List of Past 2006 EYH Conference Mystery Women:

Liz Mauro and Kasi Golden

Bios: Liz Mauro and Kasi Golden are Actuarial Analysts at State Farm Insurance Co. They work in the Property and Casualty Actuarial department, specializing in pricing Homeowners insurance. Kasi attended Bradley University majoring in Actuarial Science with a mathematics focus and minoring in Computer Science, and Liz attended Illinois State University. Both of their backgrounds are in mathematics and Kasi’s background in computer science is put to use daily as they analyze the data and trends of State Farm.

Lori Pearson

Career: Nurse- Women’s and Children’s Services BroMenn Healthcare

Lyndsey Hoselton

Bio: Lyndsey is a systems analyst at State Farm Insurance. She received her bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Business Information Systems from Illinois State University in August of 2004. In her career, she uses her computer to assist in writing programs, and she uses the internet for research and job information, and she uses math to ensure that what her program calculates is correct.

Megan Bakaitis

Bio: Megan works in the Business Development department at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington. She uses math and database skills to analyze local health needs. She calculates market share, cost, and revenue. Managers, nurses, and doctors throughout the hospital often call her when they need statistics. They use the date she sends them to check that the hospital is providing quality care to the people that need it. She earned an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from DeVry University and she has taken extra classes in Microsoft Excel, Crystal Reports, and databases. The best thing about having a math-related college degree is that she is able to work on a flexible schedule for good pay, so she can spend more time with her family, church, and community.

Holly Houska

Career: Dentist

Teri Beasley

Career: Project Manager, State Farm

Sandra Pelfrey Jones

Career: Doctor of Optometry, Sam’s Club

Deb Lesser

Career: Director of Radio Station, ISU

Ruth Smiciklas

Bio: She is a Food Technologist at Nestle USA working in development of candy food products. To perform her job, she uses chemistry knowledge to source new food ingredients, to formulate or make new recipes for new candy products or improve existing products, and to estimate shelf life in new products. She uses math and a computer daily. She calculates candy recipe formulas. She conducts candy evaluation panels: the data is collected and analyzed for information using basic statistics. She earned a BS degree in Agricultural Science from U of I. She then worked in a lab that tested grain- corn and soybeans- for food quality traits. This spurred her interest in food science. She completed her MS coursework in Food Science through the U of I Extramural Extension Program while working at Nestle.