Dr. Radu Balan

Professor, AMSC Program Director, University of Maryland Department of Mathematics

4effff5398b13b476604d4d8450bedfd M As the newly appointed director of the Applied Mathematics, Applied Statistics, and Scientific Computation (AMSC) program, I am tremendously excited and proud to have this extraordinary opportunity to lead our program. Today, applied mathematics is a cornerstone of STEM education that offers opportunities for both academic and industrial careers. Our faculty and students develop cutting-edge mathematical methodologies to tackle the important challenges of our time, including data science, machine learning, and quantum information systems.

In summer 2024, the AMSC office was upgraded with new furniture. We welcome everyone, students and faculty alike, to stop by and check out our new offices.

For students interested in exploring available research projects, we are planning an AMSC symposium, where faculty affiliated with our program will present their current research and open problems. This will happen on November 20, 2024. Stay tuned!

To boost your chances of success after graduation, I recommend that our graduate students seek summer internships outside UMD. Explore opportunities offered by other academic institutions (such as the Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences, or INMAS), by national labs and centers (such as NIH, FDA, NRL), or by companies. Students interested in statistics-oriented jobs (including those in the AMSC Applied Statistics track) may find useful opportunities maintained by AMSTAT, https://stattrak.amstat.org/.

Graduate students are encouraged to present their work at conferences or workshops. The Department of Mathematics contributes up to $800 toward presenting students’ travel expenses. Additionally, the Graduate School provides support for conference registration and travel through two different awards: the Goldhaber, a matching grant, and ICSSA, for international conferences. You can find more information here: https://gradschool.umd.edu/funding/studentfellowships-awards/graduate-school-travel-grants.

pursuing academia

A Conversation with Dr. Maria Cameron

Professor, Department of Mathematics; Affiliate Professor, Department of Computer Science

What inspired you to pursue a career in academia?
I have wanted to be a scientist since my childhood. I was curious about various mathematical concepts and the physical world. These interests were nurtured by my family. My grandfather and both of my parents were scientists.

What specific steps did you take to prepare for and pursue a career in academia?
In school, I read the Encyclopedia of a Young Mathematician and popular science books in physics, chemistry, astronomy, and biology, and solved a lot of extra hard math problems for fun. I was not sure what I liked better, math or physics, so I entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, which offered studies of both math and physics in full volume and had a reputation as the toughest college in Russia. It was happening in the 1990s when the Russian economy was functioning poorly and the salaries of scientists were not enough to make a living. As a result, I decided to go to the USA and pursue my scientific interests here.

What are the most rewarding aspects of being a professor, and what are some of the challenges?
I enjoy doing math research, teaching, and mentoring. In particular, there are two very rewarding aspects. First, the joy from a discovery when I have a breakthrough. Second, mentoring good students makes me very happy. The main challenge is finding an academic job at a good university and moving your family there. This can be very dramatic.

Can you share any advice for students who aspire to become professors?
A Russian writer Dmitry Bykov (now a professor at the University of Rochester) says, “Write selflessly, you will be paid more”. This advice, translated into a math context, is to focus on finding important problems and beautiful solutions without worrying about being appreciated.

What are some important skills and qualities that aspiring professors should cultivate as they prepare for a career in academia?
Besides technical skills specific to the field of science, programming, writing, and speaking are very important. Programming dramatically extends the range of problems that you can tackle. Writing and speaking help to organize your thoughts, pose new research problems, and communicate your research to others. As for qualities, it is important not to get too frustrated when things go wrong.

What is something Math Department students might not know about you?
Click on the tab Photos on my website. What I am the most proud of is there.

math dept events

Math Dept Career & Professional Development Series

Join us for a series of small group discussions designed to help Math Department graduate students navigate their career paths, research opportunities, and professional development. Each session will feature faculty or postdocs who will share their experiences and offer advice on careers in academia and beyond. Lunch will be catered by Panera.

Who: Small group discussions with faculty or postdocs. Limited to 8 Math Department graduate students per group.

When: With Faculty: Thursday, Oct 17, 12-1pm; With Postdocs: Wednesday, Nov 13, 12-1pm; With Faculty: Tuesday, Dec 3, 12-1pm

Where: You will receive a confirmation email with the location after RSVPing.

RSVP HERE

campus resource roundup

The Oral Communication Center (OCC)

The OCC is the premier resource for coaching and instruction on the University of Maryland campus. Housed in the Department of Communication, the OCC offers support for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff who seek to improve their communication skills for success in academic, professional, civic, and social contexts. Clients who book appointments with their trained peer consultants benefit from the peer-to-peer tutoring model. Consultants are expert public speakers with a passion for empowering others as communicators. They are able to help you express yourself cogently and confidently!

Check them out here.

See the services and resources they offer below:

1:1 In-Person Consultations - click here to schedule an appointment
Peer consulting for presentations, speeches, and other modes of oral communication
Speech planning and practice assistance
Interactive workshops on a variety of relevant communication skills
Special events and workshop series

Dr. Khalid Shahnawaz, AMSC '22

Could you briefly describe your current role and responsibilities?
I work at Bank of America as a front office Quantitative Analyst supporting the Credit Trading Desk. Quants in general work closely with traders helping them with their day-to-day tasks such as pricing securities, understanding risk, constructing portfolios to trade and developing different tools that help the desk operate more efficiently. I specifically work on Credit Quantitative Investment Strategies, where we develop systematic trading strategies based on credit instruments and then market them to clients such as asset managers and hedge funds. I’m involved in the full life cycle of the strategy—from working with traders to researching, developing and backtesting different ideas, all the way to coding the strategy and releasing it to production. In addition, I am also responsible for maintaining the existing strategies and running different analyses for various client requests who want to better understand their performance.

How have your career aspirations changed, or remained the same, since your time in the UMD Math Department?
My aspirations are broadly the same. I have, however, gained a better understanding of the industry and the type of roles that are suitable for someone with my background.

What advice would you give to current students to find, secure, and thrive in an industry career?
My advice would be to talk to as many professionals in the industry as you can to understand what they do on a daily basis and the skills that are necessary to succeed. Once you start working in the industry, you won’t have the same flexibility as you have in grad school, so I would highly encourage you to learn these skills in addition to your research. Doing an internship is also very helpful—not only does it have a huge impact on your resume, you will also know if this is a career path worth pursuing.

If you could go back, what might you change about your time as a mathematics student and your career path?
I would spend more time learning the skills that are required at work. For me this would mean improving my coding and getting more comfortable with applied statistics and machine learning. I would take online courses to expand my knowledge, build a few projects, and talk to professionals and read what they recommend.

How can one continue to develop professionally and stay competitive in their field?
Two things. First, work with people who are excelling in their area and try to get them to mentor you. You can find amazing talent in a lot of places and learning from such people is very important for career development. Second, take some time during the week to learn something new that’s relevant to your field such as reading a research paper or improving your coding. For example, I am currently volunteering as a TA for the Erdos Data Science Bootcamp. This is an excellent way for me to brush up on my data science skills.

What do you enjoy most about your current job, and what are your future aspirations?
What I enjoy the most is probably the opportunity to work with extremely talented people in a very collaborative environment. You can learn and grow immensely if you work with the right people. There is also no shortage of interesting and complex problems that have a very real impact on the business. Being able to work on those and being challenged intellectually is also something I really enjoy.

events around campus