Where can mathematics lead you? Math and you.
Needless to say, the answer is: anywhere! The Math Mov!es team had the opportunity to interview professionals who work in various fields: wireless communication, oil and gas industry, principal engineer, chemical engineer, medicine, law, ecology, genetics, and more.
All of them use mathematics to various degrees, from basic arithmetic, to high school mathematics, to higher-level mathematics such as functions analysis, statistics, and stochastic processes in their day to day life.
Let's meet our interviewees and figure out what their profession have to do with mathematics!
Mathematics and Astrophysics
- Aditya
 I know Aditya via a summer scholar camp in Canberra, Australia. Although he originally studied mathematics, Aditya developed an interest in astrophysics, and is now in his final year of his undergraduate degree. Of course, it wasn't astronomy, but mathematics that led him directly into this field.
“I chose to study mathematics at university because God told me to! Joking – because with every unit I completed I got more interested to complete the next unit. Mathematics gives me a means to think about everything in life a logical way, and more importantly we figure out what we don't know.”
Mathematics and Medicine, Ecology, Economics, Genetics…
- Ngoc
Yo, it is me (again). A mathematics student with an interest in probability and statistics theory, I am now in my final year of undergraduate. During my second year of my undergradute study, I started working part-time as a statistics consultant, and boy! The kind of projects that I was involved in! From modelling avian flu, to calculating economic indicators, to comparing gene detection software … The most recent project I am involved with is funded by the World Wildlife Foundation, and we have had some very interesting findings.
“I enjoy working with fresh problems brought to me by people from various fields. Yes, if you are unsure of which degree to choose since you like many things, mathematics is the career for you! (Statistics and operations research, especially). Really, what other jobs can give you this opportunity?”
Mathematics and Wireless communications, signal processing
- Sean
I met Sean through a soccer match. This amazing engineer scores the most beautiful goals even in his spare time. Currently doing his PhD on increasing the maximum transmission rate of data in wireless communication, Sean emailed me one day and said: “I wish I had done more mathematics...”
“Basically math is the fundamental tool used in almost every research work in engineering. The more math knowledge one has, the more ways one can approach a problem, i.e. the problem is more likely to be solved nicely.”
Mathematics and Law
- Kevin
I think I met Kevin at a dinner. A very sociable, humorous and knowledgeable lawyer, Kevin enthusiastically answered our interview. He is now doing his masters in law (on criminal defence work, justice studies, rule of law).
“I need statistics to an extent. Relevant to criminal law is the use of statistics regarding conviction rates for particular crimes, for example. Mathematics can be useful for other lawyers such as civil litigators, for example a lecturer of mine... was aided in studying in depth epidemiology." (This uses Statistics. His particular specialty is medical negligence).
Mathematics and material structures, oil and gas industry
- Kim
A very nice friend I met via badminton and volleyball. Kim specializes in engineering, mainly in the study of advanced material structures and their applications. She also holds a degree in commerce and finance. The degree has allowed her to spend a summer with the oil and gas industry (working for Shell). Kim acknowledges the importance of mathematics in her career, and revealed to us that she has only started to like it recently.
“Despite my future career goal of being an engineer whose indisputable best friend is math and logic, I actually only began appreciating and enjoying math several years ago. Back when I was in junior high, it was one of my most dreaded and disliked subject (I was terrible at it). Fast forward a couple of years later with the aid of a great math teacher I met in high school, I am now on track to be an engineer who uses math in almost everything.”
Mathematics and signal processing, principal engineer
- Nagi
Our ThinkQuest assistant coach and the brother of a friend, I had the opportunity to catch Nagi in Melbourne, Australia last year before he hopped off to England. With a double degree in mathematics and engineering, it seems that mathematics brings him joy, and frequent tickets to overseas, such as Japan and UK.
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