Buffalo State Hosts Creating Tomorrow's Mathematics Professionals Conference

Leaders from the private sector will join professors of professional science master’s (PSM) programs at a conference to be held in Niagara Falls October 13 to 15. Buffalo State is hosting the conference, which will be presented by the National Professional Science Master’s Association.

Speakers at the conference, Creating Tomorrow's Mathematics Professionals, include presentations by Matthew Peter Nagowski, vice president of Credit Risk Management, and Teresa Eller, Consumer Indirect Credit Risk Manager, both of M&T Bank. Birgit Schoeberl, vice president of discovery at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, and Lilian Wu, program executive, Global University Programs, IBM, will also discuss ways to bring educated specialists into the business world.

Joaquin Carbonara, professor of mathematics and faculty coordinator of Buffalo State’s master’s program in professional applied and computational mathematics, is a proponent of the relatively new PSM. “This degree prepares students to be successful in the growing field of data science, as both applied mathematicians and managers,” said Carbonara.

The Buffalo State program is guided by an advisory panel that includes representatives from business, industry, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies as well as faculty members. One-credit-hour modules enable students and professors to respond to the demands of the marketplace.

One of the keynote speakers is William Kolata, technical director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the largest national organization for applied mathematics. Kolata will present the 2011 Math in Industry Report: An Overview. Sheila Tobias, author of seven books including five acclaimed books relating to math and science, will also speak. Myles Boylan and Carol Stoel, both program officers with the Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation, will discuss innovation in graduate education.

Business leaders interested in attending should contact Joaquin Carbonara at (716) 878-6423. “Networking is perhaps the most important part of this conference,” said Carbonara. “We invite business leaders to come and discover how they can find highly qualified workers who are ready to take on the challenges of the information age, and who are comfortable with the business world.”