Career Paths in the Mathematical Sciences

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) involves adverse remodeling of pulmonary arteries, more prevalent in women, leading to a <50% 5-year survival rate due to right-ventricular (RV) failure. Current therapies can't prevent RV failure or reverse vascular remodeling. Our multi-scale approach, from in-vivo physiology to molecular studies, identified significant sex differences in tissue remodeling in sugen-hypoxia rats. Extracellular matrix remodeling in large pulmonary arteries' adventitia emerged as a major contributor to hypertension. In-vitro and computational studies revealed greater mechano-signaling responses in female pulmonary arterial adventitial fibroblasts. Male rats rely on hypertrophy for compensated systolic function, while females recruit increased myocyte contractility and hypertrophy less. Male rats develop increased filling pressures and myocardial matrix stiffening, whereas females are protected from fibrotic remodeling. Isolated cardiac myocytes in females show higher functional reserve in calcium handling than males, and RV fibroblasts exhibit distinct mechano-signaling responses. These findings suggest a novel understanding of PAH pathophysiology, emphasizing crucial differences in mechanisms and outcomes between sexes.

In this talk, I’ll share my journey through the world of mathematics, beginning with my struggles in 8th-grade Algebra and culminating in earning a PhD in mathematics and becoming a full professor. Along the way, I was fortunate to have a supportive teacher and a strong community that helped me navigate and overcome early challenges. My path took me from majoring in mathematics at Xavier University of Louisiana to earning my PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I became one of the first two African Americans to do so. Today, I remain committed to helping students discover their paths to success in STEM fields. As President of the Association for Women in Mathematics and immediate past co-director of the EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) Program, I work to broaden participation and cultivate belonging in mathematical spaces. These leadership roles have allowed me to extend the kind of mentorship and support that shaped my journey. As part of this journey, I will also share insights into my work as a professor, highlighting the roles that teaching, mentoring, and research play in my everyday academic life. These areas reflect my ongoing passion for creating opportunities and encouraging students to see that they can thrive in STEM through guidance, community, and perseverance. This talk illustrates how support, persistence, and purpose have shaped my path and how those same values can help others build their own.

Mathematicians practicing in industry face a unique problem. Mathematical skills are easily transferable across disciplines, meaning that industrial mathematicians are faced with a surprising number of options offering both breadth and depth. Many jobs will require both. While the product in academia is the refereed journal paper, there is no singular industrial product, which makes the jump from academia exciting, but can also make graduate students and postdocs feel unprepared. From patents to code to customer enablement, I will walk the audience through a number of examples showcasing the opportunities available and skills required to be successful.

Since the beginning of my career 25 years ago, the impact of computational materials science on both our basic understanding of materials and on practical technological applications has dramatically grown. This growth has been enabled by a combination of an exponential increase in computing power and by ever more sophisticated simulation methodologies, culminating in the wave of recent AI/ML methods that have taken the field by storm. Based on my own experience developing atomistic simulation methodologies that target the largest computers in the world, I will provide an overview of the diMerent ways mathematicians and data scientist can contribute to the field, particularly in the context of a career at one of national laboratories of the US Department of Energy.