SIAM Welcomes Two New Staff Members

The SIAM team is excited to welcome two new staff members. Get to know:

• Jurnee Jessie
• Katie McGowan

Jurnee Jessie, Student Member Coordinator

Prior to joining SIAM, Jurnee gained experience interning with various non-profit organizations and NGOs across the Northeast. Jurnee, originally from the MONTCO region of Pennsylvania, is a recent graduate of Howard University and excited to be back in the area.

As SIAM’s Student Member Coordinator, Jurnee will be responsible for managing the student chapter program and working to engage current student members.

Q: Why are you excited to be working at SIAM?

A: Thus far, SIAM, its staff, and our global network of student members have been a pleasure to work with. I'm excited to work for SIAM because of them!

Q: What part of SIAM’s mission statement do you connect with?

A: I feel most connected to SIAM's mission to promote research! Innovation in mathematics means innovation for society as a whole.

Q: Why do you think STEM is important?

A: STEM is important because it's foundational. Without it, we wouldn't have the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, or the ability to communicate with anyone in just a few clicks.

Q: What is one thing that most people do not know about you?

A: Over the past few years, I've figured out the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies!

Q: How do you see your role positively impacting the SIAM community as a whole?

A: As the student membership coordinator, I hope to increase SIAM's network of students who are passionate about the field of mathematics and emboldened by SIAM’s mission. Students are the future of SIAM and math! As SIAM's Student Member Coordinator, it is my job to handle everything related to student chapters and our student members.

Katie McGowan, Sales Account Manager

Prior to joining SIAM, Katie has worked in publishing her whole career. She started as an editorial assistant and learned the business as a publicist, a marketing manager, and a sales associate. She has worked in higher education at McGraw-Hill, trade and professional sales to independent bookstores, chains, and corporate markets at Wiley. She also spent the past 10 years at Annual Reviews, focusing on library customers in the European market. 

As SIAM’s Sales Account Manager, Katie is responsible for sales in the U.S. and Canada selling to academic, corporate, and government libraries.

Q: Why are you excited to be working at SIAM? 

A: I am happiest when I am learning something new and growing. Our industry is going through a lot of transition—new business models, AI, government budget cuts, etc. I am growing and learning every day in my role.

Q: What part of SIAM’s mission statement do you connect with? 

A: I am struck by the role mathematics plays advancing science and technology and how we are doing something important.

Q: Why do you think STEM is important?

A: The world has a lot of problems that need solving. STEM education will equip future scholars, inventors, and leaders to think critically and problem solve.

Q: What is one thing that most people do not know about you?

A: I was once on QVC because our author had a family emergency. I had to sell cookbooks on live TV for 5 minutes.

Q: How do you see your role positively impacting the SIAM community as a whole?

A: Our journals and eBooks are the first introduction to SIAM at the student level, and hopefully help bring in lifelong members. My manager, Rosa Perez, has been managing global sales single handedly. Together, we hope to expand our reach to every math, computer science, data science, and engineering program in the world so SIAM can continue to grow and impact society.