Experiences Panel

A group of current and recent undergraduates (just like you!) who’ve participated in a variety of summer/semester career-building programs will share their experiences and answer your questions. 

Full bios will be published soon!

Panelists: 

• Lisa Cenek

  • Lisa Cenek is currently a Software Engineer at Microsoft. She graduated in 2021 from Amherst College where she majored in Mathematics and English. Her research interests are in combinatorics and topology. During undergrad, she participated in REU programs (in-person and virtual) at Lafayette College, California State University San Bernardino, and Williams College SMALL. She did the online Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program, and wrote an undergrad senior thesis in graph theory.

• Nyah Davis

  • Nyah Davis is a first year math PhD student at Rice University. She earned her Bachelor of Sciences in math from the University of Iowa in 2022. During her undergraduate studies, Nyah participated in two separate directed readings with graduate students, completed a modeling project in mathematical biology, and conducted research on representation theory which culminated into a senior thesis. Nyah also spent a summer at the combinatorics and algebra REU of the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities, and after graduation she attended the Summer Session of the EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) Program at the University of Oxford. 

• E Koenig

  • E Koenig is a queer, non-binary first year math PhD student at the University of Minnesota. They did their undergrad as a math/religion double major with a concentration in statistics and data science at St. Olaf College. While at St. Olaf, E participated in several research opportunities, including a year in St. Olaf's Center for Interdisciplinary Research, using data science methods to investigate gender disparity in classical music. Additional stats experience included an internship with Land O'Lakes Venture 37, a non-profit affiliated with Land O'Lakes Inc. They participated in the CURI summer research program at St. Olaf, working on a project in functional analysis, as well as a semester research course on graph theory. For the past three summers, E has worked as a counselor at MathPath, a summer program for mathematically gifted middle schoolers. 

• Yuki Takahashi

  • Yuki Takahashi is a first-year math PhD student at UC Berkeley, interested in combinatorics and mathematical logic. She graduated from Grinnell College with majors in Mathematics and Philosophy. During her undergraduate career, she participated in a variety of off-campus opportunities. Some of them include: NYC Discrete Math REU at CUNY Baruch College, REU Program in Algebra and Discrete Mathematics at Auburn University, and Arizona Winter School in Number Theory. She is also passionate about teaching, mentoring, and creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment.

• Isabella Chittumuri

  • Isabella Chittumuri recently graduated with her Masters in Statistics from Hunter College, City University of New York in May 2022. For the past year, She worked as a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Intern with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Fairbanks, Alaska. With NREL, Isabella processed and analyzed pre-retrofit and post-retrofit datasets in Python to compare household energy costs. Currently, Isabella is participating in the NASA DEVELOP National Program in Athens, Georgia. In this program, she is evaluating the impacts of Hurricane Irma on Georgia heir property owners using NASA earth observations through Google Earth Engine's Python API. 

• Ethan Partida

  • Ethan Partida is a Mexican-American math Ph.D. student at Brown University. Last year he graduated from the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities (UMN) with a degree in computer science and math. He was first introduced to mathematics in undergraduate when he attended the Mathematics Project at Minnesota (MPM), a workshop designed to build a math community at UMN. With guidance from mentors he met at MPM, Ethan joined the McNair Scholars Program and participated in the Polymath and Texas State REUs. Without the hard work of graduate students to make the math community more welcoming, he would not have discovered his love for math. Ethan's goal is to continue participating in the math community and to make it a more inclusive and supportive space for all.

• Rahmat Rashid

  • Rahmat Rashid (she/they) is a first-generation immigrant and first-generation college student finishing her B.A. at Rollins College in Mathematics and Philosophy. Currently, she's completing an undergraduate thesis in the philosophy of mathematics and hopes to continue research into mathematical logic or algebra (and its philosophical implications) in graduate school. They have done a philosophy of math research project that touched on category theory, resulting in two conference presentations. They have also been a counselor at the Ross Math Program, an intensive number theory camp for high school students.