An Ethnic Salad and a Mathematical Identity

June 6, 2010 at 12:06 AM
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Categories: Academic Student Views

 

An Ethnic Salad and a Mathematical Identity

 

Dina Margelovich QC’11 and Jim Stellar

 

Dina is a Math major at Queens College and has a wide variety of interests in application.  This has led us to conversations about how one chooses such an interest as well as how internships, and real world experiences in general can be brought into academic disciplines for the betterment of the students.  We also talk about issues of religion, race, and gender and how they influence student growth in an academic institution.  Let’s begin with a question about her. 

 

Dina, what influenced you to pursue a major in applied math and how does being a math major affect your identity?

 

As a child, I did not suit the paradigm role of taking interests in toys and games. Personally, I found such activities unappealing, which in turn, forced my parents to find other ways to satiate my ardent desires. Extracurricular workbooks, color-by-number paintings, numerical connect the dots, were all significant sources of my enjoyment and they simultaneously enabled me to engage in problem solving at a very young age.

 

My fascination with mathematics was evident at a very young age, but I was uncertain as to what I would do with it at the time. It was only until after I joined the Business and Liberal Arts program last year, did I see the impact of business decisions on global economies. Further research piqued my interest in business and risk management and it was at that moment that I decided to concentrate on economics, an application of mathematics.

 

When people hear that I chose to major math, something that has come to be known as a difficult subject, they raise their brows in disbelief. Furthermore, upon hearing of my decision to pursue a career in business, many cannot comprehend what would drive me to such lengths. The most common question I have heard thus far is, ‘why?’ However, it is only because I have had such a life-long fascination with numerical calculations that I would wish to engage in such tedious calculations as a career choice. Mathematics, in application or theory, drives me to understand the logic behind the most mundane topics to the most abstract.

 

While I share my passion of the subject by tutoring mathematics in my spare time, I have come to realize that although there is a shortage of math teachers, there is a shortage of professionals working in global markets and looking out for the people’s well being, more specifically, the overlooked middle class.    

 

After numerous multi-billion dollar corporations incurred large losses in these past two years and required government bailout funds, I saw the power that financial decisions have on global markets. Thus, after the near collapse of our economy in the recession of 2008-2010, I realized the need for a greater number of individuals to analyze different risks and their economic effects. By doing so, I would not only be integrating my knowledge of mathematics with business, but I would be impacting global economies.

 

OK. How does the world outside Queens College affect your identity?

 

Until I enrolled in Queens College, I had always attended Jewish private schools. I never thought I missed out on any opportunities; students were provided with infinite amounts of extra-curricular activities, intended to give their transcript further appeal. However, when I began my freshman semester, I broadened my horizons and saw that while I had been provided with umpteen opportunities in private school, there was one thing I had never seen: diversity.

 

When the time came to choose a college, my required criterion were affordability, accessibility to the city, and diversity. Ultimately I chose Queens College, not only because it fulfilled my initial criterion, but because it had a diverse student body, with large percentages of its students being first generation college students.

 

Throughout my attendance at Queens College, I have come to see that our campus is in fact a microcosm of the world. I am exposed to all sorts of nationalities and ethnicities, something I probably would not have seen if I attended an institution that was not as centrally located to New York City. 

 

I cannot really say that the world outside Queens College is having as much as an impact on my identity as it would if I were situated in a non-metropolitan area. Because I have been exposed to such diversity, I have become a more accepting and tolerant person, and have learned to conduct myself in different manners when I am with people of other races or religions. If I had not attended Queens College, I doubt whether I would have learned such important life lessons at this stage of my life.

 

It may seem odd, but I have found the general consensus to be that the world outside Queens College, is encapsulated within Queens College. I have been exposed to different identities while pursuing my undergraduate career and along the way; my sense of self and understanding of others has been strengthened. My religious observance, something many would think holds me back, has actually taken on a character of itself, showing others that if one wishes to accomplish something, it can be made possible.

 

This exposure to other identities is fascinating. How does your identity affect the way you see prosecuting your major after you graduate in a job situation?

 

Undoubtedly, I have grown tremendously within the past three years and I inevitably will grow some more in this coming year. While I have never considered myself to be intolerant of any race or ethnicity, I had never interacted with many individuals of different backgrounds due to my elementary and high school background. However, after attending Queens College, a school with a diverse student body, for the past three years, I can truly say that I am a very tolerant person.  One thing that will not be an issue when it is time for me to enter the workforce, will be a sense of understanding.

 

Queens College offers numerous opportunities for students to take on positions of leadership and although I cannot take on infinite positions, I have tried to be an active member in our student body. From giving tours of the college to involving myself in the little details needed to plan events for our chapter of Golden Key International Honor Society, I can safely say that I have attempted to make myself a leader amongst my peers. While such opportunities may seem unnecessary while attending college, I feel that such experience will prove to be quite beneficial when I enter the workforce and am faced with situations where I will need to voice my opinions with confidence.

 

As I have stated, I made the brazen decision to major in mathematics, and to pursue a career in business, more specifically, actuarial work. Watching my peers take numerous summer courses, as have I, has taught me the importance of microeconomic decisions. It is with such a background, that I have chosen to work in risk and attempt to impact the various financial decisions that are being executed. I would actually like to mirror some of the actions taken by Ben Bernanke, a man who was raised with a middle class background and eventually rose from there to become the current chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke’s financial decisions affect the lives of millions of people and I too would like my job decisions to have an impact on many others. I personally have seen the negative impact poor business decisions can have on households and firms in Queens College, and feel my background in leadership will enable me to not only speak up for others, but make decisions in global markets leading to their favor.

 

Note how well this piece fits with the last post on entrepreneurship where the comment section took us into a conversation about risk. Perhaps I am over impressed with this connection having just finished the Michael Lewis book “The Big Short” about the sub-prime bond market (and the recent financial disaster to which Dina refers) and being half way through the book “The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb on risk estimation in financial markets and beyond.

 

Because of that fit and the fact that we have reached more than 1,300 words, let’s stop here for now and return later to the discussion I had intended of how internships play into a student’s career projections.  I want to end by thanking Dina for sharing this part of her story and noting again that her planning judgments fit well with what we call in this blog “other lobe” processing in that they are anchored in the personal, connected to her identity and the subject matter, or even from experiences in on-campus leadership. Almost certainly, her judgments so well laid-out above, were processed in those brain areas discussed previously as being associated with neuroeconomics.

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The law, the brain, operant psychology, and the intersection
1 Comment

One Response to “An Ethnic Salad and a Mathematical Identity”

  1. Kenice Frank says:

    Like Dina mentioned, I think that as the next generation in a growing global community, need to take a closer look at how we are exposing our children to the world. At Northeastern University, when I began to step out of my comfort zone, and interact with others from vastly different backgrounds, it seemed to provide me self-growth and a more well rounded view of the world and how we are actually all very similar in a fundamenetal, humanistic way.

    It was also through my experiential education at NU that I learned how to handle personal interactions of the workplace, professionalis. Learning how to show empathy for others and providing excellent care is something that I learned solely from working at a hospital after I graduated. These experiences combined have provided me the passion and confidence that I will need to succeed in my career.

    Great interview and I look forward to hearing more about this ‘neur atoeconomics’ area!

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