*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 1 Issue 13 September 29, 1993 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. PLEASE FORWARD TO ANY POTENTIALLY INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS Please, direct submissions and questions to Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu , editor for the month of October. Next issue: First week in October Editor for November: Steve Kennedy kennedy@math.stolaf.edu To subscribe: Send mail to Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. Editor for the month of July was Mark Winstead (mww8f@virginia.edu). Editor for the month of August was Kalin Godev (kalin@math.psu.edu). Editor for the month of September is Edward Aboufadel (aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu) Publication will be weekly for now, and increase when appropriate. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 EDitorial: Solicited Submissions, etc... 2 News: Possible Changes at NSF 3 Mark Winstead: Online Career Center 4 Annalisa Crannell: Advice from the Front on Letters of Recommendation 5 Susan Williams: A Response to the Editorial on AMS Elections 6 Paul Shick: Mathematics at Smaller Universities 7 Emil Volcheck: Sample Rejection Letter 8 Kalin Godev: No means No 9 Kalin Godev: The Perfect Job Advertisement Replies to Last Week's Chalk Talk Room (Education Courses on my Resume, Clueless Parents, and a Distant Spouse) 10 Paul Ehrlich 11 Nicolas Robidoux 12 Mark Winstead 13 Gene Smith: Another Response to "One Position or Two?" 14 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 EDitorial: Solicited Submissions, etc... In this issue we have the first of several solicited submissions, this one by Paul Shick. In his article, Paul describes the job description and the reality of working at a smaller university. In the future, we are hoping to get similar works from mathematicians at other institutions, along with other articles by not-so-young mathematicians about the environment in the mathematical community. These articles are being solicited by individual members of the YMN administrators. (See Item #13.) I suppose in this sense we are following our elders, as articles for the Bullitin of the AMS and for SIAM Review are often (always?) solicited. This is my last issue of editor, and I must say that I have enjoyed it. During this month, I have met some new people via e-mail. I have been happy to see that many different members of YMN are submitting articles to CoYM, and, to paraphrase one of my colleagues at Southern Connecticut, the conversation has been rich. I hope and expect that this will continue. Next month's editor is Curtis Bennett. Edward Aboufadel Southern Connecticut State University _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 News: Possible Changes at NSF This information comes both from Jennifer Cohen, editor of the Moderated Young Scientists' Network Digest and from TIDBITS #98, which is sent out free by email from the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. I have tried to put this information together to make it brief and useful. (By the way, to subscribe to TIDBITS, send email to jpbm@hilda.umd.edu) First from TIDBITS: "The Senate VA-HUD-Independent Agencies Appropriations subcommitee ... in a section called "The Future of NSF," the subcommittee asserts that NSF must emphasize activities that address the Nation's scientific, technological, and industrial goals and warns that failure to do so will result in static or declining budgets." Next, from Jennifer Cohen, who in turn has forwarded this from Francis Slakey, the APS Science Policy Administrator. (APS = American Physical Society): "THE PRESIDENT'S REQUEST FOR AN 18% INCREASE IN THE NSF RESEARCH BUDGET WAS CUT IN THE HOUSE BILL TO 10%--THE SENATE BILL JUST CUT IT TO 4%. Following a 1% decrease in the research budget this year, a 4% increase would make for continued difficult times. And from the Senate Bill itself: "The Committee directs the NSF to specify in each NSF program directorate, annual, quantifiable performance milestones. These milestones should specify the degree of industrial participation. Not less than 60% of NSF program research activities should be strategic. The NSF should make clear how it specifically defines each area so as not to shroud curiosity driven activities under the rubric of strategic activities. If the NSF chooses not to do this, future Federal R&D budgets should instead be allocated more generously to NIST, NASA, and NIH." Edward Aboufadel _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 Mark Winstead: Online Career Center Last week, someone asked about where positions are advertised. Here is an abbreviated description of one mentioned in YSN on Friday, followed by more information. I have just learned of a service that should be of interest to our members. This is an online service that lists both jobs and resumes. It is accessible by gophering to gopher.msen.com. I had a very brief look at it and it seems to contain a significant number of listings for science/technology jobs, both academic and otherwise. Happy gophering! Steve Jaffe, Math Dept, Vassar College, stjaffe@vassar.edu This was followed by a promo for the "Online Career Center". I took some time to review this. Searching the job listings on the word "mathematics", I found 45 advertisements. I quickly realized that this wasn't quite right, so I tried "mathematics and PhD" to narrow the field a bit to what one of us might consider. The search came back with four. One was for a department manager in the field of human health risk (whatever that means exactly), another was a position for a physicist with strong mathematics background. A decent sounding one for some of us would be the senior mathematics analyst position at an Alabama firm which is hiring in its Mechanical Design