MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The March episode of the MTSU “Out of the Blue” television magazine show highlights the award-winning Actuarial Science program in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, teaching students how to solve real problems in every industry.

Professor and Actuarial Science Director Don Hong and Jennifer Rody, president-elect of the Actuarial Math Student Association, are featured guests with “Out of the Blue” host Andrew Oppmann, MTSU vice president for marketing and communications.

Hong said Actuarial Science is a special discipline using mathematics, statistics and techniques from computer science and data science to measure the risks that especially apply to the insurance industry and financial investment.

“A lot of places, as long as there’s risk involved, they (companies) need actuaries to work on that,” said Hong, explaining the opportunities available to graduates.

Hong shared how the Casualty Actuarial Association recognizes MTSU with a gold-level recognition — one of 15 U.S. schools with that distinction — and the Society of Actuaries has granted MTSU “a site visit to evaluate our application for the Center of Actuarial Excellence. There are only 40 (CAE) schools in the entire world, so, hopefully, MTSU will become one of those,” he said.

A Murfreesboro, Tennessee, resident, Rody said a Riverdale High School psychology teacher “realized I was in AP statistics and brought up that I should break into the actuarial field and mentioned the great program MTSU offered.” She added that “mathematics, communications skills, programming coding and data analytics” are important tools for students considering the field to learn.

The actuarial area “is just an incredible, exciting field to be in now. It’s a huge industry and the growth is incredible — 32% within the next 10 years is predicted in this sector in this field,” Rody added.

After graduating in December, Rody plans to pursue work either with a consulting firm or with the Tennessee Department of Insurance and Commerce, which is expanding its actuarial role, she said.

Hong noted MTSU will host the 59th Actuarial Research Conference July 18-20 on campus.

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)