Long ago I was an undergraduate math major.

I wasn’t sure where I would end up in the long run.

Majoring math was a very good decision for me.

You path as a math major is a great one for you to take and can lead many directions.

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Sonja A. Rasmussen,

Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS, is presently a clinical geneticist with the Birth Defects and Pediatric Genetics Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. She received her Bachelor's degree with magna cum laude honors from the University of Minnesota (Duluth) in 1981 and her Master's degree in Medical Genetics from the University of Wisconsin in 1983. She worked as a genetic counselor at the University of Florida from 1983-1986. Dr. Rasmussen received her M.D. degree with honors from University of Florida College of Medicine in 1990.

Experts Debate on Folic Acid: How Much Is Enough?

Folic acid fortification of foods, mandated since 1998 in the US, continues to help reduce the incidence of severe birth defects such as spina bifida, according to a study reported in the journal Pediatrics.

The study included a look at the effects of folic acid, a B vitamin, on children born toAfrican-American and Hispanic women. "We wanted to see if all racial and ethnic groups are having decreases, or is it only, for example, in one group?" explains study co-author Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a clinical geneticist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006"for their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

Andrew Fire wins 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Award honors work in RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

By KRISTA CONGER

STANFORD, Calif. — The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet today awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2006 to Andrew Fire, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, and Craig C. Mello, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, for their discoveries related to RNA interference."I was very surprised," said Fire, professor of pathology and of genetics, of the early morning phone call from the committee. "At first I thought that maybe they had a wrong number, or that I was dreaming. But I guess it's real.“

Fire was born at Stanford Hospital and raised in Sunnyvale, Calif. He received bachelor’s in mathematics in 1978 from UC-Berkeley.

• Here is a short view of mathematics from the movie Little Big League.

• This is an example of what mathematics study is not about.

• But there is one good piece of advice here.

Formulas

• The problem with this solution with the “formula”

ba

abtime

• This formula makes no “sense”

• Why is this a problem?

• Hard to memorize

• Not obvious how to generalize to another problem

35 8.335 5 5

abctime

a b c

hours

What if we have 3 painters, each taking 5 hours?

The most obvious generalization would be

What does make sense?

1 1151 1 885 3 15

11 1

hourshouses houses houseshousehour hour hour

ab

b aa b

house

hours

hour

houses

hour

houses

3

5

5

3

5

1

5

1

5

111

For 3 painters

A Few Good Men

t = ordered transfer

p = ordered to leave alone (protect)

Danger (d) only reason given for transfer

d t transfer only if danger

Therefore (contrapositive) Math 3355

not d not t

p not d not t

• Securian Financial Group was founded in 1880 and provides financial security for individuals and businesses in the form of insurance, retirement plans and investments. Its affiliates include Minnesota Life Insurance Co., Advantus Capital Management, Allied Solutions, Securian Retirement Savings, Securian Financial Services, and Securian Trust. Securian has more than $455 billion of life insurance in force, $25 billion in assets under management, and a combined work force of more than 5,000 employees and advisors in its St. Paul, MN headquarters and offices across the country.

Brainy CEO with a Philosophy of Fun

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - January 6, 2006

by Steve LeBeau Managing Editorhttp://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2006/01/09/focus1.html

Robert Senkler knows his business from the bottom up, because that's where he started -- as an actuarial trainee 31 years ago.

His career path first emerged in second grade when he realized he was a math whiz. He attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth -- partly because it had a great mathematics department, but also because it was close to some family land where he could hunt.

Favorite Career Advice

“Be something you love and understand.”

Ronnie Van Zant

• After Senkler graduated from UMD, he – hired a writing coach – joined Toastmasters to work on his speaking

skills.

• Writing and speaking matter.

• Read– Browse the current books section of the UMD library– Browse barnes and Noble

• Take a speech class

• Act in a play

Failure

• It’s OK to fail

• It’s not OK to fail to learn

Things you learn on one road can be really helpful on later roads.

Favorite Consulting Advice

John Wilder Tukey, Donner Professor Emeritus of Science at Princeton University and one of the most important contributors to the field of statistics, died 26 July 2000 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, following a heart attack.

The introduction of new terminology to capture distinctive concepts would become a Tukey trademark. For example, he coined the contraction "bit" for binary digit. Tukey is credited with the first printed use of the word "software" to refer to computer programs; he observed that the software might well prove to become more valuable than the hardware.

The saying that "an approximate solution of the exact problem is more useful than the exact solution of an approximate problem" has often been attributed to Tukey.

Understanding the Questions • Take real biology classes

• Go to biology and medicine seminars

• Read magazines

• Work in a biology lab

• Computational tasks

• Web design

• Volunteer

Computing

• Take CS classes

• Take other computing classes– GIS, Geographic and Information Systems, class– Bioinformatics

• Design a web page

Don’t Do Everything I Suggested

• You are better off having

– A few good achievements or skills

– Rather than many mediocre credits

First Step in Data Analysis

Plot the data!

Cultivate Letters of Recommendation

• Get to some faculty to know you well enough that they can write good letters of recommendation

– UROP Project– Honors Project– Organize Math Club activity

Consider Graduate School

• In statistics and mathematics this is a useful step in– Industry (3M)– Government (CDC)– Education (Community Colleges)– Health Care (Mayo Clinic)

• You know more and can do more.• Higher level tasks• More autonomy

Consider Graduate School

• Interesting projects– Owl monitoring system for Minnesota– Mechanics of cross country skiing

• Teaching– Good for communication skills

Consider Graduate School

• Choose your classes– Discuss with advisor

• Get good grades– Mostly A’s and B’s

• Take GRE, Graduate Record Exam– Like ACT or SAT– Take this to have grad school as an option

Cultivate Consideration, Concern, and Compassion

“A little love and affection in everything you

Will make the world a better place with or without you.”

Neil Young Greendale

Stop to Smell the Flowers and Dream

“You’ve got to have a dream.

If you don’t have a dream,

How you going to have a dream come true?”

South Pacific