Laura Hodgson
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What she does:
- Laura bills Medicare and brainstorms on how processes can be improved to reduce the time it takes to get paid. She will soon move into a lead role managing various government programs.
Math on the job:
- Although Laura doesn't use her math at her current position, she is learning about codes used in hospital billing. She does alot of addition and subtraction, and her math background in analysis is used frequently. As she moves up in the corporation, she will increasingly use statistics to project company profits.
Laura's background:
- Laura received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics, from the University of Washington, Spring 2006.
- Laura's mother is an accountant and her father was a computer programmer, who liked to teach her math. In her high school statistics class, she had a teacher who suggested she become an actuary. While in her senior year in college, she interned at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, an actuarial firm.
Advice for students:
- Laura recommends exploring the research adn business worlds while in college if you are not certain what you are interested in. Contact a professor you like and ask if you can join their research for a summer. She worked with a a statistics professor and a math PhD student on two different research projects. Comparing her research and internship experiences, she new she wanted to enter the business world after graduation, rather than pursuing an academic career in mathematics.