数学救援
理学院 Grad Uses Mathematical Modeling Skills to Tackle Global Problems
凯利·克里斯坦森 wants to save the world with 数学.
When she started college at the University of Idaho, she didn’t realize she could. But she was entranced by her first-year 数学 classes and decided to study 数学 以及 物理这两个专业都是 理学院.
“I love 数学 because it’s universal. Wherever you go, two plus two equals four,” says Christensen, 21, of Ririe, Idaho. “Everything you do every day has 数学 in it, and I think that’s really beautiful.”
现在, Christensen’s wrapping up an undergraduate research project that uses 数学 to understand and fight disease, and she’s stepping into a graduate project exploring the same topic.
During her junior year, 数学 professor 史蒂夫·克朗 encouraged her to apply to the Undergraduate Biological Mathematics program to pursue research. She received a grant to work with Krone on a project modeling the interactions of bacteria and the viruses that infect them, 被称为噬菌体. Understanding this interplay could help researchers use phages to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Christensen has loved working with 数学ematical models that describe the world’s physical, 生物和社会系统.
She also enjoys working with her fellow researchers. Mathematical research is challenging and often involves roadblocks that feel impossible but can be resolved by a group of people talking through the problem and proposing new ideas.
“Math research is a lot more human than I thought it was going to be,她说。.
After commencement, Christensen will begin earning her master’s in 数学 at UI. She wants to study the way the spread of information about a disease affects the spread of the disease itself.
The results of such research can affect how groups like the World 健康 Organization send aid, determine quarantines and make other vital choices.
“It’s a way you can really impact lives,” Christensen says. “It’s really essential in helping stop huge epidemics.”
Christensen also is excited about her project’s academic boundary-jumping nature. She jokes that she “likes too many things,” and has heard that there’s no place in the world for someone involved in everything, but she thinks interdisciplinary work is the perfect place for her.
“If you get into interdisciplinary research, it’s like you find your niche,她说。. “I always tell my family it’s a bunch of nerds who like a lot of things, and we all get together and find out how to incorporate 数学 in them or how they interconnect.”
In addition to her passion for world-changing research, Christensen also likes changing the world with science education. 她是一个 理学院 Student Ambassador, representing the college to future Vandals and sharing her college experience with them. 她是一个lso involved in UI Science 外展, which encourages elementary and middle school students to get excited about science by bringing demonstrations to their classrooms.
The first time Christensen visited a classroom was one of the highlights of her college career, and she never tires of UI Science 外展’s most popular demo: blowing up a trash can using liquid nitrogen.
“The kids’ expressions when the cans blow up is just the best,她说。.
Christensen also served on a 2015 替代服务时段 to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she worked with Habitat for Humanity. 2016年夏天, she’ll be the student leader for a trip to work with Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, 哪家公司提供免费房屋维修.
These experiences have kept Christensen grounded and involved in the world outside the university —and they’ve inspired her desire to use 数学 to make the world a better place.
“I want to know if there’s something we can look at with a 数学ematical lens and maybe find a way to fix it or improve it,她说。.