Mary “Emmy” Helander received her Bachelor’s in CIS and Math from the State University of New York at Potsdam, and Master’s and PhD degrees in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Syracuse University and the State University of New York at Buffalo respectively.  Mary was a Senior Researcher and Software Architect at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center.  Mary returned to graduate study at Syracuse University so that she could redirect her skills in data and network science, problem solving, and IT to study societal issues through the pursuit of a PhD in Social Sciences.  Mary is interested in:  research that explores topics in public health and its intersection with emergency medical services; social inequity in health care, education and employment and how it effects the elderly; and social science research methodology.