Taylor Howard earned her degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Statistics, Computer Science How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I analyze numbers and try to identify trends or patterns. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Loving math, solving problems. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I knew there were accountants and mathematicians but not much beyond that with math. I was inspired by NUMB3RS, a television show where the main character is a mathematician. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? Math was my favorite subject in school. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Attend hackathons, go to conferences, get a glimpse of new technology. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Keep trying no matter what! Thank you for contributing, Taylor!
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Victoria Miller is pursuing her degree in Computer Science and Mathematical Decision Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Business, with concentrations in finance and consulting How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I make programs that do all sorts of cool things such as helping other people have better lives or things that help others have fun! What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Strategy games What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I realized I was really good at math and loved it. It made a lot of sense to me and I was the best in my class at it so it made me feel good about myself. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I took computer science as a prerequisite for my major and realized it was something I truly enjoyed. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? I made a Chrome extension that helps disabled people that don't have full function of their hands use Facebook. Others have done things like create their own servers for Minecraft. Some people have done artificial intelligence to make software more like humans! What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Be brave! Perfection is not the goal. Struggling is going to happen, and trial and error is what makes some of the world's best things! I always struggle which makes me feel even better when I finally get it. It's a great reward! Thank you for contributing, Victoria! Lisa Dunleavy earned her degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Business, with concentrations in finance and consulting How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? A field where you use your skill set in order to solve problems. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field?
What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? My older brother really liked math and my whole family does business, so focusing on math homework was encouraged in my house. I also had very inspirational and great math teachers. They would make math relatable to every day life while making it fun. Imagine saying that - math is fun (my teacher had a poster that literally said that in the classroom). Having a great math teacher makes all of the difference. My teacher knew most people when they grew up were scared of fractions, so she did an exercise where we all screamed for 2 minutes about fractions. This made it fun, and I loved fractions after that. Using analogies like "you can't break up the brother and sister" would help as well. I'm not going to lie, anything computer-related freaked me out. It wasn't until college when I took a computer science class that I became less freaked out. I wish I had learned more about it when I was younger. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I think it was just the teachers I had that made math fun. Then I started getting involved with Mu Alpha Theta (math competitions) with my friends which were a ton of fun! I think being at a certain school and where it's fun and cool to "be nerdy" is awesome. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Consulting and finance technically don't really fall under "STEM", but I've had really great opportunities in those areas. Accounting may fall under STEM. With audit (there's not really a cool way to put this) it's making sure that companies report their finances correctly in order to prevent fraud or misrepresentation to people who are invested in their company. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Pursuing a career in STEM will allow you to shape the future of the world we live in. It allows you to come up with creative solutions to the world's problems and help others. Thank you for contributing, Lisa! Jill Gostin earned her Master’s in Mathematics from Georgia Tech. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Math/Computer Science/Applied Math How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I analyze data and apply mathematical techniques to understand the data. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? The ability to focus, problem solving, curiosity. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? When I was in kindergarten, my oldest sister was studying computer science in college (and would bring home punch cards for me to play with). I was already doing and enjoying math problems for fun, so my parents encouraged me by buying me math work books. Teachers later saw my aptitude and continued to encourage me to work math and logic problems. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I was told I was good at it, so I decided to major in math in college. There, I took classes that gave us real-world problems to solve mathematically -- I saw real applications of math, that could impact the world! I was inspired to continue studying. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Watch the movie, Hidden Figures, for one example of "cool" stuff that mathematicians can do. Mathematicians help solve the world's problems with food/water shortages, traffic congestion, the spread of disease. We help keep us safe by contributing to missile tracking, and helping to develop sensors to detect threats around us. At the basis of all technology is mathematics. