NJIT

Millennia Young’s favorite subject while growing up was math. She loved solving problems and knowing she had the correct answer, even if the answer was “does not exist.” After high school, she went on to study applied mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and it was there she was introduced to statistics. “Although both disciplines use math to model what is happening in the world,” she wrote, “statistics provided unique insights.” Before she started her PhD, she had two children, and by the time she defended, she had three. Although she struggled, she kept going. Eventually, she landed her dream job—leading the biostatistics lab for human health and performance at NASA.