Our staff is built to teach each student individually, to develop the skills they need to thrive in mathematics, and to foster a love of learning.

Bari Kahar, Owner/Advisor, Ed.D. Candidate, PENN CLO

Mathnasium Mastery Certified - Center Director
Favorite number: 39. Something funny about math: Life is all about numbers and organizing them. One life philosophy that you want every student to learn: Always get done the easy and simple math done in your math test first. Academic background: Masters in Education Leadership, Public Policy, and International Development from the University of St. Thomas, Bachelor's in Computer science from Minnesota State University. How you fell in love with math: When my eighth-grade teacher Mr. Kashem taught me how to always score better math scores. He has been a school district parent and community educator since early 2000. With his three sons Aver, Reevu and Ray he is a busy parent always. He even gets busier, when 140 other parents are asking him to develop their kids' love for math. His mission is to make the after-school additional Math learning experience as fun and accessible as possible to the 20, 000 students around him.

Irina Kahar, Owner/Principal Instructor, Ph.D. in Computer Engineering

Mathnasium Certified - Center Director
Irina's favorite number is 6. She has a PhD. in Computer Engineering from Wayne State University in Michigan. She has taught students in High school, College, and Universities for more than 15 years. Currently, in her full-time role, she is a Data Management Specialist at Mayo Clinic. With three sons, Mathnasium is something she enjoys on the side. Irina thinks a mathematician is "a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there." One life philosophy she wants every student to learn: whatever happens in life, happens for something good. She fell in love with math doing Algebra.

Thomas Arndt

Mathnasium Lead Instructor
Tom's favorite number is zero. Tom enjoys strategy games, cycling, and astronomy. He holds bachelor's degrees in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. He sees mathematics as the indispensable tool for understanding the world.

Nathan Mihm, University of Minnesota, Math Major

Mathnasium Lead Instructor
Nathan’s favorite number is exp(π√163), a strange irrational number that is remarkably close to an integer. He is very distinguished in the realm of competitive mathematics. This includes currently being a member of the Minnesota All State Mathematics Team, and competing in prestigious, national math contests like the American Regional Mathematics League competition. Outside of math, he enjoys coding in Python and playing the piano. In the future, he plans to attend college to study mathematics with a minor in computer science. For fun, he has memorized over 500 digits of π, and continues to learn more for each Pi Day. Nathan developed a passion with mathematics during the 9th grade when he first participated in the Eagan High School mathematics team.

John Stokesbary

Instructor
My favorite number would have to be the golden ratio (about 1.62) since it has such a strong connection to the natural world. Some things I enjoy doing are playing tennis, making music, and learning about trees. I’ve always loved math, with its major connection to physics, engineering, and the natural world as a whole, and am so glad I have the chance to share my enthusiasm with others!

Gwen Lindahl

Instructor
Gwen is a part of a variety of activities including robotics, band, choir, and speech. She also enjoys the outdoors, hiking on family camping trips is always a summer highlight. Gwen's favorite number is 13, and she has a passion for teaching others and watching their math skills grow.

Howard Mundy

Instructor
Howard is a retired high school math teacher, tech-school computer programming instructor, and software engineer mostly in high-performance computing and internet app development.  He has lived in Minnesota all his life and received his degree from St. Cloud State University studying math, physics, and secondary education.  He was certified in Minnesota to teach high school math and physics.  His academic passion has always been mathematics.  In retirement his ambition is to be a resource for students needing some additional help and, if possible, help them acquire the same love for math that he has. His favorite number is the imaginary number i.

Our Mathnasium Mission

Teach children math so they understand it, master it, and love it. Math can change their lives, and they can change the world.

What I love about Mathnasium is the ability to teach problem-solving skills and make math make sense, while also making a student smile.
Amber W., Mathnasium Instructor

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