By Spencer Hunt
Special to the Chronicle
When I was asked to provide a bio for the SOSS Enrichment Fund Society, my first task was to gather inspiration from what fellow recipients had included in their bios. As I perused their write-ups, I could not help but be impressed with all the accomplishments they have achieved following their time at SOSS, and it made me reflect on what has helped shaped me into who I am as well. Former recipients have studied exciting and impressive areas such as business, nursing, writing, and fine art. However, I think I had the opportunity to study one of the most thrilling areas of the bunch: math! Now I know what you’re thinking, “Ooh I hated math in school – so boring.” But most people don’t get to see the flashy side of mathematics, and SOSS was my launch pad into that space.
I grew up in the small town of Okanagan Falls, just outside of Oliver. Okanagan Falls was a beautiful place to grow up, and the small town environment had a huge impact in shaping who I am today. Growing up there, I often took the town for granted, and now that I live in a bustling city, it’s nice to go home to a quiet space and relax when I’m visiting family.
I’d always been pretty good at math, but my love for the subject really developed in Grade 12 when I had Mr. Gruntman for both math and calculus. It was here that he showed me that math wasn’t just about memorizing steps or solving for X, but rather it was a tool for examining real world problems – biology, physics, economics and social sciences (the list really goes on and on).
Following high school, I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus in Kelowna. It was there where I honed my more ‘tactical’ mathematical skills and really started to learn how to use math as a tool. I worked with differential equations to understand how systems change over time, examined financial models, and even tried to figure out how the leopard got its spots (yes, that was a real class).
My mathematics journey did not end after I completed my undergraduate, however. I made a big move to Hamilton, ON, to complete my Masters of Science in mathematics at McMaster University. There I actually used mathematics to study how diseases spread not only in populations but also within the body itself. Among many other academics, I discovered that math is not just a tool used to hammer at scientific questions, but it is also something that can be constructed to reflect the world around us. Historically, math was never used to understand how diseases spread until someone decided to make it up. New mathematics weren’t just created to understand how diseases spread, but also to learn why certain art perspectives are more ‘pleasing to the eye;” why it’s impossible to measure the coastline perfectly; and how to comb hair on a ball, if a ball had hair (I told you math was thrilling). It was during this time, I discovered that math wasn’t just a tool to be used, but rather something with which to create and recreate. Math was also a toy to play with.
Since completing my master’s, I have moved to Toronto, and I now work at CIBC as a business and costing analyst. While I’m not examining the spread of the newly resurgent measles virus, I still get to use math as a tool (and sometimes a toy) to explore business related problems. I’d like to continue in this direction into the world of data science. This emerging field is kind of like putting computer science, mathematics and statistics into a blender and drinking whatever juice comes out. It’s exploratory, novel and ever changing. I’m confident that I have the skills and experience to continue on this path, and I want to thank the SOSS Enrichment Fund Society for helping me to acquire these skills.
