Mackenzie Willis
McNair Scholar
About
Majors: Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Mentor: Rodrigo Gaitan
Biography
Mackenzie was born and raised in Santa Rosa, California, where she developed a strong interest in the intersection of mathematics and environmental systems. Her introduction to chaos theory during her senior-year calculus course sparked a deeper curiosity about how mathematical tools can be used to understand complex systems and inspired her to pursue graduate study in mathematics or statistics. Looking ahead, Mackenzie aspires to a career as a professor or research scientist, where she hopes to contribute to research addressing complex scientific and environmental questions.
Research Interests:
Mackenzie’s research interests include applied statistics; mathematical and statistical modeling of climate and environmental systems; and the application of machine learning and statistical learning methods to develop efficient algorithms for analyzing complex systems.