Jing Ma arrived in the United States from Weihai, Shandog, China, 15 years ago. She says earning her MS in Analytical Economics has helped her sharpen her critical thinking skills, be open minded, curious, and a quick learner.
What was your overall UNH experience like? What did it teach you?
Being an international student, UNH was my home when I arrived the United States 15 years ago. I was grateful to have the opportunity to be a Wildcat and my UNH experience is my lifetime treasure.
Do you have any general fond UNH memories you'd like to share?
UNH students are very hardworking. I remember those nights studying in Diamond Library, surrounded by students, especially nearing exam time.
How did your program and experience at Paul College prepare you for where you are today?
Being resilient, being open-minded, being curious, not afraid of asking questions
What person, course, or experience most influenced you while at Paul College? How?
Professor Karen Conway's Econometrics class. It teaches you how to translate real-life questions into models that can explain the why. It's not a particular statement or theory that lead me to where I am today. Rather it is the way of how you would conduct your thinking process, the mindset of critical thinking, that benefits me a lot when I am given a project at work.
What exactly do you do day-to-day?
I collect data from different resources, preparing them for modeling, building models, and presenting findings to business.
What has your career path been like? How did you end up where you are?
I did an internship first at Travelers as a predictive modeler, then started working then full time for Liberty Mutual.
What are some of the things you like most about your job?
Using data-driven solutions to persuade business decision makers and seeing my solution create value for the company.
What are some of the difficult things about your job?
Sometimes data is not available or there is not enough volume to draw a meaningful conclusion.
What has your time in the "real world" taught you as it pertains to your career?
Sometimes progress is not make in a linear way.
What are some skills that have served you well through your career?
Coding and being able to learn things quickly.
