Nueva Math Circle

Nueva Math Circle is a popular community event that celebrates math at its most engaging, enriching, and fun. Our events draw students from across the Bay Area at all grade levels (PreK to Grade 12) who come to enjoy intriguing mathematical activities, games, and demonstrations led by distinguished mathematicians and leading educators.

Please to be among the first to know about our events.

We couldn't be more excited for the biggest Nueva Math Circle we've ever hosted. We are thrilled to welcome special guest Dr. Po-Shen Loh, math professor at Carnegie Mellon and former national coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team. Featured presenters also include Ted Theodosopoulos (Nueva School) on Quantum Computing, Steven Chanan (Nueva School), Lora Saarnio (former Nueva Math Specialist), Puzzles in the Cafe hosted by famed local "Puzzle Guy" Stan Isaacs, and more!

If you think you'll be attending, we strongly recommend you purchase your tickets right away. Sessions fill up quickly and have sold out within hours in the past.

We hope you'll join us, and please help spread the word by forwarding this page to anyone you know who may be interested in an enriching and fun-filled afternoon of math!

Dr. Po-Shen Loh is a math professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former national coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team. His research and educational outreach take him to cities across the world. He reaches over 10,000 people each year through events, and his videos have garnered over 21 million YouTube views. He holds math degrees from Caltech, Cambridge and Princeton.

His keynote on "Future Proofing Our Children" is not to be missed: As AI advances at shocking speed, what is the future of humanity? How should people develop skills that will still be useful in a world filled with automation?

In this talk, Prof. Loh will share his latest recommendations on how to lean into what makes us human, how to navigate the future landscape of education (including college), and how to learn how to solve unfamiliar problems. Many of his recommendations are quite different from how students and parents currently approach life.

The keynote is for students Gr. 5-12. Parents are strongly encouraged to attend as Prof. Loh's message is intended for them as well.

After the keynote, Prof. Loh will host a special 1-hour Math Circle workshop with Gr. 6-8 students during the second half of the event.

Prof. Loh does not hold workshops of this nature often, and this workshop is exclusive to Nueva Math Circle. Don't miss this chance to dive deeper and learn directly from him!

This special 1-hour workshop with Prof. Loh is for Gr. 6-8 students and will follow the keynote. Capacity is limited due to space constraints, so please reserve your tickets now!

We're excited to bring the frontier topic of Quantum Computing to Nueva Math Circle for the first time! This is your chance to gain an introduction to this rapidly evolving field that has huge potential implications for the future of computation, cryptography, communication and more.

Ted Theodosopoulos teaches a variety of math & science courses at The Nueva Upper School, including Differential Equations, Graph Theory, Computational Biology, Quantum Information and Computation, and more. He has a BS, MS and PhD from MIT.

This special 1-hour session is for Gr. 9-12 students following the Keynote. Capacity is limited due to space constraints, so please reserve your tickets now!

Steven Chanan teaches math and music at Nueva School and also serves as the Math Club / Competition Coordinator. We're thrilled to have him hosting our Math Circle sessions for Grade 3-5 students.

Please note: tickets are limited due to capacity and often sell out quickly!

For our youngest students, we're delighted to welcome back Lora Saarnio to Nueva Math Circle. As a Math Specialist at Nueva School for 10 years, Lora helped to define an innovative, progressive approach to teaching math for students ranging from PreK through high school. She is also deeply involved in the math community, having served as our faculty advisor for Nueva Math Circle, Director of Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival, and more. Lora is currently a math teacher at Castilleja School.

Please note: tickets are limited due to capacity and often sell out quickly!

We're excited to have renowned local "Puzzle Guy" Stan Isaacs returning to host Puzzles in the Cafe at this event. Filling the entire space, his vast and dizzying array of mind-bending brain teasers for all ages - mostly personally invented and crafted by him - have been one of our most popular attractions in prior years.

Doors will open at 12:15pm for lunch and check-in before the Keynote and sessions begin at 1:00pm. In order to be respectful to our presenters and other students, we ask that you plan to arrive early in order to have enough time to check-in and get to your first session before it starts.

There will be plenty of outdoor tables with seating for those who would like to have lunch on-campus before the event.

Pizza and snacks will be available for purchase at the event as usual. Nueva Math Circle has gone cashless, and we accept credit / debit / Apple Pay / Google Pay.

Doors will open at 12:15pm for check-in before sessions begin at 1:00pm.

This is a community-wide event that is open to the public.

Parking is available in the school garage and adjacent overflow lot. Even better, the Hillsdale Caltrain station is now just across the street from campus!

Please be advised that this is *not* a drop-off event. Parents are invited to join their child(ren) in the LS sessions (required for PK-2, at parents' discretion for Gr 3-4).

Parents generally do not need their own ticket if you are just planning to accompany your students to the event.

We strongly recommend registering ASAP as seats are limited and some sessions fill up quickly.

By registering for this event, activity, class, or program (“Event”), the Registrant indicates their understanding of and agreement to the following:

1. All amounts paid at the time of registration, excluding service fees, will be refunded if an Event is canceled or admission is denied for any reason. No other remedy shall be offered.

2. Participation in this Event is voluntary and Registrant expressly waives any and all claims against The Nueva School that may arise from such participation and agrees to hold The Nueva School harmless should injury of any sort or severity occur during or in connection with my attendance. This waiver of liability and agreement to hold harmless extends to children included by Registrant in this registration, and to loss or damage to any personal property Registrant or Registrant’s children bring with them to the Event.

3. The Nueva School does not assume responsibility for children attending this Event. Such responsibility remains with each child’s parent or guardian. Registrant shall, therefore, provide adequate adult supervision onsite at all times for the children they register for this Event and promptly address any behavior deemed hurtful or disruptive by Event organizers.

4. All event participants shall adhere to the policy of The Nueva School that prohibits publishing in any format or on any platform any photographic image or video image of a minor child without the express permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian.

5. Registrant is expected to show respect to co-participants and to Event sponsors & hosts, and to ask the dependent children they accompany to the Event to do the same. Registrant accepts responsibility for the cost of repairing or remedying any damage caused by them and/or those included in this registration.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Nueva School - San Mateo Campus, 131 E. 28th Ave., San Mateo, United States