What Students Really Say About Farmington


Coming from North Carolina, how did you first find out about Farmington?
My family is in North Carolina and I heard about UMF from somebody originally from Maine who's now going to school in Carolina. He said that because of what I wanted out of a college, Farmington sounded like a good match. So I checked it out online and it seemed nice and there was a good chance I’d get scholarships. I wanted to go out of state and it was less expensive than other schools I looked at. For all those reasons I came here.

Are you happy with your decision to come to UMF?
Yes, I am.

So, did you come to Farmington wanting to be a Mathematics major?
No. First I came in as Undeclared and then I declared as an Art major. But I’d always had an interest in Physics and I always liked Math and was good at it. So I decided to add a Math class just for fun and after doing that I changed my mind — and my major. Because UMF doesn’t have a physics major, I changed to a Mathematics major with a Physics minor. It has been quite a journey.

What do you like about Mathematics?
I think there are a lot of really neat things you can do with it. I like a lot of Applied Math and a lot of Geometry. I love the way you can describe shapes and forms and figure out things, mathematically, from them. I also like the way you can describe certain phenomena in nature in more precise terms using Math than you can with English.

That's very interesting. Tell me more about how Math connects with things outside of Mathematics.
This all ties in. I was a research assistant last year for Chris Magri, [Associate Professor of Physics] who does research on asteroids. He takes radar data from a telescope in Puerto Rico and uses it to figure out what an asteroid looks like — how big it is, what it’s composed of, the geological features of the asteroid itself. A lot of that research deals with translating the numbers. It’s really complicated, but fascinating.

Another example would be the different types of symmetry you can use in Art. And geometric types of art, like daisy designs and Celtic knotwork, can be designed mathematically. There’s also a lot of geometry that goes into relativity theory. There’s lots of fun stuff. Oh, I could go on forever.

Have you had a favorite class?
Probably College Geometry, with Paul Gies, [Associate Professor of Mathematics] who’s just an amazing teacher. He actually makes you think like a mathematician! He gives you problems to tackle and you have to come up with proofs on your own — it really challenged me. And the class dealt with a lot of fields of geometry I hadn’t seen before, completely different from high school geometry. We studied some crazy things, too. One in particular I loved was Hyperbolic Geometry. In Hyperbolic Geometry there are many straight lines that don’t intersect one another. They actually think that our universe is hyperbolic on a large scale.

Another one of my favorite classes was Intro. to Philosophy with Frank Underkuffler [Lecturer]. He’s a very good lecturer and a funny guy. He really gives you a sense of why our society is the way it is. He helps you to understand ideas from a historical context, presenting a different view from what you typically see.

My third favorite class would be Descriptive Astronomy with Chris Magri. It was a lot of fun learning about planetary science and what scientists have done and how they did it. Oh, then there was an Art class I really loved — 2D Design on the Computer with Libby McFalls [Assistant Professor of Art].

Do you work on campus?
Yes, I do. I’ve worked at Mantor Library for three years and I just started work at the Math Clinic doing tutoring. As I said earlier, I was also a research assistant for Chris Magri for a year.

What was that like?
Well, I was in my first Physics class and I heard that Chris Magri did his own research and I thought that was really cool. In high school I had this dream of being a physicist, and so I went to Chris and asked him about what kinds of physics research he did. Most of the time I was his research assistant I spent more time learning than assisting. I read a lot of articles on radar astronomy and learned more of the science behind it and why it works. I also learned how to use the software he designed to analyze radar products. It was a very good experience.

What do you plan to do after graduation?
I’m keeping all my options open, but I’m going to apply to grad schools in Mathematics. Because my grades are good and I have some experience, I’m also going to be applying to Teach for America [the national teaching program where recent college graduates commit to teach for two years in urban and rural schools]. Depending on how things go, I may take the Praxis exams for teaching.

I’m also considering Actuarial Science. With a Math major, you can go a variety of things — be a financial consultant, developing models of risk. A lot of Mathematics graduates work for insurance companies doing things like designing pension plans. It involves a lot of higher level Mathematics; statistics, calculus, and such. So I definitely plan on taking a Science of Actuary exam, because once you pass one you can become an Actuary. There’s such a demand that the starting salary is very high. If I pass just one Actuary exam, I automatically qualify for internships — as a student — where I can be making $40,000 a year.