Using analytical know-how to build a restaurant empire

Peggy Cherng (’71)

Co-CEO
Panda Express

Peggy created one of the first purpose-built point-of-sale systems in the fast-food industry. She also innovates in personnel recruiting, training and motivation, including offering profit-sharing to the restaurant’s employees and promoting from within as much as possible.

“I always say at the start that you have to believe in yourself. Also, you need to be curious, because only with curiosity can you learn and elevate and be better. And I believe engineering training and math training help the mind to think, especially when we face something uncertain and unknown to us.”

Following a passion for math and physics to Berkeley

Joey Takach (’24)

Physics Ph.D. Student
University of California, Berkeley

As an undergraduate, Takach used Python, a computer programming language, to create educational videos that made advanced physics and mathematics concepts more accessible to students who haven’t learned it yet. After completing his Ph.D. in California, focusing on particle physics and phenomenology, Takach dreams of becoming a physics professor.

“Learning and teaching for as long as possible is the most ideal for me. I need the connection to what is actually real. Not to say that math isn’t beautiful, but I think that applying math to something real is what is most important.”

Building a technical writing career at Amazon

Megan Tucker (’20)

Technical Writer
Amazon Web Services

When Tucker accepted a grant writing internship on campus, she began to see the world of possibilities that lived at the intersection of writing and science. Tucker worked as a technical writer for Amazon Web Services for three years before resigning to work toward her master’s in writing at Queen’s University in the U.K.

“It felt great to graduate knowing I could continue to learn and write about science and become an expert in fields I wouldn’t have known existed until someone said, ‘We need a tech writer.’”

Turning mathematics into an AI venture

Scott Clark (’08)

Founder
Distributional Inc.

As a repeat founder, Clark’s latest venture, Distributional Inc., is focused on helping organizations test, calibrate and monitor AI systems — ensuring they behave as expected and are reliable in real-world use.

“I wanted to understand physics, because that's the way the world works, and I wanted to understand math because that's the language of physics … I was never told anything was impossible, so I never stopped.”

Bringing mathematical problem-solving to business consulting

Rachel Legard (’19)

Senior Consultant
Deloitte

At Deloitte, Legard combines the skills she learned in mathematics and business to improve the efficiency of governments and private sector businesses, while traveling on-site around the country.

“It was fun to see that they were really interested in mathematics majors. Even though I’m not going to be doing derivatives every day, I’m still going to use the problem-solving techniques I learned in my major.”

Using mathematics to build smarter manufacturing systems

Justin Ihara (’09)

Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Architect
Axonics Inc.

Ihara’s original intention was to become a math teacher. After looking for a career change, he now works with software systems that are responsible for the guidance, automation, quality and data capture for manufacturing equipment and components for genome sequencing.

“It's never too early to start looking at jobs and job requirements for after college. Classes will give you plenty of knowledge, but you can certainly boost your marketability by additional independent learning that is applicable to your desired position.”

Rising to leadership in actuarial science

Susan Dunham (’14)

Actuarial Manager
Bickmore Actuarial

Dunham was the first Oregon State mathematics student to graduate with the statistics option. Her statistical skills and knowledge helped her land a summer internship with State Farm’s research unit. Then, her abilities in data analysis helped pave the way for a full-time job offer, setting her up for success in future job positions for more than a decade.

“The courses in the statistics option helped give me a good base knowledge for some of the actuarial exams I will be taking in the next few years as well.”

How robotics research helped launch a software career at Google

Johnathan Van Why (’16)

Senior Software Engineer
Google

As an undergraduate, Van Why conducted controls research for legged robots and was part of a team that developed software for the multi-university ATRIAS robot project. But one day in the summer of 2015, he unintentionally stumbled into Google’s recruitment process, facing off a series of online programming challenges that landed him phone calls and a job offer.

“I am very glad that I had computational number theory. Problems in that area would repeatedly show up in the online challenges as well as in the interviews.”

The mathematician whose work helped make DNA sequencing possible

Michael Waterman (’64, M.S ’66)

Emeritus University Professor
University of Southern California

Waterman’s extensive career includes foundational research to many DNA mapping and sequencing projects, including the Human Genome Project. His work, focused on applying mathematics, statistics and computer science techniques to various problems in molecular biology, continues to play an important role in DNA sequencing today.

“Our research was not initially in any hot-topics category. We simply found fascinating problems that were irresistible, and we were determined to pursue them.”