Esther Blount
Principal and Consulting Actuary
Millman, Inc.
Biography: I
certainly did not start out life planning to be an actuary. If
fact, I had never even heard the word “actuary” prior to
graduate school. I was teaching middle school math and decided to
take two years off to complete a Master’s degree. A friend
was taking her actuarial exams and I decided to take the first exam
with her. After passing the exam, I decided to give an actuarial
career a try for a few years. I intended to return to teaching
after getting some industry experience. However, once I started I
never looked back. It has been a great career. As an
actuary, I have worked for both insurance companies and consulting
firms. Currently I work for Milliman, with a focus on health
insurance whether it is from the insurance company, the employer, or
the government perspective. It is an exciting time to be involved
in health insurance research with all the political focus on health
care reform. While analyzing numbers requires good math skills,
explaining the conclusion of your analysis requires good communication
skills. Thus an actuarial career involves both right and left
brain skills and keeps life interesting.
Sarah Evans
inVentiv Clinical Solutions, LLC
Biography:
Sarah Evans started attending Sam Houston State University Fall
2004. Her course load that Fall semester included Calculus II
with Dr. O’Brien. It was from this class that she decided
to pursue a degree in Mathematics and Statistics. She completed
her undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Sam Houston State University
December 2006, and went on to the MS in Statistics program in the
Spring 2007 semester, completing the degree in May 2008. While
completing her graduate degree, she had the opportunity to present her
research in bootstrapping techniques at the Meeting of the Texas
Section of the MAA in Stephenville. She currently works for a
consulting research organization, inVentiv Clinical, as a SAS
programmer and statistician. At inVentiv, she has the opportunity
to work on projects researching pharmaceuticals, durable medical
equipment, and biomedical implants.
David Hunn
Chief Scientist
Lockheed
Martin Missiles and Fire Control
Biography: Dr.
Hunn is currently the Chief Scientist and Director, Technical Staff at
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. He is in charge of technical
excellence, development and maturation of critical technologies, and
growth and transfer of technical knowledge across Lockheed Martin. He
also has responsibility for the Group Technical Staff; recognized
technical experts in critical technologies at all sites of the
Enterprise. Dr. Hunn has extensive experience in synthesis, mechanical
behavior, and application of specialty engineering materials for
advanced aerospace structural applications. David earned a Bachelor of
Science (Mechanical Engineering), Master of Science (Mechanical
Engineering) and Ph.D. (Materials Science and Engineering) from the
University of Texas at Arlington.
David represents Lockheed Martin on the Technical and Industry Advisory
Boards of Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Southern
Methodist University, University of North Texas and the University of
Texas at Arlington. He is an adjunct professor at the University of
North Texas and the University of Texas at Arlington. Outside of
Lockheed Martin, he is founder and vice president of a 7th-12th grade
non-profit school in Arlington, Texas emphasizing science, engineering
and fine arts. He is the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission
of the City of Kennedale, Texas.
Dr. Hunn is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas
(P.E. 55317). Dr. Hunn was awarded Engineer of the Year by the West
Texas Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2001.
He was also awarded Inventor of the Year by Lockheed Martin Missiles
and Fire Control in 2009. He currently has eight patents awarded, with
seven pending.
What is Graduate School REALLY Like?
Leah Childers
Louisiana State University
Biography:
Leah
Childers attended Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas beginning
in the Fall of 1999. During the summer of 2001 she attended an REU at
the University of Washington. In 2003, Leah graduated from ESU with a
BSE in secondary mathematics education. At this stage, Leah decided she
had a curiosity for mathematics that still needed to be pursued. She
stayed at ESU for two more years completely a MS in mathematics. In the
summer of 2005, Leah attended the IMMERSE program at the University of
Nebraska. After this, she started a Ph.D. program at Louisiana State
University in 2005. She is working with Dr. Tara Brendle in the field
of topology, more specifically, mapping class groups. Leah plans to
complete her degree this year.
Jared Painter
University of Texas at Arlington
Biography: Jared
Painter grew up in Tyler, Tx. After being home schooled through
high school, he attended Tyler Junior College for several years unsure
of a major. In 2002 he attended the University of Texas at Tyler
as a computer science major. Not far into the computer science
program he decided that mathematics was a more interesting field of
study. In the spring of 2005 he received a Bachelor of Science in
mathematics from the University of Texas at Tyler. In fall 2005
he entered the graduate program at the University of Texas at Tyler and
2 years later graduated with a Master of Science in mathematics.
By this time he realized that teaching mathematics was his passion and
decided to work toward a Ph.D. In the fall of 2007 he began
attended the University of Texas at Arlington and is currently working
on his Ph.D. with Dr. David Jorgensen in commutative algebra.
Gerald Potkah
Sam Houston State University
Biography: My
name is Gerald Bayigpodog Potkah and I was born in Cameroon, West
Africa. I moved to the U.S.A in August of 2002 and started my
undergraduate education at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia,
Arkansas, graduating with bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and
Chemistry in 2006. I then decided to take a year off from school to
gain some work experience. It was then that I decided to further my
education in the applied sciences. This realization triggered a process
of self-searching that led me to statistics and its applications, which
play a important role in seeking knowledge and improving performances
in almost every endeavor of human activity. So here at Sam Houston
State University, I am pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics,
and I intend to complete a PhD in applied statistics in the near future.
Ashley Weatherwax
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Biography:
Ashley Weatherwax grew
up in Huntsville, TX. After graduating high school, she moved to Dallas
to attend the University of Texas at Dallas, with the intent of getting
a double degree in Math and Computer Science to become a computer
programmer. Shortly thereafter, she realized that her love of math was
too great, and that a PhD in math was what she really wanted. Ashley is
in the second year of the PhD program at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.