Biology and mathematics alumna uses interdisciplinary skills in finance and entrepreneurship

Vedica Jha ’16 came to Wooster as an international student from India, traveling across the world to study in the United States, majoring in mathematics and biology. After applying on a whim, Jha was accepted. “I was receiving handwritten postcards from Wooster, saying ‘we look forward to you being here.’ They cared about me as an individual,” Jha said. 

In her first year at Wooster, Jha’s first-year seminar advisor, Nancy Ditmer, emerita professor of music supported her. “She was the first person in America who believed in me. She showed me grace in her class and so many times after. We kept in touch; I would go to her for advice,” said Jha. In addition to her relationships with faculty, Wooster’s staff helped support her as a student. Jha shared, “I would sleep in the math building often, because I had a habit of studying all night,” Jha said. “The custodians, Judy and Dawn, were there all night; they had my back. They knew to wake me up at 3 a.m. if I fell asleep. I am so grateful, imagine if they didn’t, I would have failed so many exams.” 

“I juiced my four years I was at Wooster,” Jha said. “Any opportunity, I was there.” In addition to her academic passions, Jha involved herself in a wide range of extracurricular activities. She served as co-chair for the South Asian Committee and treasurer of the International Student Association, wrote for Wooster’s student newspaper The Wooster Voice, and held six different jobs over her time at Wooster, including working for the STEM Success Initiative and STEM Alumni board.  

Her dedication to interdisciplinary pursuits extended to her Independent Study, her startup company, and now her career in finance. Her I.S. studied sleep deprivation in fruit flies, “My plan for I.S. was very different from everybody that was a biology major and everybody that was a math major, I was the only one doing both,” Jha said. Her unique approach drew on her writing skills. “My goal became using my ability to write to simplify my subject,” Jha said. “I had friends in social studies and arts and humanities, and I wanted every single one of them to pick up my I.S. and be able to understand it.” 

While still at Wooster, Jha and Gio Tramonto ’19, a fellow student majoring in business economics and mathematics, founded a software tool called ProMytheUs, a talent identification, mapping, and management platform. The software uses questions to determine the talents of an individual, but it also allows users to scout talent, and to use the tool to look for potential employees. “The idea came from a selfish need: why does no one come looking for math talent?” Jha said. “Out of that, ProMytheUs was born and now we identify 28 categories of talents.” After she graduated from Wooster in 2016, as co-founder of the platform, she became a client for the Applied Methods and Research Experience (AMRE) program at Wooster, during which a student team worked with Jha on projects for the ProMytheUs software. Jha spent a year working self-employed on ProMytheUs. “Finding and encouraging talent is the only way to sustainably uplift many individuals who go through life without purpose. It is providing them with the fire to recognize what’s already within them, like the Greek god Prometheus who brought fire to mankind,” said Jha.  

While working on ProMytheUs post-graduation, Jha decided to study at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University for a master’s degree in accounting. After completing her degree, Jha took a position as an advisory consultant at Deloitte, a financial auditing and consulting company. “I’m usually analyzing and visualizing data on projects where we’re consulting from an accounting perspective, making sure that logic is followed, and there are no risks to the business during the course of a finance transformation project,” said Jha. Her favorite part of her work though, ties back to her Wooster education. “I like when a client comes back and says, ‘You simplified this for me’ or ‘This was so easy to understand,’’’ said Jha, “That’s the same thing I was trying to do with my I.S.”  

Posted in Alumni on October 30, 2024.