Pi(e) your professor

Celebrate Pi day and smash one in a prof’s face
By Carolyn Ly, Ravneet Gill and Kaman Sandhu, Contributors
The Student Society of Science and Society (SSST) is a club at Mount Royal University that was started in 2016 by general science students Kaman Sandhu and Carolyn Ly. SSST is a multidisciplinary hub for all science and technology students with various ongoing events throughout the year meant to connect students, professors, career professionals and community members.
Pi Day Event
On March 14, the SSST is holding its annual pi day celebration in honour of the mathematical constant. What better way to celebrate than to pi(e) a prof with the proceeds going towards a local charity? The event will take place in Wyckham House where the SSST has teamed up again with Bagging for Calgary’s Kids (BB4CK). For every $1 donation, BB4CK is able to provide a healthy lunch for one child. Last year, SSST hosted the event and with the generous support from the MRU community, over $300 was donated to the cause. This year, the society hopes to exceed that goal and have included professors outside of the science and technology faculty. Interested folks can purchase a shaving cream pie or two to throw at their professors, sponsor a stranger to pie a prof for them, or just donate money. It costs just $2 to throw a pie and $4 to do a walk up and smush.
Celebration in STEM
SSST will also be hosting their first Celebration of a STEM event on April 6, 2018 at Wild Rose Brewery, in collaboration with MRU’s Research Week. The purpose of the event is to celebrate and recognize achievements within STEM, in addition to hearing stories of individuals who are underrepresented in the fields. The society would like to discuss principles of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the dialogue of the event while still maintaining a focus on the scientific aspect of their careers. The goal is to bring awareness to MRU, and see how, as a community working together, there can be meaningful and purposeful change around EDI in STEM. The event is free, but tickets will be limited so if you are interested in attending make sure to RSVP on the society’s website: https://mrussst.wixsite.com/
- Professor Jordan Kidney is surrounded by James Bergeron, Nick Anderson, and other students during Pi Day 2017. Photo by Steve Hoang-Tran
- Professor Bill Scott pies professors Jonathan Mee and Alexis Morris during Pi Day 2017. Photo by Steve Hoang-Tran
- Professors Bill Scott and Nathan Ackroyd being pied by students Nic Capp (in the pink sleeves) and Nathan Albinati (in the hat) during Pi Day 2017. Photo by Steve Hoang-Tran
- Desiree Balintongog pies Professor Rod Montague during Pi-Day-2017. Photo by Steve Hoang-Tran