Mamady Keita ’26 came to Syracuse University as an Applied Mathematics major, but soon realized he wanted to pair his analytical background with a broader set of technical and professional skills. He found that opportunity through a minor in Information Management and Technology (IM&T) at the School of Information Studies.
“Math alone wasn’t going to give me the diverse set of skills I wanted,” Keita says. “When I learned about the iSchool’s IM&T program, it felt like the perfect complement to my degree.”
As an IM&T minor, Keita developed technical experience with programming languages including R and Python while also strengthening skills in communication, collaboration and research. His iSchool courses gave him opportunities to present ideas, work with teams and approach problems from both technical and human perspectives.
“As I took more iSchool courses, I realized the program was designed to develop well-rounded individuals, not just successful students,” Keita says. “That combination of technical and human skills is what really shaped who I am today.”
For Keita, the ability to connect his Applied Mathematics major with his IM&T minor has become one of the most valuable parts of his Syracuse education. While mathematics taught him to approach problems analytically, his iSchool experience helped him learn how to translate that analysis into information others can understand and use.
“My math background taught me how to break things down analytically, but the iSchool taught me how to actually communicate that analysis to people who don’t think the same way,” he says. “Whether it’s presenting findings, working through a group project, or explaining a complex idea clearly, that combination is something I use constantly.”
Keita put that combination into practice during an internship as an operations analyst at BNY. After completing the internship, he received an offer to return to the company full time. Following graduation, he will begin his career as an operations analyst at BNY in Pittsburgh.
Looking ahead, Keita is particularly interested in the growing role of data in financial services and hopes to eventually pursue quantitative work. He sees the combination of mathematics and information technology he studied at Syracuse as a strong foundation for where the industry is heading.
“The field is moving in a direction that lines up with exactly what I’ve been building toward,” Keita says. “So I’m ready to get into it.”