It is the middle of March, and for a lot of people, the highlight of the college basketball season. At Project Lead The Way, we always say that STEM is part of everyday life, and March Madness is no exception. So while you get ready for two and a half solid weeks of college hoops, here are a few fun facts you probably didn’t know about your favorite time of the year. They might even help you pick the winning team for your bracket.
- The odds of selecting a perfect 63-game bracket are one in 128 billion. One researcher explains why flipping a coin is your best bet for building a winning bracket. Another says science can help you win.
- Think basketball has always been played with a net? Think again. Here’s the engineering of the game.
- No. 1 seed Duke University’s Biomedical Engineering program is ranked No. 2 in the nation, right after Johns Hopkins University.
- Player with the most interesting STEM-related major? Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin, who is studying Life Sciences Communication.
- Sixty-eight teams are vying for the national championship, but which team wins when it comes to STEM degrees? Duke, Purdue, Iowa State, and UCLA land in the “final four” for the top-ranked universities that grant the most STEM degrees.
- Of the 68 universities represented in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, 13 support Project Lead The Way as affiliate universities dedicated to K-12 STEM education. (Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wichita State, Iowa, San Diego State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, New Mexico State, and North Dakota State)
