How Math is Changing the World

On Thursday September 19, 2013 Michael Dorff, A rofessor of Mathematics at

!rin"ham youn" #ni$ersity presented a collo%uium on the "ro&th of math related 'ob
opportunities( )e e*plained some +ey benefits of learnin" math and "a$e e*amples of
some 'ob opportunities that are a$ailable to math ma'ors( )e also tal+ed about &ays that
students can impro$e their chances of bein" hired(
Michael be"an by as+in" the audience ,-hy learn math.,( Some of the ob$ious
ans&ers &ere to "et a 'ob, teaches problem sol$in" s+ills, and intellectually stimulatin"(
An ans&er that / didn0t e*pect &as that math is beautiful( / had ne$er before considered
the idea that math &as $ie&ed as beautiful and &as interested to see &hy this &as true(
An e*ample he "a$e to sho& this &as soap bubbles &hich indeed are intricate and
beautiful in their shapes, mo$ements, and properties( Thin+in" also of dynamical systems
and ima"es such as the Manderbolt set or 1ulia sets &hich also fall under that same
cate"ory( !efore this / ne$er $ie&ed math this &ay but no& / can see $arious fields of
study that &ould lead one to this conclusion and / +no& a"ree that math is indeed
beautiful(
A "reat part of Michaels speech &as dedicated to the types of careers that employ
math ma'ors( The list is as follo&s2
3n"ineers
4aytheon
!oein"
5eneral Dynamics
ro"rammer
6ast 3nterprises
3pic Systems
Sirsi Dynamics
6inancial Analyst
5oldman Sachs
7apital One
4!S 5lobal ban+in"
Operations 4esearch Analyst
8aurence 8i$ermore 8abs
Department of Defense
8e$el 3 7ommunications
Medical 4esearcher
7enter 6or Disease 7ontrol
7ryptanalyst
-ashin"otn D7
7(/(A
Actuary
Data Minin" and Analytics
5oo"le
Sports Teams
)omeland Security
As &e note from this list there are many 'ob opportunities a$ailable to those &ho ha$e a
de"ree in math( 6urthermore the top 19 hi"hest earnin" colle"es de"rees ha$e math s+ills
as a main re%uirement( Also on &eusemath(or", &hich Michael mentioned in his lecture,
lists :0 hi"h ran+in" 'obs that re%uire math( 3ach 'ob listin" e*plains &hat the 'ob
consists of , &hat the math re%uirements are for that particular 'ob, the reason that math is
re%uired and the lo&, median, and hi"h e*pected salaries( This further confirms Michaels
point that there are an abundance of opportunities for math ma'ors &hich is contrary to
common thin+in"(
One of the last thin"s )e co$ered &as &hat employers thin+ about math "rads and
&hat employers recommend students do to increase their mar+etability( 6irst off
employers li+e math "rads due to their problem sol$in" s+ills, their ability to
abstract;ta+e an idea and put it into a ne& settin"<, their attention to detail, and because
they can thin+ of problems in different &ays( All a"ain $ery "ood reasons to de$elop
stron" math s+ills( /n terms of increasin" ones mar+etability employers recommend that
one learns a pro"rammin" lan"ua"e( This is becomin" more and more important as
computers become more and more a part of our daily li$es( De$elop "ood communication
s+ills such as &ritin" and tal+in"( This is helpful &hen ta+in" a comple* idea and
e*plainin" it to someone that does not +no& as much( !e proacti$e= Do internships, "et
in$ol$ed in research pro'ects, beef up your resume( etc(
All in all there is no do&nside to ha$in" a stron" math bac+"round( >ou &ill ha$e
"ained a stron" set of problem sol$in" s+ills and abilities, you &ill ha$e "ro&n
intellectually, you &ill ha$e "ained an appreciation for the comple* &orld that &e li$e in,
and amon" other thin"s you &ill ha$e $ery "ood 'ob prospects( / for one no& ha$e a
"reater appreciation for math and the possibilities that can arise &hen one ta+es the time
to learn and understand it(