SIAM-AMS Student Media Fellows Announced

The SIAM-AMS Student Media Fellows Program is excited to announce its first two student media fellows! These students will not only interview industry mathematicians for the BIG Jobs Live Interview Series but will also receive training from Philadelphia's public media station, WHYY. All those interested in participating in the inaugural webinar happening November 13 at 2pm ET should register here.

The Fellows

Sarah Minucci

At the 2016 SIAM Annual Meeting in Boston, Sarah Minucci listened to Susan Sohler Everingham talk about her career as a mathematician at RAND, Inc. This experience changed the way Sarah thought about math and the opportunities possible for her. Later she contacted Professor Everingham, who encouraged Sarah to conduct more "informational interviews" whenever she met people whose jobs sounded interesting or heard them talk at conferences. Through broadcasting these interviews, Sarah wants participating students to know that they do not need professional training to seek out their own opportunities to learn about industry, government, and other career paths. Her hope is that these interviews provide exposure to unfamiliar careers, and that she can encourage students to think in new ways and to pursue their passions after graduation.

Sarah is a fourth-year PhD student from Nashville, Tennessee, studying applied math at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Her research is in mathematical biology, focusing on mathematical modeling of the immune response to lung damage due to mechanical ventilation. When she's not at school, she can be found running, baking, or trying out a new coffee shop.

Caitlin Waddle

Caitlin (Katie) Waddle went to The University of Chicago, where she received a strong mathematical background. She then earned a Master's degree in education, and became a high school teacher in San Francisco. Caitlin has always been interested in the narratives that people have about themselves - how other people view themselves and their worlds. After eight years of teaching public high school Caitlin decided to consider other careers. She is now in the Master's program in mathematics at San Francisco State University and is currently applying to PhD programs for next fall. She likes the idea of working in a team of people on a more concrete project and is interested to discover what job possibilities exist for someone with a strong background in math.

She holds an undergraduate degree in math from The University of Chicago. Originally from Minnesota, Katie loves graph theory, teaching students who don?t love math yet, and long distance running.

BIG Jobs Live Interview Series

The first interview of the series will take place on November 13 at 2pm ET with Sarah Minucci interviewing Dr. Sumanth Swaminathan, co-founder and CEO of Iterex Therapeutics.

Sumanth Swaminathan

Dr. Swaminathan’s initial foray into industrial mathematics was an appointment as technology consultant at W.L. Gore & associates (2012). Here, he led a team of interdisciplinary PhDs in leveraging predictive models to optimize technology operation and development. Following this, he completed a fellowship at the Data Incubator NYC and moved onto a role as Chief Data Scientist at Revon Systems Inc. This role focused on the development, testing, and deployment of triage prediction models for identifying at-home flare-ups of chronic lung and heart disease, which led to Dr. Swaminathan’s current role as cofounder and CEO of Iterex Therapeutics. Here, Sumanth is responsible for innovating company products and developing/executing company business strategy. Dr. Swaminathan earned his BSE in chemical engineering from University of Delaware (2005) and PhD in applied mathematics from Northwestern University (2009).

This interview series is produced by SIAM and AMS as part of the Tondeur Initiatives. These career-focused collaborative initiatives by AMS, MAA, and SIAM are made possible by Claire-Lise and Philippe Tondeur and supported by the BIG Math Network, which has additional resources at bigmathnetwork.org.