Majoring in mathematics does not mean you will be stuck behind a desk grinding out equations. Although I have always had a love of mathematics, this was one of my fears when selecting a college major. Thankfully, I decided to major both in biology, which always fascinated me although I am not the greatest field biologist, and mathematics, which I have always enjoyed and excelled. While looking for a graduate school program to combine my interests, I discovered fishery biology. The field requires an in-depth understanding of the biology of fish and how they are caught as well as the mathematical skills to combine multiple sets of information into a predictive model. This modeling is then used to determine how many fish should be caught next year and the impact of changes in fishing gear. I particularly like the applied aspect of my job—I see the results of my work having an impact on the fish stocks as well as providing opportunities for both commercial and recreational fishing. In addition, I get my feet wet occasionally collecting the data that support the models. Being out at sea hundreds of miles offshore sampling fish around the clock for two weeks certainly is a refreshing break from the office!

All fields of science are becoming more dependent upon mathematical approaches every year. My field, fishery biology, has evolved from simple descriptions of fish life history and rules of thumb to complex models utilizing topics from courses such as Bayesian methods, time series analyses, and bootstrapping.