1. 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

2. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. PIC (Preparation for Industrial Careers) Program
Goal
Prepare math students for industrial careers by engaging them in problems
directly from industry (
Leadership responsibilities
Implement all aspects of their proposed program
Provide all documentation for expenditures
Submit a mid-semester report

10. 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

11. 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:

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Questions and suggestions?