About the Speakers
Amy Burgin is a Lead Computer Scientist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) where she serves as a manager, group leader, and full stack developer to create Java applications in support of a varietyof National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space missions. She is the lead for the Juno Science Operations Center software, which manages the Juno mission’s science operations. She also leads the development of the nonconformance module of the space sector’s mission-critical Progress Manufacturing software. She recently joined the Instrument Operations Team for Europa Clipper’s Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration. As a manager, she oversees a small group of employees and hiring activities.
Paul Krawietz, EdD, is the founding director of the Career Success Center in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he specializes in STEM career development services for graduate and undergraduate students. He has over 20 years’ experience in the professional development of students in STEM fields and has taught courses in career readiness and professional development for 14 years. In his current role, he routinely coaches students, develops and promotes experiential learning opportunities for STEM students, and creates opportunities for students to connect with employers in STEM and healthcare-related industries. He joined UTD in 2021 and held previous faculty/administrative positions at California State University Long Beach and the University of Texas at Arlington.
Paul holds degrees in education from Texas Tech University and Eastern Kentucky University. He earned a doctorate in Higher Education – Curriculum, Instruction and Supervision from Texas A & M University at Commerce. In addition, he is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Finders Coach and is a Certified Practitioner of the Myers-Briggs MBTI Inventory.
Christie Mauretour left Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. She graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a degree in mathematics and then pursued a doctorate degree in applied Mathematics from the University of Florida under the supervision of Dr. William Hager. Her research focused on numerical optimization of the vertex separator problem. After graduate school, she went to work for Clothing Tech LLC, a startup writing software for the garment industry, as their Algorithm Engineer.
John Montalbo is an Applied Research Scientist at Trident Research, specializing in partial differential equations, inverse problems, and numerical analysis. He previously worked as a Data Scientist with Travis County and holds advanced degrees from The University of Texas system, including a PhD in Mathematics from UT Arlington. His research and professional work aim to bridge the gap between theoretical mathematics/physics and practical applications, leveraging his expertise in data science, mathematics, and analysis.
Ken Richardson, who is a professor and the graduate director in the Department of Mathematics at TCU (Texas Christian University), received his PhD in Mathematics at Rice University. He does research in Differential Geometry and Global Analysis, a field that connects topology, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. He has been the graduate director in the department since 2010 and has mentored several graduate students as they navigate the academic and “real world” job markets. He coordinates the Mathematics Graduate Student Seminar at TCU, where grad students get academic and data science training as well as professional development skills. The graduate program at TCU is primarily a pure mathematics program, but students have moved from this program to a huge variety of academic and nonacademic occupations. Ken likes learning new things, and he has taught a huge variety of courses from real and complex analysis to the calculus sequence to machine learning.
James Ritchie is a Senior Career Consultant at the University Career Center. James has over five years of experience working in higher education providing career consulting to all classifications of students from every major including an internship with the University Career Center in his graduate studies. James has worked on college campuses ranging from 2,000 – 37,000+ students providing services such as resume/cv/cover letter assistance, career assessments, job & internship search assistance, and mock interview assistance among various others. James has a wide array of experiences presenting to classes, student organizations, and industry professionals on a wide array of professional topics.
Jennifer Royal is a Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Coordinator in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Georgia (UGA). Dr. Royal earned her Ph.D. in 2012 from the University of Georgia and is currently working towards an M.S. in Statistics there. Dr. Royal created the course Industrial Mathematics at UGA and has taught it for five semesters. Dr. Royal also coordinates visits by industry alumni, and she co-organized the department’s first Industrial Mathematics Day in 2024. Dr. Royal has also developed new curricular programs to facilitate students’ transitions to industry. In addition to strengthening the industry pipeline for her students, Dr. Royal has co-written two interactive activity manuals for Calculus courses.
Dr. Sonny Skaaning joined DTCC in July 2018 after working at Comerica Bank since 2015. He earned his BS in Mathematics from Midwestern State University and both his MS and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas. In 2016, he completed his Ph.D. with a dissertation focused on an interdisciplinary study of Applied Mathematics and Finance, under the guidance of Alain Bensoussan and Janos Turi, using numerical and analytical tools to extend the discrete time inventory problem to continuous time.
At DTCC, Dr. Skaaning is a Senior Quantitative Analyst, specializing in model monitoring for stress testing across subsidiaries—MBSD, NSCC, and DTC. He produces daily financial market tests and serves on the Model Performance and Monitoring Team, preparing monthly reports for the Model Risk Governance Council. This role involves collaborating with the Model Development and Market Risk Teams.