Alumni & Professor, Kagba Suaray, Ph.D. Biography

Alumni & Professor, Kagba Suaray, Ph.D.

BIOGRAPHY

Alumni, Dr. Kagba Suaray is currently in his 16th year as a professor of Mathematics and Statistics at California State University, Long Beach. In this position, he serves as Graduate Advisor for one of the largest Applied Statistics masters programs in the state. He has also served as the director of Upward Bound Math Science at CSULB and is a product of the McNair scholars’ program.

The Hesabu Circle came about in June 2020 as the intentional response of Southern California Black math faculty and university program administrators to the academic and social devastation caused by the dual pandemics of covid and systemic racism to our community. The result is the creation of a math circle for Black families with an Afrocentric lens thru culturally centered pedagogy. The Circle’s vision is to be a far-reaching virtual support network with local in-person expressions, the first being in the greater Long Beach area. Virtual Hesabu Circle events on Zoom have reached hundreds of participants from four continents.

Locally, partnering with the Jordan High Math Collaborative, LBUSD Black Student Achievement Initiative, Business of Student Success (BOSS), and Bridge Builders (non-profit arm of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc) has led to hundreds of local students learning about what it means to be a “Math-Is-Me-tician". This work gives students direct contact to PhDs and university students majoring in mathematics and physics that look like them. By providing this support, the Circle aims to increase interest and participation in the mathematical sciences by Black students, because sometimes you have to “see” it to “be” it.

As a founding member of The Hesabu Circle, he strives to help young people discover the power of their mathematical identity in the context of the Black community, as he did many years ago. The Hesabu Circle has held in-person and virtual culturally centered mathematical explorations with hundreds of participants from four continents.

As co-PI of the Long Beach Data Science Learning Community, an effort to increase participation in data science and machine learning for students of color (funded by the CSU and Apple), Dr. Suaray is at the forefront of this work in the city of Long Beach. 

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