Graduate Profile: Stacey Kowal-Podmore
Stacey Kowal-Podmore didn’t think she could combine her mathematical abilities with her other interests until she took a mathematical modeling class her freshman year.
Her first homework assignment was to come up with a mathematical formula determining the length of a roll of toilet paper from a single sheet and the width of the roll.
“That assignment changed my opinion forever,” the 2005 graduate says. “We used our analytical skills to make sense of everyday questions.”
Her final assignment in the course, modeling a disease outbreak on an island, solidified the idea of integrating math into decisions.
Five years later, she was using a much more complicated formula to complete her master’s thesis. Kowal-Podmore won the Marshall scholarship in 2005, which paid for both of her master’s degrees.
Working as a consultant for Intercontinental Medical Statistics Health, Kowal-Podmore builds mathematical models that inform decisions in health care. Earning a Truman scholarship to pay for any subsequent graduate degrees, she hopes to earn her PhD and become involved in health policy.
“The analytical skills I learned at Alma have been integral in all of my subsequent studies and my jobs,” she says. “My current position uses mathematical modeling to solve concerns regarding drug usage, patient outcomes and value demonstration.”
Originally attracted to Alma because of its small size, Kowal-Pomore remembers a conversation with Dr. Kay Grimnes helping her realize Alma College was the right fit.
“She reminded me that college is just as much about exploration as it is about education,” she says.
Kowal-Podmore earned a variety of local and national scholarships during her time at Alma. Some of her activities included serving as the president of Alma College Students United for Nature and volunteering in a number of community organizations. She also interned with a variety of health organizations on county, state and national levels, and studied abroad.
“Whether you want to come to Alma to execute your life-long dream of becoming a doctor or whether you want to be more like me and explore a range of possibilities, I believe that the whole ethos of the Alma education is centered around truly educating an individual in the skills they will need for their own specific life to come,” she says.
