Emporia State is the host of several activities this week, including Thursday’s Sonia Kovalevsky Mathematics Day. The 20th anniversary of this event honors women in high school for their accomplishments in mathematics.
This year’s keynote speaker participated in the Mathematics Day when she was a student at Emporia High. Elizabeth Yanik is now an epidemiologist with the National Cancer Institute. She says it’s nice to come back.
{wbty_audio audio_id=”2476″ audio_title=”Yanik: The Event Has Grown”}
Yanik fielded questions about life and her career from a large group of mostly female students. Yanik’s parents are both faculty at Emporia State. She says she was mostly interested in biology in high school, with a high interest in math and science. While in college, Yanik says she got hooked on statistics, and that enjoyment of science and math came together with epidemiology. She says it was a bit of luck, and a bit planned as well.
{wbty_audio audio_id=”2477″ audio_title=”Yanik: Grad School”}
She’s currently working on the different parameters of identifying cancers in HIV patients and organ transplant recipients.
Her advice to other young women interested in pursuing math and science?
{wbty_audio audio_id=”2478″ audio_title=”Yanik: Follow Things that Excite You”}
The Sonia Kovalevsky Math Day was made possible by a grant from Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation.