division. Some experience with "writing algorithms for CAD systems" is required. There is also an advertisement for research internships at Argonne National Laboratory. Summary: I give this source of job info in the mathematical sciences ** out of *****, some originality of good job sources, meaning some sound like they are good places to work and I haven't seen the advertisements elsewhere. Under the same path in the gopher I use, they have the *Chronicle of Higher Education* on line. CHE has classified ads, and the job ads are online. Having looked at these positions before (last year), I can tell you that these are generally smaller schools, usually so small that the departments are not institutional members of any professional society. The teaching loads are high among these advertisers usually 12-15 hours a term, while one this year is 18 hours a semester. I get the impression that they don't know about *Notices*, e-math or *Focus*, since I don't recognize these schools from the ones advertising in these latter three. Review: *1/2 out of *****, some originality, but not the choicest sounding jobs For comparison, I would rate other better known sources as follows: e-math: ****1/2 out of *****, simply the best for academic positions, fails to be 100% complete. EIMS: This is just the hard copy of e-math's listings, but to me the direct e-mailing of info on e-math (and the ease of processing something I can download to a file) means I have to give this one ****. Notices: Looks like a proper subset of EIMS to me, **1/2. Focus: A must to look at if you are looking at positions at teaching colleges and smaller schools. Quite a bit of overlap with the above AMS services, but also some originality ***. Mailings: Some schools and businesses mail information directly to your chairman or your department. Ask someone where these are put. Some originality, but most are duplicated elsewhere **1/2. Of course, I may be biased a bit, but aren't we all? Mark Winstead winstead@ml.kva.se _______________________________________________________________ Item #4 Annalisa Crannell: Advice from the Front on Letters of Recommendation In response to Mark Winstead's request for more advice on applying for jobs: First of all, at the risk of sounding pompous, I'd like to tout an article I wrote in the AMS Notices ("Applying for Jobs: Advice from the Front", July/August 1992). There are many other good articles, most notably Ed Aboufadel's series in Focus [10/92, 12/92, 4/93, 6/93], and various articles about two-year colleges and extra-academic jobs in past copies of the EIMS Bulletin. Mark (et al) offered advice on getting letters of recommendation, and I'd like to add to that. I'm sure you know from personal experience how awful it is to want to write a good letter but not be able to think of what kinds of thing you can say ("Well, she seems to be really bright from what I can tell of her class work"). I'm also sure that there are things you'd love to brag about but can't find a good place to put in your CV ("I organized the department softball team", or "My syllabi are really well-organized"). So, I highly recommend (a) putting together a folder full of all the things you're really proud of (letters from your students, syllabi, posters about talks that you gave, photos of you and the deans shaking hands, whatever), and (b) loaning this folder to the people that are writing your letters. It'll not only give your letter writers something concrete and wonderful to say, it'll make their job easier, which they will really appreciate. Annalisa Crannell A_Crannell@ACAD.FANDM.EDU _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 Susan Williams: A Response to the Editorial on AMS Elections After reading the nominating statements for AMS presidential candidates Hyman Bass and Cathleen Morawetz, take a good look at their biographies. The lists of AMS committees on which they have served--unpaid--are a record of great generosity, dedication and concern for the mathematical community. The president of the AMS does not rule by decree, but draws together the work of these committees and the Council. To say that the job "must take a lot of time" is an amusing understatement; someone who is not deeply familiar with the structure and functioning of the AMS and with all the projects currently underway could not possibly manage it, even working full-time. Moving on to the candidates' statements, you will see that their concerns are national science policy, education and the health of the profession--nary a word about progress in K-theory and wave equations. Clearly the nominating committee needs to rethink the way it presents its candidates to the membership. The format of the nominating statements seems to be a holdover from the days when the AMS was mainly involved in scientific meetings and publications, and the larger font gives the nominating statements prominence over the candida statements and records. Although the dissemination of new research is still a vital function of the AMS, members are relatively content with the way this is being handled, and expect the president to address areas in crisis. Morawetz and Bass are two excellent candidates, and I can assure you they are giving more than lip service to the concerns of young mathematicians. Susan Williams University of South Alabama williams@mathstat.usouthal.