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Integral Bee Starts New Tradition at Florida Polytechnic University

April 26, 2017

Move over spellers. The math whizzes are here.

Florida Poly recently hosted its first Integral Bee, a friendly competition among students to determine who can best solve the math problems known as integrals. Organizers say the inaugural competition was an outstanding success and poised to become a tradition at Florida Poly.

“The students did great and had a lot of fun,” says Dr. Jared Bunn, assistant professor of mathematics. “I’m looking forward to doing it again next year.”

About 25 students participated in this first event, plus two staff and four faculty. Student Billy Brickner, took first place, followed by Jack Doziel, Matthew Desaulniers and Christopher Medrano. The student leadership of the Math Club at Florida Poly are tentatively planning to host a Derivative Bee in the Fall for students who have not learned the higher math required to solve integrals.

Integral Bees are traditions at universities like MIT, Texas A&M University and University of Florida. Florida Poly’s Inaugural Bee was planned under the Math Club’s leadership, President Michele Holzemer, Vice President Jamie Blanco and Success Coach Kris Kindle.

Session Details

This session will demonstrate that practical risk management is for everyone, regardless of a formal program. Attendees will learn actionable and simple strategies that are easy to implement, enabling them to start immediately by focusing on their top risks to build greater operational resilience and ensure the sustained success of their auxiliary enterprises.

Presenter Profile

Michelle Powell serves as the pioneering Risk Manager at Florida Polytechnic University, the state’s sole 100% STEM-dedicated institution. Having been with the university for nearly 11 years, Michelle transitioned from a leadership role in Admissions in October 2023 to establish and evolve the risk management function from the ground up. In this solo capacity, Michelle builds robust frameworks for our dynamic, young university, overseeing our insurance portfolio, consulting on third-party and event risks, and developing critical campus-wide training programs. Michelle has obtained the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) Enterprise Risk Management certificate and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designations. Her distinct background in mathematics and engineering, combined with extensive higher education leadership, brings an analytical and strategic approach enhancing the institution’s resilience.