STEM CAREERS: Actuary

Actuaries are typically associated with mathematics, but this career is often categorized as a science which applies math and data analysis. They use these analyses to produce strategic methods for professional operations. 

An actuary is a business professional who uses data to determine the financial costs of risk and uncertainty. For this reason, actuaries are most notably associated with the insurance and reinsurance industries. Using financial theory, they assess the risk of potential events and provide guidance based on their findings. 

Actuaries must be familiar with mathematics, statistics, economics, computer science, finance, and business. Using their vast knowledge, actuaries help design and set the pricing for insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial needs to ensure that the plans are maintained on a sound financial foundation. 

They must be capable of compiling and understanding vast amounts of statistical data and using it to draw conclusions. From estimating the probability of sickness, death, accidents, natural disasters, to calculating the financial costs associated with each, they must be able to translate a wide range of data into comprehensible numbers that companies can use to make decisions. This means they must be organized, detail-oriented, and good communicators. An important part of an actuary’s job is communicating their analyses and their proposed actions in ways that are easy to understand using presentations, graphics, charts, and models or simulations. 

In addition to insurance companies, actuaries often work for financial and market-research groups, government agencies such as the Social Security Administration, and for corporations seeking to take stock of risks that could impact their company objectives. 

21st Century Skills required for this profession: 

Critical Thinking 

• Use data to analyze and predict future trends 
• Analyze multi-faceted scenarios 

Collaboration 

• Work with company management to determine goals and priorities 
• Work as part of a team to assemble and analyze large amounts of data 

Communication 

• Clearly communicate analyses 
• Provide oral and written reports 

• Produce charts and tables 
• Explain findings and proposals 

Creativity 

• Connect seemingly disparate information and how they might impact each other 
• Determine optimal strategies that maximize profits 

MyStemKits, an award-winning online STEM curriculum repository, has kits that enrich skills related to measurement, statistics, and data. These include: 

Animal Attributes Kit 

Subjects: Science 

Grade levels: K-5, 6-8 

Strand: Statistics, Probability, Measurement and Data; Biological Sciences 

Introduce students to collecting, classifying, and representing data using this sample of animals found in the natural world. Compare the numbers of eyes, legs, and horns/antennae and graph this data by placing the animals on our provided templates. 

Probability Kit 

Subjects: Mathematics 

Grade levels: K-5, 6-8, 9-12 

Strand: Statistics, Probability, Measurement, and Data 

This collection of kits is designed to create an open environment in which students can run a variety of probability exercises. Simply set up a problem and let the students find the best way to run a simulation of the scenario using any of the provided kits. 

Population Death Demographics Kit 

Subjects: Mathematics, Science 

Grade levels: 6-8, 9-12 

Strand: Statistics, Probability, Measurement, and Data; Biological Sciences 

Featuring 500 tiny tombstones, this kit mirrors actual population statistics on the age and gender of members of a population at their death. 

For information on Boxlight teaching and learning solutions, including MyStemKits STEM curriculum, visit www.boxlight.com.