Department of Mathematics and Computer Science excited about adding a statistics professor
With careers dealing in statistics growing significantly in recent years, Ashland University’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science felt it needed an instructor who specialized in this area.
“The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science has not had a professor with expertise in statistics since 2016 and department faculty members requested this position to support our actuarial science program and to prepare students for careers as data scientists and statisticians,” said Christopher Swanson, Ph.D., 25-year professor of Mathematics at AU who is on Senior Study Leave this semester to primarily increase his knowledge of and experience in the actuarial profession.
Yong Ju Lee, Ph.D, has filled this position request, bringing an expertise in statistics that Swanson said will help the department modernize its curriculum and help students, staff and faculty across the campus who are seeking statistical consulting.
Hiring a statistician will help students in many areas
Not only will the new position help support the actuarial science program, but also the recently added industrial and systems engineering major.
“We have been waiting quite a while to get somebody who knows stats, particularly at the upper-level courses,” said Gordon Swain, Ph.D., another longtime AU professor of Mathematics (31 years) who is serving as the interim chair of the department with Swanson on leave. “Most of us can teach basic stats because we are trained in mathematics, but it’s nothing compared to someone who has studied statistics and is well-versed in practicing it.
“With an expert in house, we can start to think about additional data science courses and upper-level statistics classes,” added Swain. “Not that we have plans to expand and create new majors, but to even think about it is something that is helpful to us.”
With Lee, there are now four full-time Mathematics professors (Swain, Swanson and Darren Wick, Ph.D. are the other three) and two full-time Computer Science professors: Selvanayaki Kolandapalayam Shanmugam, Ph.D., and Abdulbast Abushgra, Ph.D., who, like Lee, just started at AU during the fall 2024 semester.
“I’m pretty excited going from four full-time faculty to six full-time faculty,” Swain said. “I think we will be able to do a lot for our students. We have enough full-time faculty now to be able to dream a little bit about how we can provide an even better program to our major and those outside of our major.”
As exciting as the future appears for the department, Swain admitted it’s always difficult for institutions of higher learning to keep statisticians because they are in demand outside of academia.
Lee loves working in academia
But, Lee has already experienced that demand, having worked as an accountant for a tech business in California’s Silicon Valley for almost three years after graduating from University of California – Berkely with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics, statistics and economics, and didn’t enjoy it as much as being in academia.
“While I was working as an accountant, I missed the academic environment,” Lee said. “I liked interacting with students and professors.”
During his time as an accountant, Lee spent his weekends as an instructor for high school students taking AP (Advanced Placement) classes for math and stats preparing for the ACT, SAT and other college-entrance exams.
“I realized I really liked teaching,” said Lee, who then decided to return to school at UC-Riverside, where he not only earned two master’s degrees in statistics and economics, but also a Ph.D. in economics with a concentration in econometrics.
While at UC-Riverside, Lee taught regression analysis, statistics and Ph.D.-level courses in econometrics, focusing on probability theory and hypothesis testing.
For nearly as long as he was an accountant, Lee did his mandatory military service as a conscripted firefighter in a fire station in his native South Korea, allowing him the time to decide what he wanted to do next in his life.
What he decided to do next was attend college in the United States at Santa Monica Community College in California, where his passion for teaching started to develop.
“At Santa Monica, I was the first international supplemental instructor, basically a teaching assistant, for calculus courses,” Lee said. “The chair of the department believed in me and gave me the opportunity to do that.”
His interest in teaching grew even more when he transferred to Berkeley, where he said many of his friends asked him to tutor them in math and calculus courses and he enjoyed that.
Berkeley also was where he met his wife, who started doing her internal medicine residency in Cleveland last year. That was one reason why Lee was attracted to the tenure-track position at Ashland University and was a natural fit for him.
“I really like Ashland University,” Lee said. “All of my colleagues in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science are fantastic. The senior faculty members have been so helpful and approachable. I appreciate all their kindness and support.”
