The purpose of our Where Are They Now series is twofold. We love to share Alumni success stories to inspire current and future Ball State students and to highlight opportunities provided by our department.  Thank you for helping tell the Ball State story of how we fly!

Alumni Mian Adnan came to Ball State in the Fall of 2014 as a master’s student in Actuarial Science and quickly earned his MA degree with his thesis under the supervision of Distinguished Professor Curtis Gary Dean.

Tell us about your current job. We’d love to hear about the day-to-day work and your broader projects.

I joined as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Data Science at the University At Albany in Fall 2024. I teach several courses in Data Science and am writing some projects in Artificial Intelligence.

Describe your career path. Did you land your current job immediately after graduation or find your way there circuitously?

I want to employ Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in several real-life situations. I joined the University of Northern Colorado as a Lecturer in Applied Machine Learning and Data Science before completing my doctoral degree (start work at UNCO: January 2024, doctoral degree completion: August 2024) in Statistics from Bowling Green State University. After graduation, I was reclassified as an Assistant Professor at UNCO and stayed there for 4 days. I resigned and joined the next day as a faculty member at the University At Albany.

How have you grown and learned in each of your successive jobs that led to your current position?

I was a graduate assistant in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Ball State University, teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics and Machine Learning research assistant in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington, teaching associate and adjunct faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and the Department of Natural and Social Sciences at Bowling Green State University prior to joining at UNCO.

What is the most fulfilling part of your current job? 

Versatile teaching and research experiences in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

What are the most valuable skills you learned as a Ball State student in the College of Sciences and Humanities? How have they helped you post-graduation? 

I was a thesis student in Actuarial Science. I employed my learning materials on actuarial science in my doctoral dissertation.

Is there a particular class, professor, or professional opportunity that had a particularly significant impact on you?

The classes of all of my teachers at Ball State University have a significant impact on my professional career.

What advice do you have for current or future students in your major or who might hope to follow your career path? 

The combination of Actuarial Science, Data Science, Statistics, and Mathematics has a huge impact on shaping the future career in Artificial Intelligence.

Thank you for your time and impact! Chirp, Chirp!

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