From Classroom Calculus to Student Assistantship Success
Similar to this, when I tell people that I have a bachelor's in mathematics, I receive compliments and acknowledgments on how hard my major must have been. They tell me that they don’t understand my choice of major, but that it's admirable.
My name is Maryjane Guadalajara and I am mathematician who fell in love with data science and GIS.
When asked why I chose mathematics and GIS, my answer is very simple: I love understanding how things work.
Choosing Mathematics As My Academic Journey
My love of math and numbers stems back to my enjoyment of Calculus back in high school. Like any other cool 16-year-old, I decided to take AP Calculus, despite the warnings from my counselor and older peers that it would be difficult. And difficult it was.
This class was the prologue to my math career. Just like any good prologue, it sucked me into its world.
Coming from San Bernardino, California, I didn't attend top tier schools like many of my current peers. Many teachers shoved work at us to memorize without explaining concepts or big ideas that would truly solidify the material in our heads. My calculus teacher, however, taught us the reasoning behind the mathematics.
When considering my college acceptances, I ended up choosing the University of Redlands (UofR) because of the academic scholarship that was offered to me that covered my entire tuition for my first year of college, and nearly everything else for the next 3 years. I was able to focus on my studies and had the luxury of not having to worry about student loans.
Throughout my time at the UofR, I learned about data science and analysis, which ended up being the focus I chose for my major. To me, data science is problem-solving through numbers. It’s learning how the numbers work and being able to explore these concepts. This is a big reason why I fell in love with math in the first place, so it just made sense to me to then explore data science.
An Introduction to Spatial Analysis
One class that I chose as an elective to pursue this interest was a spatial analysis class that used ArcGIS Pro. This was how I got my introduction to GIS. I had heard from many different people that ArcGIS Pro was the spatial analysis product, so I signed up for the class.
Throughout the duration of the spatial analysis class, I learned about Esri. We used ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, and all sorts of ArcGIS products throughout the class. My professor even offered extra credit to those who participated in any Esri events, even if they were online. His insistence and excitement about this company was very inspiring and he advised us all to apply for the Esri Student Assistantship program. I took him up on the offer and applied to become a student assistant for the 2024 Esri User Conference (UC).
My Experience As a Student Assistant at Esri UC
Then came an email from the Esri hiring team, a couple of months after having applied. I received the incredible news that I was selected to participate as a student assistant at Esri UC! Getting this email is one of the highlights of my still-developing career. But now... What exactly was the assistantship?
Don't get me wrong, I didn't sign up for this program without knowing that I would be helping with Esri UC. But knowing what it was and experiencing it was an entirely different matter, in the best way possible.
As a introverted person, it was difficult to imagine myself walking down the halls of the large San Diego Convention Center and talking to so many people. When I was there, however, I was able to talk to so many like-minded people — people who were passionate and nerdy and unafraid to be themselves. At the same time, everyone was so different. I spoke to all levels of professionals, from Dawn Wright, chief scientist at Esri, to people who came from different countries to learn more about Esri products, to other student assistants who were also barely starting their professional careers. I spoke to them about their careers, their families, their plans for the future, and really got to connect and network with people in a way that I never knew I could.
Another highlight of the user conference was the map gallery. First stepping into the gallery was delightful for several reasons: the smell of food as soon as you opened the doors, the constant hum of people chatting, and the colorful and informative maps. Walking further in and looking at each map, it was intriguing to see all of the different numbers being represented in a plethora of different ways.
Applying Math and Data Science
As a mathematician, I loved seeing all of the numbers being represented so that people of all backgrounds could read them, including the general public. Hard-core numbers tend to intimidate people. Seeing large demonstrations of what numbers can do for us truly inspire me as a mathematician and aspiring data scientist.
At the end of the day, everything that is being done in ArcGIS Pro is done with math, whether on the user side or the developer side. The simple analysis showing the distribution of libraries across the United States? Math. Bar charts that compare user spending on different projects? Math. A Python script calculating the slope of a mountain? You guessed it: math.
For example, allow me to reference a simple project that I recently played around with that has to do with a similar simple concept. Shown above is a map of San Diego. I researched and found DEMs (Digital Elevation Model) of North America on search.earthdata.nasa.gov. I chose the DEM that would portray the area of San Diego in which the User Conference was held. I then downloaded the granule containing this area and imported the data into ArcGIS, which is shown below.
When portrayed on the map, it is a simple, black, white, and gray image that is in the vague shape of the area. From here, I used the “Slope” tool to use the data on the DEM to create another layer that shows the different slopes of the area, which allows us to go back and forth between the base map and see up-hills and down-hills. Next, I used the “Aspect” tool that gave me a layer that takes these slopes and shows the direction that any given slope is facing. If it’s flat, it’s assigned a value of -1, while the rest of the slopes have values from 0-360, portraying North, South, East, and West. From here, after reclassifying the lawyers into numeric values to be able to manipulate them, I then used the “Raster Calculator” tool to use a simple mathematical expression to combine the reclassified slope and aspect layers. The resulting layer shows unique colors for different combinations of slope and aspect of the terrain.
This simple project shows how taking the first derivative, also known as the slope, of these chosen points of terrain can help with land analysis. This project and other similar ones can use mathematics to do things like help determine land erosion, determine the best areas for new home development, and help farmers determine which crops to plant and where to plant them according to sun exposure, slope, and elevation.
Projects like this are why I am passionate about mathematics and data science. Being able to solve real-world problems and make a difference in my community are factors that drive my desire to learn. I love evolving and innovating, which is why Esri and being an assistant for the UC will always shape how I view professional relationships and connections. I also look forward to the day when my contributions can help teach other aspiring mathematicians and data scientists.