After college, I wasn't quite sure what to do with my mathematics degree. I had chosen mathematics as a major because I love problem solving and always found the subject challenging. When I married a chemical engineer, I knew my future could likely end up in America's Energy Capital, Houston, Texas. Without a clue of how mathematics is applied in the energy industry, I sent my resume off to a few recruiters in Houston and got several immediate responses. It turns out that math degrees are sought out in the energy industry for technical and analytical positions.

Mathematics is applied in multiple sectors of the energy industry. In addition to the big oil companies, there are also many software companies, oil and gas investment banks, energy lending firms, engineering consultancies, etc. that service the energy industry. Companies need employees who can analyze data, model future growth, and calculate economics. Most companies purchase commercial software for modeling future oil and gas production, but these sophisticated programs are best handled by mathematicians.

I started my career as a petroleum analyst at an engineering consultancy. I worked as part of a multidisciplinary team that modeled future oil and gas reserves, production, and profit. The team included geologists, geophysicists, reservoir engineers, and petroleum analysts. As the petroleum analyst, it was my job to analyze the historical cost, price, and production data to determine input parameters for the new models.