My Major

Mira DeShazer, Math Statistics Business Analysis, 1/15/2016 via Pixabay, Public Domain Distribution License

I am a mathematics major with an emphasis on science (this means i want to work in the field of math instead of become a teacher).

What do students in your program or department learn how to do?
Students in my department figure out what they wan to do. Every math major with an emphasis in science needs a minor within the sciences (in my case its computer science). Through this minor, they can focus on whatever field they choose while also having the title of mathematics majors. It seems like a weird system, but by the time the students realize what they want to specialize in, they can focus on that branch while also knowing the mathematics that makes up the idea.

What do people who get degrees in this field usually go on to do for work?
As stated above, this depends on the minor that the student chooses. For example, I am a computer science major, so I'll probably become a computer programmer some company or possibly go to graduate school depending on what opportunities are presented. Another popular minor is engineering. Engineering minors work as, well, an engineer. It's specialization like this that makes it impossible to find some sort of general idea for where math major go after college.

What drew you to this field?
I've always been a jack-of-all-trades type of character, but I haven't really been truly passionate about anything particular since I started high school. I didn't really know what I'd major in when college came around. Math has always been my best subject by a small margin, so I figured why don't I major in the stuff? And here I am today. Unfortunately, it's a pretty pathetic reason to be majoring in math, but right now I really like the major and the department, so I'm probably gonna stick with it the whole way through.

Name three of the leaders/most exciting people involved in this field right now in 2016.
Terence Tao Website - Probably one of the youngest leaders in today society in accordance with math is Dr. Tao (for mathematics this is pretty young surprisingly). His work in harmonic analysis and number theory has opened up a new wave of up and coming graduating mathematicians from California.

Grigori Perlmann Wikipedia - He was a huge influence in the field of Riemann sums, and today has recently retired from the field. His contributions cannot be understated however; he has been nominated for many mathematical achievements throughout the past two decades, but has declined almost every single one of them, no matter their prestige and honor.

Bill Velez  Website - The undergraduate head for the department of mathematics. This is the man that showed me what my opportunities were after I decided to choose my mathematics major. Furthermore, he gave me a blueprint for my school schedule so that I could finish my major in three years. He's not as active in the community anymore, but for me, he's one of the most exciting people involved with mathematics.

What are the names of three leading academic/scholarly journals in your field?
Turns out there is a website that ranks, by popular vote, the most influential journals for certain fields in the sciences. The top three for math are as follows:

1: IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (USA): This journal records breakthroughs in technology and math. The journal has a large focus on computer science as it's main output for information.

2: Molecular System Biology (UK): Don't let the title fool you. This journal is actually based mostly on the mathematical implications of molecular biology. Published by the Nature Publishing Group, a company that is well-known for their literary contributions to the field of science.

3: Annals of Mathematics (USA): A journal focused on the abstract applications of mathematics. Published by Princeton University,the journal isn't for the faint of heart; its writing is straight up cold, raw data.