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #6 Paul Shick: Mathematics at Smaller Universities (or "Is there life after the Ph.D.?) Given the condition of the job market, many new Ph. D.'s who have spent their entire academic careers at predominantly research-oriented institutions will be getting jobs at smaller universities. Having talked with a number of graduate students facing this seemingly mysterious fate, I thought it might be useful to give a quick summary of what life is really like at a typical small university (or at least my own experiences at such places.) As a veteran of 10 years of university employment spent mostly at smaller places (by choice), I might be able to give a fairly realistic view of what really goes on. This is not, however, intended to describe ALL smaller universities, and I apologize in advance to those who feel that I have maligned their institutions. To put this in perspective, I am writing this at John Carroll University, a Jesuit institution located in the near eastern suburbs of Cleveland. We are a fairly selective school that emphasizes undergraduate education above all else. We have roughly 3200 full-time undergraduates, with about 4500 total students if you add in part-timers and graduate students from our various Masters programs. As a Jesuit school, we put a lot of stress on a strong Liberal Arts core of courses, with a lot of contact between faculty and students. What's the basic job description? 1. Teaching: A new tenure-track faculty member will generally teach an 18 hour load, spread over 2 semesters. (Most of our older faculty who are not active in research teach 24 hours.) Since some of our Calculus courses are 4 hours and our M.S. courses count as 4 hours, (even though they meet for 3 hours a week), this usually works out to 3 courses in the Fall and two in the Spring. Typically, a lower level course like Calculus or Elementary Statistics will have about 30 students and the instructor will we helped out by either a TA or an undergraduate homework grader. Upper level undergraduate courses vary from 8 to 30 in enrollment, depending on the popularity of the instructor and whether the course is a requirement for math majors or an elective. M.S. courses carry between 5 and 8 students, usually. A second part of our ``teaching load'' is academic advising. Typically, faculty members advise about 10 Freshmen or Sophomores (from many different majors) and a few undergraduate math majors. 2. Research: To get tenure at a place like this, ``the candidate must show evidence of continuing scholarship.'' We have no formula for publications, etc., that suffices, although other departments on campus do. What's required is that the candidate remain active and demonstrate it, preferably by the usual route of publishing in refereed journals, but other means (lectures at seminars, meetings, etc.) can work, too. 3. Service: Typically, faculty at smaller places get more involved with the running of the university than those at larger schools. One is expected to chip in and help, but not necessarily be a ``political animal.'' What's the reality of the job? 1. Teaching/advising: At smaller schools, teaching is taken quite seriously, and one is expected to do it well. All our tenured faculty, for example, will sit in on classes of the untenured members of the department at least once a year, to evaluate and offer advice. Preparation and classroom teaching are essentially the same as at larger institutions. What really happens, though, that grad students often don't expect, is that one spends a LOT of time with students outside of class. Students at smaller schools generally expect and get more personal attention from instructors than those at larger places. This places greater demands on the faculty, but there are rewards to it as well. The amount of time spent in advising illustrates this point, also. 2. Research: The real question here, I guess, is whether it is possible to do serious mainstream research at a typical undergraduate university. The answer is a provisional ``yes''. One can indeed remain active mathematically, but it takes a great deal more effort than at larger institutions. First, the odds are that there won't be another person with whom you can collaborate in your own department, and you'll have to work harder to find someone to bounce ideas off. E-mail helps immeasurably in this regard. Traveling to meetings or just to spend time in other departments is a must. Second, there may be financial compromises required, too, in trying to be an active researcher. I absolutely avoid teaching during the summers so that I can get some real mathematics done then, despite the fact that summer school teaching would be more lucrative. Third (and perhaps the most obvious) is that there's less time for research than at larger places. It's quite possible to spend an entire week working hard and realize at the end of it that you didn't have any real time to do mathematics. One has to be conscious of this and act accordingly, which isn't always as easy as it sounds. Being a very popular and accessible teacher can be seductive, making it easy to forget just how much time you're spending with your students. On the other hand, hiding yourself away for long stretches to do research seems contrary to what a smaller university is all about. Striking a balance between these (occasionally conflicting) goals is hard to do and will certainly involve feelings of guilt. Finally, there's a question of what sort of research one can do at a small place, too. In physics, for example, one can do experimental holography or something along those lines at a small place, but experimental particle physics is clearly impossible. In mathematics, many people seem to resort to ``nook and cranny'' research, looking at smaller problems that are new but not really mainstream. I'm somewhat convinced that in order to do truly mainstream research in a field, over a long period at a smaller place, one must work in collaboration with others who are in larger places. This may involve being a ``junior partner'' with some very bright people in certain projects, but I find this to be a rather stimulating (if often humbling) role. I find that I've emphasized the negative aspects of research so far. There are a lot of plusses, at least in my limited