles and Avoid Hard Work, popular books with innovative math activities for parents, teachers, and math circle leaders.
My name is Dmitri Droujkov. I have M.S. in Mathematics. I work in software design and development, in particular educational software and games. I went to a math circle as a child. Back then, I loved figuring out patterns, finding interesting solutions, and sharing mathematics with others. Solutions are interesting when they are simple, elegant, unexpected, integrate different ideas, and illuminate the big picture. I’d spend a large part of my youth studying mathematics. Now I work with systems that support mathematics education.
The big problem in education is that each new generation has to start learning from scratch, while the total knowledge of the humanity keeps expanding. That suggests the need for constant re-inventing and optimization of our education systems. The company and community I co-founded, Natural Math, seeks to address this problem in the context of learning mathematics.
Dilip Barman has been teaching math since he was in high school. He particularly likes working with Kindergarteners and early elementary school students, but really all ages including adults, who enjoy sharing his joy of math. He helped to start the Mathematics Institute of the Triangle in Chapel Hill in 2022, where the afterschool program serves all grades through classes and in-person as well as virtual tutoring. He teaches math at Stanford Math Circle and math summer camps at NC School of Science and Math. Dilip has a degree in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins University and Computer Science graduate degrees from Brown University and Marist College. He tweets about math and also about veganism at dbarman.
Dorian Varney is an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill, majoring in math and working towards a teaching certificate. Dorian has been involve with the Chapel Hill Math Circle since 2023.
Scott Hallyburton is a math PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has a BS in math from UNC-Chapel Hill and an Masters in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Scott has been leading classes for the Intermediate Group at the Chapel Hill Math Circle since 2021.
David Yavenditti has been teaching the Advanced Group at Chapel Hill Math Circle since it started in 2016. He is a former math major at UNC-Chapel Hill and has been involved in many areas of math outreach, including the Carolina Math Club and Julia Robinson Math Festivals.
Chapel Hill Math Circle 