| Theresa Strei didn't have a particular career in mind when she enrolled
in the University of Nebraska- Lincoln mathematics graduate school.
All she knew was that after two years of working at Mayo Clinic as
an endocrinology researcher, she wanted to return to math. Now Dr.
Theresa Strei is a Cryptologic Mathematician for the National Security
Agency (NSA).
Cryptology is the science of making and breaking codes. "Our
mission is to make certain that U.S. Government communication systems
remain impenetrable," says Strei.
To ensure that information remains private, cryptologists encode
it numerically using a variety of mathematics and computer programs
to create difficult codes. "There is a huge range of mathematics
that gets used in the process," says Strei, including linear
algebra, probability and statistics, combinatorics, and abstract
algebra.
Strei's involvement with NSA began because the National Physical
Sciences Consortium awarded her a fellowship to attend graduate
school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For this fellowship,
she had to work with an industry, in her case the NSA, for two summers
during her schooling and for another two years after receiving her
Ph.D. "I like the idea of working for NSA because here I can
work regularly with other mathematicians and use math to solve tough
problems on a daily basis," she says.
Currently, Strei is in a three-year development program where she
will work for six-month stints at six different offices with NSA.
She will also take classes at the National Cryptologic School to
learn even more math.
Right now, Strei works in an office where, "doors are always
open and I feel welcome to wander in and ask my coworkers questions
at any time." Strei is usually given a number of projects to
work on at once, some of them done with a project team and others
done individually.
Since computers are at the heart of modern cryptography, knowing
several computer languages is important. Strei says, "It's
important to have the ability to focus long and hard on difficult
problems, and not get easily discouraged."
Strei loves her work because "I learn new things every day.
And I know the problems are important to solve because they affect
our nation's security."
According to Strei, those interested in a career in cryptology
should take all the math and computer classes they can. They can
also look at programs sponsored by the NSA at www.nsa.gov. |
