Luke Nelsen
MAJOR: MATHEMATICS
GRAD YEAR: 2012
CAREER: VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
“The math department at IWU was beneficial to me in many ways. First, the professors cared a lot about the students! This made a big difference when I encountered tough days or needed math help and advice. Second, I got to participate in math events such as competitions, colloquium talks, conferences, and fun get-togethers. These exposed me to aspects of mathematics beyond what courses cover. Third, the individualized
advice I received for career plans made it possible for me to get a Ph.D. in math. I am certain that I would not have had a successful graduate experience if it had not been for the recommendations to take Analysis and Topology and to apply to some additional schools.”
(After receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Colorado Denver, Luke joined the University of Indianapolis in 2019 as a Visiting Assistant Professor).
Kelly Day
MAJOR: MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
GRAD YEAR: 2009
CAREER: MATH TEACHER
“I am currently teaching 7th grade math at Westfield Middle School in a community just north of Indianapolis.
I was created to be a math teacher and when I teach I feel pleasure in knowing that I am doing what God
made me to do. I owe so much to the math department of IWU. The math professors trained and molded me
both intellectually and spiritually into the teacher I am today. More specifically I owe a special debt of gratitude
to the IWU math department for a grant I received to travel throughout Asia one summer. My IWU senior
seminar thesis was based on international achievement in mathematics. I took the research I had used for my
senior project and transformed it into a grant proposal that was accepted and funded by the Eli Lilly Foundation. The grant allowed me to travel to seven different Asian countries. During this time I interviewed numerous teachers, visited several schools and completed the research I started five years ago. The summer was an incredible blessing to me and would not have been possible without the guidance of my IWU math professors and their dedication to pushing me to achieve my fullest potential. They helped me find and pursue my passion, and with those tools God has been able to open up some incredible doors for me.
(Kelly was subsequently awarded a Fullbright Distinguished Award for Teaching and spent a semester in
Finland researching the Finnish education system. Then in 2019, Kelly was one of the three Indiana state finalists in math for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching).
Dylan Stai
MAJOR: COMPUTER SCIENCE
GRAD YEAR: 2018
CA R E E R : T E C H N I CA L C O N S U LTA N T
“Currently, I am a technical consultant at Appirio, a company that implements Salesforce for its clients. This means that much of what I do is not out of the box or things that have been done before. I do not necessarily get to follow cookie-cutter implementations for my projects but rather have to figure out how to do new things
by using little parts of what I have picked up here and there. All of this is to say why I am grateful for my time at IWU. I might have not left as the best programmer, but I did leave feeling like I could figure stuff out. I felt capable of research and my ability to ask questions to be able to interact and understand what my clients need and want.
Caryn Willis
MAJOR: MATHEMATICS
GRAD YEAR: 2016
C A R E E R : B I O I N F O R M A T I C S S C I E N T I S T, U N I V E R S I T Y
OF NORTH CAROLINA
“During my senior year at IWU, I attended a national math conference with the math department. There, I
discovered the field of Computational Biology and its applications in cancer research. So, after taking a
gap year, I attended Carnegie Mellon University for my Master of Science in Computational Biology degree
where I applied my math skills with new computational and biology knowledge. Since graduating Spring
2019, I have started a Bioinformatics Scientist position at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, I am working on developing Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Analysis Algorithms to help Scientists and Oncologists understand the diverse makeup of tumors. I am thankful for the opportunities I was given at IWU to discover my passions and develop the mathematical and personal foundations I have to help me in my career and life. ”
Ian McCulla
MAJOR: MATHEMATICS
GRAD YEAR: 2009
CAREER: ACTUARY
“IWU provided me with an excellent framework to begin my actuarial career...the Mathematics Department’s emphasis on technical writing, presentations and group assignments helped me develop communication
skills essential to excel in a business setting.”
(Ian is a consulting actuary at Milliman and a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries).
Cole Ward
M A J O R : M A T H I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A R Y
GRAD YEAR: 2018
CAREER: ACTUARY
“I have passed two exams since I started working. I have four total now, and I will soon be taking STAM,
which would be number five if I pass. I am in the Annuity Products division, so I am involved with annuity
pricing, maintenance, and rate setting. Pension risk transfer is a large part of my everyday work. I am
also in charge of a couple of deferred annuities and am currently working on pricing a new indexed annuity alongside an FSA. This includes working with teams outside of actuarial to design and price the product so it will be competitive in the market but reach desired profitability goals. I am also provided study time on the job, so I fit that in where I can.”
Nichole Lehman
MAJOR: COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS
GRAD YEAR: 2016
CAREER: USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
“I’ve worked with the client through the discovery process and created wireframes with the client and business
analyst to help produce user stories.”
(Nichole is now working as a UX designer at the same company where she interned. She also volunteers her web design skills with a Uganda-based organization doing infrastructure development).
TJ Collins
MAJOR: COMPUTER SCIENCE
GRAD YEAR: 2011
CAREER: MACHINE LEARNING RESEARCHER
“As I entered graduate school at University of Southern California, I worried about how well-trained I would be compared to my peers from other institutions and other countries. I quickly discovered that IWU had provided me with a knowledge base and skill-set that allowed me to distinguish myself from my peers and excel in my
studies. If you wish to become a researcher and continue your education in graduate school in a technical field, find research projects in your area of study and get involved in them as soon as possible, even if you feel that you don’t have the necessary technical skills yet.”
(TJ is now working for Apple Corporation designing machine learned models to improve decision-making in Siri.)
Tyler Thompson
MAJOR: COMPUTER SCIENCE
GRAD YEAR: 2016
CAREER: ENTREPRENEUR, GAME DEVELOPER
“My time at Indiana Wesleyan was formational in establishing my career. I use the concepts and techniques taught in many computer science courses on a daily basis, including Agile development, code reviews, and
best practices for programming. My involvement with the Association for Computing Machinery as president taught me valuable interpersonal skills that helped me to launch a business. As a game developer, the education provided by the core computer science coursework has been essential in writing good code. Data
structures, introduction to software engineering, and objectoriented programming were particularly important.”
