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The Mathematics Department of Taylor University requires students in certain majors to have internship experiences. Math education majors must spend a semester in a student teaching position. Math systems majors must engage in a senior practicum. In addition, all math majors are encouraged to perform research throughout their years at Taylor.
Internships
For my internship, I worked as an actuary at Lincoln National Life Insurance. I did a lot of analysis and special projects. One thing I learned from my experience is that I don't want to be an Actuary! But even more importantly, I got real-life work experience. I learned more about myself and how I interact with people in the business world.
Anne Mahan Mujeur '03
Research
I participated in an operations research REU at Gordon College. Operations research applies mathematical topics such as probability and linear algebra to business and manufacturing problems, typically with the goal of optimizing processes. I spent the majority of my time working on a problem that compared two ways to approximate the cost of an optimal control for queueing networks. This research culminated in a paper that I wrote jointly with two other students and one of the professors. This paper was recently accepted (pending revision) for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. Additionally, I got the chance to see just what applied mathematics was like, which will be valuable for me as I consider career options. After I graduate, I plan on attending graduate school in math.
Matthew Russell, class of 2010
I participated in an REU in mathematical cryptology at Northern Kentucky University. Mostly we worked on algebraic attacks on several ciphers such as the block cipher SMS4 used in Chinese WAPI networks and the multivariate public key ciphers which may replace RSA in a few years. I gained good experience researching in a formal environment. I confirmed that I enjoy this sort of thing. I also got to work on several interesting projects and furthered my knowledge of cryptology. I am planning on pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science next year. This REU gave me an edge applying for graduate schools and also gave me the experience to hit the ground running.
Jeremy Erickson, class of 2009
I received a Taylor SRTP grant to study properties of 1-dimensional finite cellular automata using a variety of mathematical techniques. I got a better understanding of what it takes to do research and the fun and hard work that it can be. I also saw how a broad knowledge base can be useful while carrying out research.I plan on attending graduate school and pursuing a Ph.D. in pure mathematics followed hopefully by either research or professorship. This definitely was a relevant experience to my future plans because it exposed me to reading material that I at first was not at all familiar with and having to master the subject which, I believe will be somewhat akin to work in graduate school and later in my career.
Joseph Seaborn, class of 2010
