Alumni

Recent Alumni News

JakePrice

From AMATH to the Liberal Arts

By Jake Price My undergraduate years were spent at Kalamazoo College, a small undergraduate liberal arts college in western Michigan. It gained some acclaim from being featured in Colleges that Change Lives, a book presenting small, student-focused institutions that seemed to be read largely by parents in the late 90s and early 2000s (including my mom). Studying mathematics and physics there was a dream, and I benefited tremendously from the personal relationships I was able to make… Read more
CYY

Trading Textbooks for Bonds: My Journey in CFRM

By Charlie (Yihan) Yin,   “No matter what, I’ll never work in a math or data-related job because they’re just not cool.” That’s what I swore to the moon when I was 10 years old, but eight years later, I proved myself wrong. I discovered that’s not true at all. Fast forward to three years ago when I received my offer from the University of Washington. I was excited because Seattle is my dream city, and it was thrilling to be able to study and live there. During my first year, I… Read more
JuliaXu

Learning is a Lifelong Process

By Jing (Julia) Xu   Unlike some with clear career paths from a young age, I found my direction through trial and error. When I started undergrad in the early 2010’s, civil engineering was one of the most sought-after fields in China. The challenge of designing high-rise buildings and constructing bridges across bays intrigued me, leading me to pursue a degree in civil engineering. Four years later, I enrolled in the master’s degree program at the University of California,… Read more
ALevander

An extrovert's journey as an AMATH master's student

By Arvid Levander Thinking back on my time at UW, I could write about how challenging the program was and the late nights of studying, but that does not stand out to me as being special to this program. It is graduate-level applied mathematics, and it is supposed to be tough. Instead, I would want to write about what got me through the program and what I believe to be special about it.  If you were part of the 2023-2024 cohort at UW Applied Mathematics you have probably seen me… Read more
Graduation 2024 Areas

Graduation 2024

View all photos  Doctors of Philosophy Matthew Farkas - Some Solutions to Linear, Second-Order, Initial-Boundary Value Problems with Variable Coefficients.  Advisor: Bernard Deconinck… Read more
Sledge

Leveling Up with CFRM

By Kyle Sledge It was fall 2017; the leaves were changing colors, and I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling of unfinished business.  A few months prior, I successfully passed the third and final exam of the Chartered Financial Analyst professional designation, after multiple years of intense self-study. Earning the right to use the CFA credential was a significant career milestone that paired well with my on-the-job training as a bank examiner with a regulatory agency.  With… Read more
KMarcinko

Beyond the Ph.D. Defense and Looking Back

By Kelsey Marcinko It’s wild to me that I’ve been carrying the title of “Dr. Marcinko” for 3 years, and I am at the beginning of my fourth(!) year as a professor at Whitworth University, my alma mater. (Whitworth is a Christian liberal-arts university on the drier side of Washington state). Enough time has somehow passed so that most of the current Ph.D. students in the Applied Math department are students I never knew. As I reflect back on my time in the department, I remain grateful… Read more
Sheils

Unexpected Connections

By Natalie Sheils In graduate school, the focus was going deep. I was cultivating myself to become the world authority in one specific area. While I was encouraged to read from various areas and take classes from other departments, I also had to write a thesis which meant learning about (in my case) the Fokas transform method for linear PDEs in incredible depth. What remained unbeknown to me during those times was how this seemingly niche training, and the relationships sprouting from… Read more
RHollman

My Experience as a AMATH Master's Student

By Robert Hollman When I arrived at the University of Washington in August of 2022, I felt that the skills I was bringing into the program fell woefully short of the skills required to succeed. My undergraduate experience had left me disillusioned about my place in academia – while my love of math felt simple, college required navigating a plethora of new experiences with little social support to guide my path. I chose my undergraduate major by accident and dropped out of my education… Read more
Velegar

Towards Resilience: Hard-won wisdom during my PhD journey

By Meghana Velegar It has been a little over two months, and I still can’t believe that my long and arduous journey towards my degree has finally culminated. Sitting in the departmental ceremony in one of the designated PhD graduate chairs felt so surreal, and yet so absolutely real. To say that my journey in Applied Math was eventful would be an understatement. I have navigated severe mental health challenges, personal loss and grief, a high risk pregnancy, new motherhood, postpartum… Read more
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