Early Career Profiles:
Recent bachelors-level graduates in the mathematical sciences

Cameron Sparr

Name: Cameron Sparr Undergraduate Institution: University of Washington Position: Programmer/Analyst Company/Employer: Scripps Instituion of Oceanography Industry Sector: Information Technology

What they do:

• Cameron is a programmer and data analyst for the Coastal Observing Research and Development Center. He uses MATLAB and Python programming for analysis of oceanographic data such as tide gauges and bathymetry.

Math on the job:

•  Cameron uses math to perform tidal analyses and various other benchmarks when verifying data.
  

Student's background:

• Cameron received a Bachelor of Science in ACMS with minors in Applied Mathematics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Washington, Spring 2011.
  
• Cameron pursued the ACMS - physical science degree track because he enjoyed math and physics and wanted a broad degree that would allow a lot of flexibility. He chose to take oceanography courses for the physical science option which opened the doors to his current job.

Advice for students:

• Try to get involved in a research project or internship that involves learning computing tools that would be important for a future career. Everybody needs programmers; UNIX and command-line tools were very helpful for me.Everybody needs programmers; UNIX and command-line tools were very helpful for me.

University of Washington   |   Department of If you want to go to grad school for math, take the advanced classes as early as you can and look for research experience. Research helps a lot when you apply for grad school. If you want to go to grad school for math, take the advanced classes as early as you can and look for research experience. Research helps a lot when you apply for grad school. If you want to go to grad school for math, take the advanced classes as early as you can and look for research experience. Research helps a lot when you apply for grad school. Mathematics