COSAM News Articles 2020 March Mathematics Senior Leaves Impact through COSAM

Mathematics Senior Leaves Impact through COSAM

Published: 03/17/2020

When Leann Kopp’s older sister first attended Auburn, Leann visited and fell in love with the campus and the people that call Auburn home. After graduation, the Marietta, Ga., native decided to attend Auburn and study her favorite subject – math.

“I have always liked math and was always interested in all of the different things you could do with it,” Leann said. “When I came to Auburn and started taking college math classes, it cemented that fact.”

Leann is now a senior studying mathematics through the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) and said she enjoys math because it’s similar to solving a puzzle.

“We have these problems and certain tools we can apply to them within restrictions,” she said. “So, we have to figure out how we can use the tools that we have or if we need to find new tools to solve the given problem.”

During her time at Auburn, Leann has been involved on campus by being a COSAM Leader for almost two years and a member of the Association for Women in Mathematics for three years, serving the last year as president.

Leann said she has enjoying serving as a COSAM Leader.

“It’s really great to kind of see what happens behind the scenes in the college,” she said. “I also enjoy getting to meet the alumni and hear about all of the things that they’ve done since they graduated.”

She said being a member of the Association for Women in Mathematics has given her the opportunity to connect with other women who are also interested in math.

“I really like being in an environment that’s very friendly and encouraging,” she said. “I like getting to talk to the other women about their experiences and being able to relate to them in that way.”

Leann has also made the dean’s list every semester, won the “Outstanding Junior in Mathematics and Statistics” award, was awarded the John and Rosemary Brown Scholarship, and earned an undergraduate research fellowship. She conducts research in computer vision with Luke Oeding.

Leann already has a job lined up after graduation with E-Trade Financial in Alpharetta, Ga. She will be conducting models for fraud detection. She said she feels that COSAM has prepared her well for the job and for her future.

“I’ve had a really great experience as a COSAM student,” she shared. “COSAM has prepared me really well for the future. From my experiences with job interviews, it seems like I have the knowledge and skills they want and I’m excited to go out and apply that to real problems.”