Mackenzie Dalton

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I am currently a full-time PhD student in the math department at Clarkson University. While taking classes, I am also a teaching assistant for introductory level mathematics courses in order to fund my tuition. Over the summer of 2022, I will also be an intern at Genentech, a biotech company based in San Francisco, in their modeling and simulation group.

My area of interest is applied math in biology which in the industry is often referred to as quantitative systems pharmacology. I have worked on various projects with the faculty here at Clarkson ranging from models that suggest optimal reopening strategies after a pandemic to models that show the response of a certain protein during cell movement. I lead the development of the code on both projects thanks to my computer science background from Saint Mike’s. Overall, I am very interested in modeling severe diseases and possible treatments for them and hope to work in the industry doing this once I have graduated.

Saint Mike’s was instrumental in my foundation as a mathematician. If I had not received the encouragement to also minor in computer science despite it being challenging for me, I would not be as successful in graduate school as I am now. Also, the requirement to learn LaTeX was extremely helpful since it is used in all the research papers we write. The small classes and interest of the professors in your success played a big role in my own success. Moreover, the encouragement and advice of the professors led me to where I am today.