130. Steven Chao, Lucking into Building a Great Healthcare Consulting Firm
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Steven Chao, a US-born second-generation college student, shares his experiences growing up in South Carolina and feeling overwhelmed upon arriving at Harvard in 1988. He found solace in joining the Collegium Musicum, a classical musical singing group at Harvard, which helped him find his footing and connect with people from his class. From Biochem to Game Design to Consulting Steven majored in biochemistry, which expanded his social circle and helped him find happiness. Steven's parents were both PhDs and pushed him into the MD PhD program. However, he faced challenges in...
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129. Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, Law Professor and Adventurous Baker
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff shares her journey from college to law school. After deferring her law school for a year, she spent a year in Spain to gain language and cultural experience. She then went to law school in Cambridge and clerked for a federal judge in New York before going into practice. Rebecca was initially interested in becoming a federal prosecutor but realized she first had to go into practice. She worked for a small boutique litigation firm that did about 60% white collar criminal defense and about 40% civil litigation. While she loved being a counselor to her...
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128. Alison Wakoff Loren, Bone Marrow Transplant Doctor and Chief of Hematology/Oncology
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Alison Wakoff Loren went to St Louis to medical school at Washington University. She specialized in internal medicine and later completed a subspecialty fellowship in hematology oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. She met her husband in medical school and they have three children all in their early twenties. Alison is now the chief of the Division of Hematology Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in bone marrow transplantation, a curative therapy for blood cancer. Taking Care of Patients Alison finds the best part of her job to be taking care of...
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127. Julia Lynch, UPenn Professor of Political Science
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Julia Lynch opens the conversation with a statement about identifying now as a Radcliffe graduate, despite not having identified with feminism during college. At college, Julia didn’t think feminism was a pressing issue, but later realized that her career has been shaped by discrimination and enriched by her experiences as a mother and wife. Julia's professional trajectory was predictable, but she had to fight for her place in a male-dominated profession. At the age of 50, her life seems placid and predictable, but she is grateful for the surprises and bumps in her journey....
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126. Robert de Neufville, Writer and Superforecaster
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Robert de Neufville dropped out of grad school after spending over a decade in grad school and not finishing his PhD. This was around the time of the financial crisis. Robert realized that after a decade in academia he was less employable than when he graduated from Harvard. He had done a lot of teaching at Berkeley and San Francisco State, but found himself struggling to find a job. He eventually moved to Hawaii to work freelance editing projects. He moved there because he had a friend who wanted to rent out his house. Working as a Forecaster and Political Writer Currently, Robert...
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125. Cara Familian Natterson: Physician to Puberty Influencer
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Cara Natterson moved to New York City where she worked for a drug rehabilitation center, and later moved to Baltimore, where she studied at Johns Hopkins Medical School. She eventually returned to L.A. and practiced pediatrics there. Her writing career began at the age of 31 when a co-worker asked her to read his manuscript, which inspired her to write her own book about raising kids. The Body Book Series and Less Awkward Company In 2008, Cara decided to leave clinical medicine and become a full-time writer. In 2011, after speaking at Mattel, she was signed on to write for the Body...
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124. Patrick Jackson, Answering the Call
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Patrick Jackson talks about growing up in his great-grandparents' home in an unincorporated area of Shelby County, where he had no indoor plumbing until age 10. That home, where he lived with his mother and three brothers, was his formative space before going to Harvard. Patrick was initially considering medical school. However, he decided to pursue politics, inspired by an experience he had as a junior in high school working as a U.S. House Page on Capitol Hill. Becoming a Page in the U.S. House of Representatives Patrick believes that God opened a door for him to become a Page...
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123. Angelo Milazzo, Pediatric Cardiologist and Chief Medical Officer
The 92 Report
Show Notes: After graduation, Angelo Milazzo returned to his home state and attended medical school at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He developed an interest in cardiology and decided to pursue post-graduate training in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology at Duke University. Angelo completed his post-graduate training in 2002 and joined the Department of Pediatrics as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. A Growing Practice and Becoming Chief Medical OfficerIn 2002, he was offered the opportunity to start a pediatric cardiology practice in Raleigh, North Carolina. The...
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122. Jung Park, When the Fork in the Road Runs Parallel
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Jung Park, a Korean immigrant, faced a conflict between her passion for acting and her academic pursuits. She initially wanted to concentrate in visual arts but ultimately chose English and American Literature and Language, which she loved. Despite this, she was conflicted about pursuing his artistic dreams versus what was expected of her. Joining AFTRA and Going into Law School In her junior year, she auditioned for an open call search for an ABC after-school special about kids with HIV and AIDS, which led to her joining the Screen Actors Guild, renowned as...
