Shanley Camara ’22

Since Data Science is a brand-new major at UNE, I get to work really closely with the math department to help develop the program. I give insights into the classes that they offer. Some of the classes don't even exist yet because it's so new, and I get to give feedback that could influence the way that those classes will look in the future. It’s cool to be part of a new major or a new field in general. The faculty and staff are really nice, and they're very open. I'm not afraid to give my feedback.

I’m a teaching assistant for the head of the department. He gives me a variety of projects to work on. There's one with a company called GWI where we are helping to develop a model to establish internet in rural communities in Maine. I’m also working on another project right now to model how many sections the department might need of certain math classes. I take the data and look at how many sections they had before and with how many students enrolled. I look at if the class is required for students. I then take all of that information and try to model a solution.

It’s really fun. Getting to work with real data and help make decisions for the department is real-life problem solving. It’s awesome.

The UNE community is pretty tight, and all of the extracurriculars work together. I’m in a few clubs — math club, hunger initiative, and the NOLA service learning club.

Math club is new and small right now, but we’re working on making review packets for calculus to sell around campus before exams to help fundraise. We’re putting on a math meet soon to practice before the Maine state math meet. We think it’d be fun to get high schoolers together to practice.

UNE is a fun place. It’s a small school, so you get to know a lot of people closely. The beach is so nice. I like to run down Hills Beach Road. It’s a beautiful place to live.