I was born in Dallas, Texas, but I spent most of my childhood in the Czech Republic. In high school, I wasn’t too good at purely memorizing material. In fact, I was better at deriving an answer, which naturally drew me to math. Usually all I needed was to memorize a couple of definitions, and the rest I was able to derive. This is what really fascinated me about mathematics and is the reason why I decided to continue my studies in math. After graduating from high school, I pursued a degree in financial mathematics at Charles University in Prague. However, I always dreamed of returning to the U.S. During my first semester in Prague, I took the SATs and applied to the University of Delaware as a math and computer science double major. I was thrilled to be accepted at UD.

When starting at UD, I couldn’t have imagined how many opportunities I would have received and how much I would’ve achieved. After my freshman year, I did research on mathematical billiards with Christopher Cox. In the following years, I did research on graph theory with Sebastian Cioaba. I also spent some time working on the longest increasing subsequences of random permutations with Naya Banerjee. One highlight was publishing a paper in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science and submitting another to arXiv. On the side, I co-founded the Competitive Programming Club, tutored mathematics, and participated in math competitions and hackathons. I believe that I made use of the resources provided to me at UD to their fullest.

Today, I’m working as a software engineer at Amazon Web Services on the AWS Organizations Policies Data Plane team. AWS Organizations is a service that allows users to centrally manage and govern their accounts in a tree-like structure. From day one, I was able to use my math and computer science skills to quickly understand the team’s work. Currently, I’m developing an operational tool designed to efficiently traverse any organization’s tree and report information about its nodes. I’ve found that the problem-solving and critical thinking skills I gained from studying math, along with the technical skills I developed in computer science, have been invaluable in tackling complex problems and delivering solutions.

— Jan Ahmed, AS24 and EG24

I am a proud 2024 graduate of the University of Delaware. Probably like many of you, I found mathematics to be my favorite subject in high school, but business concepts also intrigued me. Therefore, I determined there was no better major than actuarial science! The actuarial program at UD does an exceptional job of preparing students for actuarial exams, offering specialized courses that directly supported exam preparation. To deepen my engagement with the field, I joined the Actuarial Science Club, where I had the privilege of serving as vice president for two years. Being part of the club was an incredibly rewarding experience—not only because of the networking opportunities with guest speakers but also because of the camaraderie I shared with friends as we studied for exams over pizza. The club fostered a collaborative environment that played a key role in my success. It was through this involvement that I secured an internship during the summer of my sophomore year, which eventually led to a full-time position. My experiences with the Actuarial Science Club, combined with the strong foundation provided by UD, were instrumental in helping me succeed both in my exams and in the early stages of my career.

Many people often wonder what an actuary does. Actuaries specialize in managing risk and uncertainty by applying mathematical, statistical, and financial methods. In my role as a Health Valuation Actuary, my responsibilities revolve around analyzing risks associated with claims. On a typical day, I update Excel models to ensure the accuracy of financial data related to claims, helping to provide a clear picture of our financial standing.

— Nick Basilio, AS24

I received my Ph.D. in 2023 from UD Department of Mathematical Sciences, which helped me achieve my dream of becoming a tenure-track professor at a small liberal arts college. I am currently an assistant professor of mathematics at Swarthmore College, right outside Philadelphia. In this short piece, I want to share my mathematical journey, my experience in graduate school, and the exciting work that I’ve started at Swarthmore.

I received my B.S. in applied mathematics from Seattle University, and it was there that I found my passion for teaching and interdisciplinary research. Although I started as a mechanical engineering major, my first research experience with Katie Oliveras in applied mathematics inspired me to switch majors. For three years, I worked with Katie Oliveras on the mathematical theory of shallow water waves. However, by an ironic turn of events, I found myself back in mechanical engineering when I joined a second research project with Yen-Lin Han developing mathematical models with biomechanical heat transfer applications. Working with professors in both applied mathematics and engineering gave me an appreciation for both theory and application. What’s more, I immediately realized my dream was to become a professor that could offer the same high-quality one-on-one research experience to the next generation of undergraduates.

This led to applying for graduate school in applied mathematics. I ultimately chose UD for two reasons: My undergraduate professors spoke highly of UD’s reputation for applied mathematics, as well as UD’s reputation within the mathematics community for providing an extraordinary quality of teaching and mentorship for graduate students. I chose to study under Jingmei Qiu because of her interdisciplinary work with aerospace and fluid applications. In the end, I experienced all the wonderful things I’d heard about UD … and more! My classmates and cohort-mates became (and still are) my best friends, every professor I had the privilege to take a class with went above and beyond to ensure I received the highest quality education, and my advisor Jingmei Qiu supported me in every definition of the word. I have particularly fond memories of bonding with my cohort during the prelim prep sessions, working late into the night on homework for our first semester of real analysis and vector spaces, and gathering for my annual friendsgiving each November to enjoy good food with friends. In addition, I’ll always remember the office hours that started with asking a homework question, only to evolve into an exciting mathematical discussion, sometimes completely orthogonal to the homework question originally asked. Of course, there are many other wonderful memories that I could list, but ultimately it was the amazing people I met and the experiences with those people that defined my graduate school experience.

I was fortunate enough to get a tenure-track position straight out of graduate school, but much of the credit goes to my advisor and the department. In the past two years, several other students and alumni have also received tenure-track offers. So many alumni obtaining tenure-track positions in an incredibly competitive academic job market is a testament to the standards and quality of teaching and mentorship at the UD Department of Mathematical Sciences.

I’ve been at Swarthmore College for two years, and I am grateful to work at an institution that values both undergraduate teaching, as well as research. Despite being a small liberal arts college, the research expectations are high, relatively speaking. This balance of undergraduate teaching and research is what I sought. I have started new collaborations, began mentoring undergraduate students (my team is quickly growing), and enjoyed the positives that come with an undergraduate-only school that embodies a well-rounded education. I am the department’s fourth applied mathematics hire, and I’ve been busy contributing to and expanding their applied and computational mathematics curriculum. This is my first semester teaching partial differential equations, a class that I’ve wanted to teach for several years. Looking forward, I’m hoping to add courses or directed reading groups in numerical linear algebra and low-rank tensor decompositions, as well as organize teams to compete in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

In all, UD was the best fit for me. I am proud to tell others about my education and experience at UD, and I encourage my own students to consider UD for graduate school. Luckily, I’m a short 50-minute drive from Newark, so I can easily visit my former professors!

— Joseph Nakao, Ph.D. 23