Reassessing the relationship between pure and applied mathematics AMS Chairs Workshop Reassessing the relationship between pure and applied mathematics Jennifer Zhao Department of Mathematics and Statistics University of Michigan-Dearborn January 15, 2019

UM-Dearborn at a glance Total students: 9339 (Fall 18) Undergraduate: 7141 Graduate: 2198 Four colleges College of the Arts, Sciences and Letters (CASL) College of Computer Science and Engineering (CECS) College of Business (COB) College of Education, Human and Health Services (CEHHS)

Recently added programs Applied Statistics (Fall 15) Annual career events Invite industry professionals to teach as guest lectures Partner with industry and health professionals on capstone projects Recommend and arrange internships and co-ops Data Science (Fall 16, joint with Computer Science) 60% of the course work in Math and Statistics Requires several upper-level Statistics courses Certificate in Math for Finance (Fall 18) Aim to help Math majors gain finance knowledge and skills

New programs in progress Integrated Actuarial Studies Program (Fall 19) Three groups of core courses: Math, Statistics and Finance Interdisciplinary program using courses in Math/Stat, Engineering and Finance 3 VEE certificates + 2 seated exams upon graduation Internship or co-op 4+1 proposal (Fall 19) Earn B.S. and M.S. in 5 years Sign-up at sophomore year

Two degrees in Math and Engineering earned at the same time Other programs Dual Engineering-Math Degree Two degrees in Math and Engineering earned at the same time Primarily engineering degree + 15 upper-level math credits Secondary Business Studies Program Primary Liberal Arts major PLUS course work in COB Earned at the same time

PIC (Preparation for Industrial Careers) Program Goal Prepare math students for industrial careers by engaging them in problems directly from industry (https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/professional-development/pic-math) Leadership responsibilities Implement all aspects of their proposed program Provide all documentation for expenditures Submit a mid-semester report

Offered in winter 15 and winter 16 Taught by an assistant professor PIC Experience Offered in winter 15 and winter 16 Taught by an assistant professor Assisted by another assistant professor and an associate professor Winter 15 10 students; 3 projects One from a local consulting company Two from program organizers

Project 1 Company Local Consulting Company w3r Provide IT staffing to large companies Problem background A small number of employees leave within 3 months for various reasons Goal 1 Construct descriptive summaries of the data set providing insight for:

Data validation and understanding Project 1 Goal 2 What proportion of the employees leave within 3 months? Goal 3 How does this proportion of early leaves vary across job categories? Project steps Data validation and understanding Preliminary findings Final report

Project 2 (Intel) Problem background Solar renewable power stations Goals Compute exceedance probabilities using solar radiation data Demonstrate to financial backers the risks due to weather uncertainty when building renewable power stations

Winter 16 PIC Course 6 students, 2 projects One project from Ford One from Texas Children Hospital One publication in SIAM Undergraduate Research Journal Several student presentations at national meetings

Project 1 (Ford Motor) Problem background Extract useful information from large volume of online review data Goal Train students in text mining using data mining and machine learning methods Expected results Learn basic ideas and gain hand-on experience on data mining and text analysis Design a simple text mining algorithm using built-in machine learning functions

Project 2 (Texas Children’s Hospital) Problem background Blood flow Goal Use mathematical tools to analyze the validity of a recently developed model of blood flow autoregulation. Project steps Optimal Autoregulation Frequency Response

Highlights of PIC Math Helped a student get interested in Math and became a Math major, hired by DTE upon graduation One publication in SIAM Undergraduate Research journal Several student presentations at regional and national meetings Multiple intern/job offers Three graduate school admissions because of PIC Math experience Two admissions to MSU Master of Industrial Math

PIC Math impact Student benefits: Direct industrial experience Improve communication skills, intern and job offers… Faculty benefits: Collaboration with industry professionals Research funding from local companies However… Slows down individual faculty’s research Low-enrollment classes, subject to cancellation due to low enrollment Lack of administrative support Time demanding for both faculty and students

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