AfterMath: Interviews with the Best Minds in STEM Art of Problem Solving

This episode’s guest is Mark Kantrowitz, nationally-recognized expert on student financial aid, scholarships, and student loans. He has written several books and created a number of websites that have helped over 100 million people pay for college. He and Richard discuss Mark’s background in mathematics and his initial career path in computer science, and how he made the decision to take his life in a different direction. Mark also shares some of the lessons he’s learned about the financial challenges facing the families of college-bound students, as well as some insights into what it takes to become a respected authority in an important field.

This episode’s guest is Max Nova, founder of SilviaTerra: a company that uses technology and big data to improve forest management. Max describes how he wound up in this unexpected, but extremely rewarding, career and how his mathematical background prepared him for the challenges of devising new and innovative methods of gathering data about and quantitatively analyzing complex ecosystems. He also discusses the challenges of getting such a groundbreaking company off the ground.

This episode’s guest is Cathy O’Neil: mathematician, data scientist, and author of such works as Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Cathy talks with Richard about her past roles as a math professor, a quantitative analyst for a hedge fund, and a data scientist for a dot com startup. She explains how her experiences inform the writing that she’s doing now about the societal impact of technology and big data.

This episode’s guest is Sam Vandervelde, Head of School and Dean of Mathematical Sciences at Proof School: a private day school for kids who love math. Sam is also a former United States IMO team member, one of the co-founders - along with Richard Rusczyk and Sandor Lehoczky - of the Mandelbrot Competition, and a question writer for the USAMO. Sam discusses his experiences as a math contest superstar, earning his PhD at the University of Chicago, and what it’s like running a school that serves passionate math students.

This episode’s guest is Catherine Asaro, two-time Nebula Award-winning science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She is also a dancer, musician, teacher, and an extremely successful math contest coach. Catherine discusses her scientific background - which culminated in a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard University - and how she discovered her career path by bringing her passion for science together with her love of storytelling. She also talks about the challenges of raising a profoundly gifted child, and how those challenges led to her becoming one of the top math coaches in the nation.

This episode’s guest is Eli Luberoff, founder and CEO of Desmos, which offers a free online graphing calculator that is currently being used by millions of students around the world. Eli talks about his work building educational resources that not only benefit learning goals, but help inspire students’ creativity and enthusiasm. He and Richard also discuss what they’ve both learned about founding an education startup, and what role technology can–and should–play in the classroom.