experience. First, my administrators seem to be quite aware of our relatively isolated position and have made it easy for me to get travel money. Second, we have access to locally funded ``Summer Research Fellowships'' that can help ease the monetary distress alluded to earlier. Third, in some ways, there's more appreciation shown for those active in research at small places than at large institutions. This isn't true, of course, for all such places, but I've found a lot of support and encouragement from both the administration and my colleagues in the math department. In particular, some of our senior people who have absolutely nothing to gain by it have been very generous in covering classes so that I can go to meetings, etc. Given that our university's fairly recent emphasis on research tends to forget the senior people when it comes to promotion and salary, this is a very pleasant development. I must add, however, that some of my friends at other smaller places have not shared my happy experiences in this matter. Finally, the lower expectations for publishing at a smaller place can be quite liberating. Rather than looking for problems that I'm fairly certain I can make progress on (as some friends in higher pressure positions have told me they do), I can work on literally anything I want. This has allowed me to work toward some very neat conjectures (one of which may actually be worked out soon, I hope) that I probably would have shied away from had I been laboring under the ``publish or perish'' pressure that you've all heard about. 3. Service: Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who gets annoyed by things and, rather than ignoring them, tries to change them. This has gotten me involved in far too many university committees and projects. The positive side is that one can have a real effect on the way the university is run. The negative side, of course, is that this is just one more way to fritter away time that might be spent more productively. Again, some balance must struck. One remark that I must make, in all honesty, is that the descriptions above apply only to tenure track positions at universities like ours. Visitors are typically treated much more shabbily, with higher teaching loads and less support for research and travel. On the other hand, the university does not generally expect research, advising or service from visitors, so that there may not be all that much extra work for a visitor, even with the higher teaching load. Still, our administration regards visitors as short-term ``calculus slaves,'' despite the efforts of our department to convince them otherwise. Such a visiting position is not the ideal way to begin an academic career. Conclusion It is possible to remain an active mathematician at a smaller university, although there are more demands on one's time than at research-oriented places. Further, there are a lot of rewards for the extra work, as evidenced by the fact that many people actively chose such positions back in the old days when one could make choices about jobs. Finally, for those who feel forced into such a position by the job market, it is possible to move from a smaller university to a larger, more research-oriented place, if one remains active. I have a few friends who have done this successfully, although the number is small. I'm honestly not sure if the small number is due to the difficulty of such a move or if it's because most people, like me, are genuinely happy with their positions at smaller places. I hope that this has helped alleviate any fear of the unknown about smaller universities. It might also help give job-seekers a better idea of what smaller universities are looking for. I'd be glad to answer any questions or to read any responses. My address is shick@jcvaxa.jcu.edu. About the author Mark Winstead suggested that I append a short biography, so that the reader can decide whether to pay any attention to my long-winded remarks. I was an undergraduate at John Carroll and attended grad school at Northwestern, finishing my Ph.D. in 1984 under Mark Mahowald. I spent two years at Lake Forest College, in the posh northern suburbs of Chicago, while my wife finished her graduate work at Loyola Med School. Since Sue and I are both from Cleveland and preferred to move back there, in 1985 I moved to JCU, since it was the university in Cleveland that best fit my ideas about where I wanted to be. I should remark that there was no doubt a lot of good luck involved in my wanting to move to a smaller place in Cleveland at the same time JCU had an opening. After a year at JCU, I began to question whether I really wanted to be at a smaller place or whether I was just avoiding the more competitive environment at larger schools, so I took a year's leave and took a position as a visitor at the University of Washington. Although the advantages of such an active department were apparent (and fun), I was convinced that I preferred the smaller place, with more emphasis on students. Since then, I've been at JCU, with the exception of a sabbatical semester spent partly at MSRI in 1989. _______________________________________________________________ Item #7 Emil Volcheck: Sample Rejection Letter Here's a rejection letter I received last year that I saved because it's so sympathetic and informative. --------------------------------------------------- Dear Applicant: We have successfully completed our search for a position in the mathematics department. Our new faculty member will be Paula Young who will be receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas. Some of you will have found positions by now. Congratulations. However, in this brutal environment of many applicants for few placements, I know that a number of you are still looking. I vividly remember my first search for a full-time faculty position wherein I