Danny Ramos ’14 Wins a Math for America Fellowship

A Math for America Fellowship has been awarded to Danny Ramos, a math major who graduates this spring from the Thomas Hunter Honors Program.

Ramos's fellowship will fully fund his studies at City College for a master's in adolescent math education. In exchange, he is making a four-year commitment to teach in the New York City schools, grades 7-12. He applied for the graduate fellowship on the advice of Professor Patrick Burke, who coordinates Hunter's Teacher Education Program in Adolescent Mathematics.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Ramos grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He credits his father's tutelage for his early interest in math.

"When I was in first grade, my dad tested me on the multiplication tables," he said, noting that memorization worked when he recited the tables in order, but not when he was given a random problem to solve.

"When memorization didn't help, I had to find a pattern," he recalled. "Understanding the pattern made me happy."

That happiness grew through high school and then at Hunter, where Ramos has tutored at the Mary P. Dolcioni Math Learning Center. "When I realized I was really good at explaining math, I began envisioning myself as a teacher," he said.