Math Circle Coaches

Fenqjen Luo, Associate Director

Email:  fluo@montana.edu
Phone:  (406) 994-5950
Fenqjen Luo is Associate Director of the Science Math Resource Center and the Director of the Montana Math Circle.  She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the The University of Texas at Austin and is currently a faculty member at the MSU Department of Education.

Current Coaches 

Sumaila Yakubu (2024 · Lead Coach)

Sumaila Yakubu is a PhD student in Curriculum and Instruction with a strong interest in mathematics education. He was born and raised in Tamale, a town in Northern Ghana. Sumaila holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Education Winneba in Ghana, and currently serves as an MSU Graduate Teaching Assistant for K-8 Math Methods. Upon completing his bachelor's degree, his passion for education became evident through his work as a high school mathematics teacher and a teaching assistant.

Sumaila Yakubu is committed to leveraging his academic background and teaching experience to make a meaningful impact in the field of mathematics education. He has a research interest in mathematical thinking and connections. Outside academia, Sumaila enjoys watching and playing soccer, and video games.

Amber Chou (2023-2024 · Assistant Coach)

Amber Chou is a returning Assistant Coach who will attend Carnegie-Mellon in the Fall of 2024.  Amber has been passionate about math since elementary school. Amber competed in the Montana state-wide MathCounts competition and achieved the top 10 every year in middle school. Moreover, she qualified for the honors roll in the AMC 8 exam. In high school, she qualified for the AIME exam through her AMC 12 score.

Amber is grateful for the opportunity to teach and inspire so many talented students to love math, as her teachers and peers did for her!

Ruby McNeil (2024 · Assistant Coach)

Ruby McNeil is a 2024 graduate of Gallatin High School in Bozeman. She is attending Rice University in the fall of 2024 with a major in Bioengineering. Ruby has competed in two American Math Competitions, including the AMC 12A&B, where she won first place in Montana. She finds STEM subjects the most interesting to study, and in her free time she enjoys playing the viola and tennis, not necessarily at the same time!

Past Coaches

Tannaz Goodarzi (2023 · Lead Coach)

Tannaz Goodarzi is a PhD student at Montana State University, where she studies Mathematics Education and serves as a teaching assistant for K-8 Mathematics Methods. Tannaz received her Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Pure Mathematics at the IKIU International University in Iran.  She enjoys music, dancing and aerobics; basically any activity with lots of energy!

Matthew Mycroft (2022 · Lead Coach)

Matthew Mycroft is a Senior in Mathematics Education at Montana State University.

In addition to math, Matthew enjoys playing music on the bass and drums, weightlifting,  hiking, and long walks with his wife.