CMDA Student Experience - Alex Jaimes Sandoval '24

Hello, I'm Alex Jaimes and I am a senior at the CMDA program. Ever since high school, I knew that I was very interested in like numbers and solving problems in a very analytical way. I got this book in this library called Deep Learning Illustrated, and it talked about neural networks and their applications in the real world. I just kind of fell in love with mathematics and computer science and statistics from that book. When it came time to pick a college program, I knew that the CMDA program was right for me, as it combined all of those different fields into a single one. I didn't really come to the major for statistics, but eventually I realized how much I actually loved it. Being able to quantify uncertainty is a thing that I never really expected humans to be able to do. It seems almost like dark magic, knowing how unsure you are of something and then being able to account for that whenever you're say, forecasting something in the future. In my junior year, I decided to apply for this program in CMDA called the CMDA Computing Consultants. And this is a program made for students, by students in order to be able to get help in computing classes. I really fell in love with my work as I was able to help people become better programmers and be able to pass their classes. And eventually I was made manager, which I am very thankful to be a part of this program, as we have made some pretty good contributions such as hosting workshops. I am very thankful that there are so many members of the faculty that are willing to be able to sponsor student projects for research. As being able to contribute to knowledge is a really, really big honor that students can get. Currently, I am working in the Data Laboratory for Quantitative Finance, which I'm helping found. Um, and it is just such amazing work being able to apply all of the material that we've learned in classes to actual real world problems. I never really saw myself as an academic before coming here, but the CMDA program has made me realize how much I love what I do. I loved it so much that I am, in fact, staying another year here for my master's degree and then potentially for a Ph.D. degree, as I feel like I am not done learning statistics and mathematics. The CMDA program gets together some of the best faculty in math, stats, and CS, and you are getting a combination that is like no other in any other major. I am very thankful for that.