Why ChooseJMathG?
Plain and simple - I love helping people and I love math. Those two facts, combined with the fact that my name is
Jonathan Matthew Gerhard,
have brought me to create my
personal tutoring service,
JMathG
The most important thing a teacher can do is inspire their students and show them the subject they are learning is fun and exciting. The first teacher to show me how fun and beautiful and fascinating math can be was my 10th grade math teacher Mr. Baird.
I won't claim to make you love math, but I will show you that it's not the impenetrable beast many make it seem! My main goal with this tutoring service is to be YOUR Mr. Baird. Math IS wonderful - more people should know that.
I started out helping friends with math at West Springfield High School in Virginia and by my second year of undergrad at James Madison University, I spent much of my free time tutoring people in math, science, and writing.
I continued tutoring throughout my graduate career at the University of Michigan, adding higher level mathematics, writing research papers, and academic program/grant applications to my tutoring skillset.
Despite those high level topics, some of my favorite tutoring is with grade school kids, where it's possible to stop the stigma against math before it even begins developing!
I've been lucky enough to spread the positivity of math through many educational activities (including a Mathematical Magic!) at local elementary and middle schools and other wonderful outreach opportunities.
Now I'm focusing on my tutoring business full time! Utilizing Zoom and a drawing tablet, you will get the quick, clean instruction you'd expect during an in-person tutoring session from anywhere in the world!
Further, all your lessons can be saved and accessed later in your profile for review at any time.
Also, if you're within a few hours of the Shenandoah Valley, I have no problems traveling to tutor in-person.
If you want to learn how beautiful and fun math can be from a very enthusiastic nerd, please contact me today!
Reviews from the NSF
When I was getting ready to apply to graduate schools in 2017, I applied for the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). I ended up getting it! I wanted to post their reviews of my personal statement/research plan here so that you can get a better idea of who I am!
He has served as both president and vice president of the mathematics club at his institution. He has visited local schools and talked to middle school students about mathematics. He served as a co-creator of a mathematics class designed to illustrate the beauty of mathematics. He doesn't note any future broader impacts.
The applicant has given an impressive number of presentations and serves a president of the math club at JMU. Additionally, the applicant co-developed a seminar course for sophomores, which is student-run (already third time).
He is a strong student, who has already begun to establish himself as a researcher. He should be successful in graduate school, and ultimately as a research mathematician. He is to be commended on his participation in broader impact activities.
He will complete a BS at James Madison University in May of 2017. He has taken rigorous courses, and earned perfect grades. He participated in the Math in Moscow program. He has several publications and numerous presentations. He is a winner of a Goldwater scholarship. References letters are strong. He proposes research in graph theory and algebra. He explains the background and clearly states the problem he wishes to address. He doesn't give quite enough detail regarding his plan of attack.
The proposed research is well developed, builds on the past published results of the applicant, and is designed to connect objects across various areas of combinatorics/graph theory. Further, the applicant demonstrates a very well developed ability to collaborate.
The applicant has used a variety of opportunities to prepare for a career as a mathematician. A strength of the application is the relative ease with which the applicant moves from discussing computational tools to theoretical frameworks.
He will complete a BS at James Madison University in May of 2017. He has taken rigorous courses, and earned perfect grades. He participated in the Math in Moscow program. He has several publications and numerous presentations. He is a winner of a Goldwater scholarship. References letters are strong. He proposes research in graph theory and algebra. He explains the background and clearly states the problem he wishes to address. He doesn't give quite enough detail regarding his plan of attack.
The applicant is a great candidate for a graduate school and receiving the NSF support. The preparedness of the applicant in terms of the academic achievements and (already) co-authored publications is excellent. The broader impacts component is also well-represented. Some of the references even point out that some of the current efforts can be shifted from outreach toward the research itself, but it does not diminish the overall great performance of the applicant.
Click here to read my full personal statement, here for my full research plan, and here for their full application review.