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? The best way to positively impact humanity, to create a better world for everyone, is through technology -- the STEM fields. Thank you for contributing, Jill! Kelly Stevens earned her Master's Degree in Mathematics from Virginia Tech. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Quantum Computers How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I'm working to figure out to make a new kind of computer. I solve tricky interesting problems all day long. I love computer programming. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? A child that is proud to solve "difficult" puzzles (like word search or sudoku) might have an early aptitude. Another indicator would be stubborn persistence because this turns into an ability to focus on one tough problem for a long time. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? As a very young child my father let me "help him" fix the car, tinkering on the computer, fix things around the house, build a business. His willingness to teach me these things indicated to me that there was no gender barrier. He also taught me the value of hard work by employing me in his landscaping business from age 10-18. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? By middle and high school I was doing well in math. My initial choice of STEM for a field coming out of high school was mainly driven by desire to have stable finances as an adult. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? We play with lasers. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Scientists need a lot of creativity. Many women are naturally creative, so it's great to be able to bring that to the workplace. The best part about doing science is that you are creating something that is both beautiful (creative) and useful. It feels great to discover something new every day. Thank you for contributing, Kelly! Anne Costolanski earned her degree in Applied Mathematics from North Carolina State University and now works as an electrical engineer. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Applied Math/Electrical Engineering How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I write and test computer programs that model the behavior of radar systems. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Enjoying playing with numbers, calculators, or solving math problems. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I didn't know anything about my STEM field when I was young. My interest in math was sparked by an elementary school teacher, who advanced me from the 2nd grade math group to the 3rd grade math group. Then in 7th grade I had a wonderful pre-algebra teacher who really instilled a love for the subject in me. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? I chose to get a math degree because I'd always loved math. I ended up being an engineer because I also liked physics, and it was a great combination of math and physics. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? People I work with travel to interesting places to test radars -- sometimes they visit big navy ships, or travel to Arizona or Alaska. What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? Follow your passion and do what you love, and don't let anyone discourage you! Thank you for contributing, Anne! Melissa Rost earned her MS in Statistics and BS in Applied Mathematics, both from Georgia Tech. Here she shares a little about her career and the inspiration behind it. What is your specific area of STEM? Applied Mathematics and Statistics How would you explain your STEM field to young girls? I analyze data from many different fields to try to make sense of it and to try to gain a better understanding of what is really going on, how something could be improved, or to predict an outcome from the data available. What traits might a child possess that may indicate an interest or aptitude for your STEM field? Just enjoying math in general as a child and through high school might indicate an aptitude towards studying math since so many children dislike math. For STEM fields more broadly, I think a general curiosity about the world and asking questions about how and why things work in a certain way might indicate an aptitude. What did you know about your STEM field when you were a child? I knew that I always enjoyed math growing up and that I was really good at it. I remember having so much fun during the summers doing the extra problems from the math workbooks. My mom also has a math degree so I remember hearing about her working with numbers for her job, but I don't think I knew much about career options with a math degree outside of her job. Why did you choose your STEM field? Were you inspired by someone? When I was applying to Georgia Tech, I remember looking over all of the majors and honestly not knowing what any of the specific types of engineers were. I remember being told that my grandfather was an engineer when I was a kid, but no one ever told me what type, so I honestly didn't really know there were types until then. When I saw math, I knew I loved math and that I was really good at it, so it seemed like a great choice. And it was. I loved my classes and I loved learning and proving why something was true and not just taking it to be true just because. I took engineering classes and really saw the difference between the ‘math’ thought process and an engineering one, which has more of a focus on taking the result that is assumed to be true and applying it to solve problems. I love asking questions and I love knowing the details of ‘why’ so seeing the engineering side further confirmed to me that math was the right choice. What are some really cool things that people in your profession work on? Data is everywhere, so really data analysis has a place everywhere and you could work in whatever field you want! There are people who analyze sports data, manufacturing and sales data from things like toys, health data - everything! What inspirational message would you give young girls to inspire them to pursue STEM? You are just as capable as the boys despite what anyone tells you so go for it! Thank you for contributing, Melissa! |
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