Mentoring the Actuaries of Tomorrow: Community Spotlight, Jacob Heit

“I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacob Heit regarding his role as a mentor for our Modeling the Future Challenge (MTFC) program. I have known Jacob since he won the Actuary of Tomorrow – Stuart Robertson Scholarship in 2021. He has graciously volunteered his time as a mentor and made videos in support of MTFC and TAF. Every conversation I have with Jacob, I am blown away by what he has accomplished, and his amazing personality, and we are so lucky to have him share his expertise and experiences with our students!” –Nichole Semprit, Senior Program Specialist

Nichole:  What sort of impact have you seen the projects having on the students?

Jacob:  Most teams that enter the competition are going to be students who are more math-oriented, like myself—we all like working with numbers. The Modeling the Future Challenge helps students explore beyond their comfort zones. Sometimes, it can be intimidating for high school students to work with an industry professional. However, from the first mentor meeting to when they wrap up their projects, it’s rewarding to see students come of out of their shell – in terms of their communication, comfortability with modeling techniques, and expertise on the project. For every project that I’ve mentored, the student’s deep dive leaves them with more expertise than they could have ever imagined.

 

Nichole:  Do you have a cool story about any of the teams, or any “a-ha” moments that you’ve seen?

Jacob:  During my first year as a mentor, I was relatively unsure how to connect my background with the student’s projects (especially when I lack expertise on some of their obscure topics like cosmetic sales and cryptocurrency regulation). The first time I mentored was investigating California forest fires, and by some chance, I had recently learned about the concept of forest fire models in one of my actuarial exams with the Society of Actuaries. The team eventually built an Excel model – every single cell represented a tree, and it randomly simulated the fire’s path throughout the cells. It was really cool to see how a forest fire starts and spreads throughout the forest, but instead of seeing trees, we’re looking at modeled cells in Excel.

 

Nichole:  If you had done this competition in high school, what topic do you think you would have chosen and why?

Jacob:  Back in high school, I definitely would have participated in MTFC if I had known about it. I see a lot of teams that I mentor use the open-ended framework of the competition to pursue modeling something they’re passionate about, whether that be homelessness in their geographical area—I’m currently mentoring a team on that—or something else. My MTFC project would have been connected to modeling trout populations in Iowa trout streams. I’m really interested in trout and fly fishing, so being able to model where the trout are likely hanging out would be really cool (and probably save me a lot of hiking on the streams).

 

Nichole:  What do you think about this challenge makes it a great opportunity for volunteers and upcoming actuarial candidates.

Jacob:  Absolutely. The vast majority of actuarial jobs rely on modeling, so anybody with actuarial expertise would be a great mentor. The relatively short timeframe and short timeframe makes it much easier for an actuary to provide modeling and statistical guidance to MTFC teams. The meetings are entirely remote, so it’s easy to connect with teams all over the United States. Right now, I’m located in really small town in Iowa, and I regularly mentor teams from the East and West coasts. It’s nice to be able to log on a bit before the meeting and review their proposals before providing some guidance during the mentor meeting. Some teams don’t need as much guidance; other teams really want to get into the fine details and ask cool questions. It’s pretty easy to fit into a day-to-day schedule.

I think another reason why it’s a great volunteer opportunity is because you’re able to work with the actuaries of tomorrow. If you think about actuaries from the 1980s, they probably had a really different idea of where the industry was headed and where it is today. We have really advanced modeling techniques that a lot of actuaries never saw coming 40 years ago. In another 40 years, I think that’s something they’re going to be saying about the modern actuaries of the 2020s. The modeling world is going to look a lot different in the 2060s than it does today. The people we’re mentoring— the high school teams on these projects—those are going to be the students who are propelling the industry forward and developing tomorrow’s modeling techniques. The actuaries of today (as mentors) play an active role in encouraging teams to pursue modeling careers, explore the actuarial science/insurance/financial services industries, and continue driving the industry forward for tomorrow.

 

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We are always looking for great volunteers like Jacob to help with our Modeling the Future Challenge. MTFC registration opens for students on August 26^th, and we have a launch webinar on September 9^th. Please check out the MTFC website for all our upcoming events and check out The Actuarial Foundation Volunteer page if you are interesting in meeting some great students!