Trachette Jackson

"When I was in high school, I was able to go to a college campus to take undergraduate math classes, which was a great experience. To pass this on to the next generation, each year for the last ~20 years, I've run an intensive 2-week math and biology course for high school students."

"Another outreach program that I am involved in is aimed at 1st and 2nd year college students. This project is driven by the fact that we really need more diverse students to become leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)."

"A challenge is that more than half the students that enter college wanting to major in STEM don't end up getting that STEM degree."

"There's a high attrition rate and the biggest drop off happens to be students of color and students from underserved backgrounds. When I was researching and finding out all these facts, it really made me want to figure out ways to support students and address this retention in STEM problem."

"I think that medical oncology could really use a mathematical modeling toolbox that can leverage clinical measurements to optimize treatments for individual patients. Mathematical modeling can also help us make predictions to improve clinical care."

"For example, you might first want to predict which drug or combination of drugs will work best on particular patients, and then it becomes important to know the right dose and schedule for administering that drug. Mathematical modeling can help answer these types of questions."