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121. Michael T. Johnson, Lawyer, Impact Investor and New Orleanian
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Michael T. Johnson, a lawyer, shares his experiences during his freshman year at Stanford Law School. He initially wanted to pursue transactional work in finance and looked at New York but later realized that he wanted to return to New Orleans and work there. He stayed long-term in New Orleans and work for companies in the area. From a Law Firm to the Oil Industry He spent three years working at Jones Walker, a large law firm in New Orleans. However, after joining the firm, all but one associate left, leading to a split off in the firm and a lot of extra responsibility for Michael....
info_outlineWill Bachman is hosting a conversation with Jamylle Carter, a member of the Harvard and Radcliffe class of 1992. Jamylle graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics and went on to complete a PhD in math from UCLA. After UCLA, she also held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in the University of Minnesota.
Math Think Tanks and Researching Algorithms
Will and Jamylle had a conversation about math think tanks, in which Jamylle described her experience. She had spent four years in a math think tank at a university, and then another four years at a Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. Jamylle fell in love with the Bay Area and decided to stay, working as an adjunct professor, running a Math Circle and working at a science museum in San Francisco. She has been a math professor at Diablo Valley College since 2009. Jamylle explained that a math think tank is a place funded by the National Science Foundation and other private funders for mathematicians to leave their university appointments and focus on their research with other people in the field. Jamylle's research was applied math, and it was for image processing. Jamylle was researching a new algorithm to solve a mathematical problem. The problem was related to blurring or noise in an image, and the goal was to approximate the original picture as closely as possible. She was looking at optimization methods, which are mathematical techniques that can find the best answer to a problem.
Teaching Math in the Math Circle Program
Jamylle then went on to explain a math circle she organized for middle school kids. The math circle was inspired by a program from Eastern Europe that was designed to expose kids to higher level math. The math circle would also give kids a chance to struggle with a problem and get excited about learning. Jamylle learned more about the program while at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.
In 2007-2008, the MSRI sponsored a Berkeley Math Circle for the children of professors and wealthy families. Seeing the need for a Math Circle for a different demographic, Jamylle proposed an Oakland Math Circle for black middle school students in order to challenge the idea that black people can't like math. With the help of the Exploratorium, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family Life and Culture, and the Museum of African American Technology, she was able to get grants totaling $8,000 to run the Oakland Math Circle. The Math Circle ran hands-on activities to engage students, teaching them that it was okay to be both black and like math.
She taught all the modules, did the recruitment and covered topics such as rocket science, probability and music and math. She also mentioned that in minoritized spaces, students tend to work alone, which can be due to racism, fear of being too nerdy, or fear that they won't be seen as capable due to their race. Carter's motivation for starting the Math Circle program was to provide a space where Black kids could come together and enjoy doing math without such pressures.
Deborah Hughes Hallett was a Harvard graduate student who eventually became faculty in the Harvard Math Department. She never earned her doctorate, and unfortunately the math department still never treated her like real faculty. She was also at the forefront of the calculus reform movement and wrote textbooks to help teach the subject. Deb was an important figure in the Math Department, providing guidance and support to students in need and advocating for reform in the subject.
Designing a New Math Curriculum
Jamylle and Will discussed math education and its importance. Will then asked about how to build a high school math curriculum from the ground up. Jamylle believes that everyone should have a solid background in arithmetic, such as fractions, decimals, and percentages. She also suggests introducing courses on probability, statistics, computer science, and using spreadsheets. Additionally, she wants to focus on dimensional analysis and number sense in order to help students become more comfortable with math. Finally, she believes it’s equally important to teach math in a way that avoids creating math phobias and traumas, and to make sure teachers are supported and not overworked.
Jamylle talks about the courses and professors that have had an impact on her life. Carter starts by talking about her undergraduate advisor Deborah Hughes Hallett, who she credits with helping her to graduate. A class that stood out was music 51, a year long music theory course.
Timestamps
08:24 Investigating Mathematical Methods for Image Optimization
11:15 Analysis of Total Variation Method for Image Processing
15:50 Optimization Problems and Finite Time Solutions
18:13 Image Enhancement Technology
20:00 Math Circles and Problem Solving
31:46 Intersecting Racial Identity and Mathematical Affinity
40:13 Comparing Experiences at Harvard and a Historically Black College
48:19 Supportive Mentorship in the Math Department
52:58 Music Theory and Performance
1:00:59 Exploring Equity in Mathematics Education
Links:
https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/jamylle-carter/
CONTACT INFO:
https://twitter.com/CarterJamylle
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamylle-carter-3184259/