\u201cI knew I was STEM-focused in high school even if I didn\u2019t know where that would take me,\u201d she said. Furman gave her the environment she needed to discover her own path. \u201cFurman felt like a home away from home, and I loved the small class sizes.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/11\/FurmanUniversity_AcademicAwards_2025_730-549x768.jpg\")
Emily Fowler \u201925<\/p><\/div>\n
Fowler wasn’t sure where her penchant for math could take her, but she found her niche in the class Operations Research, taught by Kevin Hutson<\/a>, professor of mathematics. A group project optimizing strategies for the board game \u201cTicket to Ride\u201d showed her how the process of solving a problem includes analyzing the decisions made along the way to find more efficient ways of doing things.<\/p>\n \u201cThat completely changed my mind about math in general. It opened a world of possibilities I didn\u2019t know about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She joined Hutson and Roy Bower, associate professor of mathematics, on a research project<\/a> helping the BMW manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where Furman students often intern. She found ways to optimize workflows at the plant, making their processes more adaptable when things go wrong.<\/p>\n For Fowler, the work was less about helping build cars and more about making complex processes easier for the people doing them. She presented the technical work to higher-ups at BMW and found she enjoyed explaining the math in clear terms.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat impressed me working with Emily was her ability to communicate every step of what she\u2019s doing,\u201d Hutson said. \u201cI had total confidence in her professionalism and ability to communicate with people. To me, that\u2019s a liberal arts education and what we want to instill in our students: Ask the questions, understand the process, perform the analysis, and communicate the result.\u201d<\/p>\n Fowler said she said \u201cyes\u201d to every opportunity that came her way at Furman. She went on the Math and the Mouse<\/a> May Experience<\/a> trip to Disney World, leapt at the chance to do undergraduate research and took her professors up on their offers to talk during office hours.<\/p>\n She encourages students to do the same. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to say \u2018yes.\u2019 You have no idea what it could open up for you.\u201d<\/p>\n As an applied mathematics major at Furman, Fowler participated in undergraduate research helping optimize operations at BMW. Photo provided by Fowler.<\/p><\/div>\n That\u2019s what she did in her senior year when she saw an internship opening at McLaren Racing in London. She enjoyed her work with BMW, and while she wasn\u2019t a Formula 1 fan, she became one studying the history of the McLaren team.<\/p>\n Fowler practiced interviewing for the role with her professors and she landed the job, flying to London in August for the role. She works with a close team of designers and engineers and said it can be surreal seeing the drivers and team principal in the office after seeing them on TV. It\u2019s a fast-paced environment \u2013 the team has their eyes on the checkered flag long before any race starts.<\/p>\n Both at Furman and at McLaren, Fowler said she feels supported and empowered to think creatively, collaborate and find the best solutions to any problem she faces.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a sport like F1, it\u2019s so important that we stay flexible and quick at our jobs while maintaining reliability and quality,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cAt the end of every week, you get to see your work on the track.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Emily Fowler \u201925 found her path to working for one of the world\u2019s premier racing teams during undergraduate research as an applied mathematics major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":40414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2711,50,54,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-engaged-learning","category-mathematics","category-may-experience","category-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40454"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40462,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40454\/revisions\/40462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2025\/11\/Emily-Fowler-Furman-Engaged-768x637.jpg\")