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Moving to Industry

HEATHER VOOYS, PHD

JUNE 1ST 2022

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Moving to Industry

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Moving to Industry

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Moving to Industry

  • My Journey to Industry
  • Do I really want to go into Industry?
  • How do I move into Industry?

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My Journey into Industry

  • High School Dreams: High School English Teacher
    • I loved reading.
    • I loved teaching.
    • English and Mathematics were my favorite classes.

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My Journey into Industry

  • High School Dreams: High School English Teacher
  • Undergraduate Dreams: College Mathematics Instructor
    • English is fun, but also some parts aren’t fun.
    • Summer undergraduate research programs in physics were really fun, but math undergraduate research programs were better.
    • Research is awesome.

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My Journey into Industry

  • High School Dreams: High School English Teacher
  • Undergraduate Dreams: College Mathematics Instructor
  • Masters Dreams: University Mathematics Professor
    • First taste of research on my own
    • Just a Masters program so take all the classes!
    • Canadian Professor suggests University of Calgary
    • Want to do research on math involving dinosaurs? (Okay, fossil fuels but it could be applicable to paleontology.)

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My Journey into Industry

  • High School Dreams: High School English Teacher
  • Undergraduate Dreams: College Mathematics Instructor
  • Masters Dreams: University Mathematics Professor
  • PhD Dreams: Industry
    • Worked with Geophysics Research Group
    • Participated in several industrial workshops
    • Tried a 6-month internship with Fotech Solutions – turned into 3 internships over 3 years.

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Why go into Industry?

  • High school English Teacher to Machine Learning Developer

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Why go into Industry?

  • High school English Teacher to Machine Learning Developer
  • Moving to industry does not have to be an all or nothing approach.
    • I love teaching. I’m good at teaching.
    • I hate grading.
    • Answer: Mentoring interns.
    • Industry jobs have varying degrees of intersection with academia. Find the right fit for you.
    • So far, I’ve mentored three interns and been an industrial mentor for three industrial workshops (as of the 2022 M2PI workshop).

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Why go into Industry?

  • High school English Teacher to Machine Learning Developer
  • Moving to industry does not have to be an all or nothing approach.
  • Even if you don’t go into industry, it’s good to have industry contacts.
    • A student may want to go into industry.
    • A good source for some interesting research problems.
    • Funding.

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Do I really want to go into Industry?

  • Start with industrial workshops
    • A great first look into industry.
    • Build collaboration skills
    • Learn ways math is applied to industry problems.
    • Exposure to other industry problems through the other projects.
    • Where to find them:
      • PIMS Math To Power Industry Workshop (one coming up in July 2022)
      • AARMS Industrial Problem Solving Workshop (been running since 2018)
      • Google “Mathematical Workshops”

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Do I really want to go into Industry?

  • Start with industrial workshops
  • Let’s try an internship
    • Supervisor
    • Supervisor’s previous student
    • Graduate Director
    • LinkedIn – Search Intern
    • Industrial workshops!
    • Some funding agencies such as Mitacs

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Do I really want to go into Industry?

  • Start with industrial workshops
  • Let’s try an internship
  • Yeah, I really want to go into industry!

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How do I move into Industry?

  • BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

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BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

  • Learn all the mathematics.
    • Pure mathematics just hasn’t been applied yet.
    • You never know where inspiration will come from.

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BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

  • Learn all the mathematics.
  • Learn about computer programming.
    • Learn a programming language.
    • Learn about object-oriented programming and SOLID principles for software development.
    • Learn how to integrate your programming language with other languages.

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BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

  • Learn all the mathematics.
  • Learn about computer programming.
  • Learn how to collaborate well and work on a team.
    • Your work is one piece of the puzzle.
    • Hard to put together a puzzle if you’re not able to talk to your teammates.

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BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

  • Learn all the mathematics.
  • Learn about computer programming.
  • Learn how to collaborate well and work on a team.
  • Involve yourself in interdisciplinary research.
    • Experience in applying mathematics to different fields
    • Often acquire writing skills through technical reports.
    • Learn to communicate with others outside your field.

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BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!

  • Learn all the mathematics.
  • Learn about computer programming.
  • Learn how to collaborate well and work on a team.
  • Involve yourself in interdisciplinary research.
  • Work as a teaching assistant.
    • Helps you learn good ways to explain hard concepts so that they are understandable to non-experts

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How do I move into Industry?

  • BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!
  • Participate in Industrial Workshops and Internships
    • Some companies hire their interns for full-time positions after they graduate.
    • Good way to get an industrial reference letter when apply for industry jobs.

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How do I move into Industry?

  • BUILD YOUR SKILL SETS!
  • Participate in Industrial Workshops and Internships
  • Join an interdisciplinary research group
    • Often find ties to industry and can build industry contacts

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A Mathematician in Industry

  • The sky’s literally the limit.
    • I can say that because I work with drones.
  • You’ve got a degree, whether Masters or PhD, in mathematics but also learning.
  • Mathematics gives you flexibility and advantages.

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Questions?

I can definitely answer…

  • Being an international student moving to industry.
  • Internships
  • Funding for internships
  • Participating in Industrial workshops

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Happy to answer…

  • Anything… within reason.

And remember…

  • The only dumb question is the un-asked question.