received more than 120 rejections. I wished I understood why someone else had been chosen instead of me. For the benefit of those of you still in the hunt I will explain how we settled on our choice. Given the mission of Salem College, our primary criterion was teaching expertise. In other words, we examined the over five hundred applications for evidence of a broad teaching background and demonstrated teaching excellence. Finalists for the position had outstanding letters of recommendation regarding teaching and extremely high teaching evaluation scores. Most had accumulated teaching awards. Frankly, promise of research productivity, which so many of you emphasized, was not as influential in getting one to our short list as other secondary criteria such as affability or conscientiousness (mentioned in the letters of recommendation). I wish you the best of luck in the future. Thank you for your interest in Salem College. (signed Jeff Ersoff, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Computer Science) _______________________________________________________________ Item #8 Kalin Godev: No means No Recently it has been proposed on YMN to design the perfect rejection. There is a "committee" formed to that effect. Imagine the following: You met Ms. Interesting at a party and you asked her out on the weekend. She says, 'Call back', and you do that on Friday. Although she is Interesting, she is not interested and she tells you so. At this point any shrink will advise you to fold up gracefully and move on. However you insist to know why, who the lucky one is, what he's got more -- the type of questions that send people to the local 'Resource Centers'. Safe bet is that in a similar scenario, the chosen one would have never asked Ms. Interesting the questions you did. Well, you say, a considerate rejection is a different story and let's make sure we make it publicly known how irked we get from the short, three line Thank-you-for-... ones. I do not want to prejudice anyone, but this approach emits a subliminal cry for help. Next on Donahue? The frustration that some experience with blunt Thank-you letters is symptomatic of a problem far deeper than the tone of the letter. After all a rejection is still a rejection and it will not pay your bills no matter how nicely worded it is. An itemized rejection might make you feel better -- you were competing against so many outstanding candidates, with such and such experience, which you unfortunately did not possess. Shifting the blame and the false consolation that this brings might even prevent one from asking the following question: How come there are so many eminent mathematicians on the market? If any effort on part of YMN should go into trying to ease job hunting I would humbly suggest that this effort be put not into designing the perfect "No" but into standardizing the job ads. Year after year we see the same vague and misleading advertisements appear in the Notices and on e-math. Here are a few samples, fresh from the mail. The amazing thing about some of the ads is that their text has no mention of anything that pertains to math at all -- it is in the good judgement of the applicant to deduce that from the e-mail address. ID information is whitened out, remarks are in [ ]. "Bring your clubs" The University of Blank at Blanktown announces several tenure-track positions at all ranks.....Applications from qualified individuals in all speciality areas of mathematics are encouraged [sic]. At least one appointment will be made..... Blanktown is a... [ deleted is a Chamber of Commerce style description of Blanktown; it's presence in the ad could be justified by entertaining the thought that the University of Blank was more inclined to attract prospective golfers to join the new Country Club, rather than ... oh well, mathematicians.] "Several, several..." Several positions will be available beginning XX.XX.94 Candidates should have strong research credentials and... Send resume and .... "Perfect Harmony" One position at the XXX Professor level. Preference will be given to candidates whose research interests are harmonic with those of the present faculty.... [not a word what these interests are] The above ads raise more questions than hope and undoubtedly will draw several hundred applications, only to have the latter rejected a year or so later with " .... another candidate was chosen that meets better the Department needs at the present...." _Needs_ that were never stated in the first place! One of the reasons for the blanket-the-market approach is publishing ads like the ones above. A well tailored ad will get the proper response and the applicants will receive proper attention, including more considerate rejections. Existing legal aspects of the hiring process are also to blame for ads such as the above. Since all of these ads come from the e-math server one obvious remedy is to propose to the AMS a standard ad form and insist that no ad goes "on air" if it does not conform. Another thing YMN might want to do is prepare an official YMN response to Departments that send such ads in which re-submission or clarification of the advertisements is kindly insisted upon. Kalin Godev speedy@speedway.net _______________________________________________________________ Item #9 Kalin Godev: The Perfect Job Advertisement Institution: Department: Address: Contact Person: e-mail: Number of openings: one [ ] two [ ] several [not an option] Level: Assistant [ ] Associate [ ] Full [ ] Unclear [ ] Tenure Track [ ] Tenured [ ] Seasonal [ ] Area: First Choice: Second Choice: Third Choice: Any Area: not a choice When: Spring [ ] Fall [ ] Summer [ ] Until Filled [ ] Budget: approved [ ] may be next year [ ] pending [ ] no [ ] Bureaucracy: CV [ ] Letters [ number] Transcripts [college] [high school] List of publications [ ] [Expected Research] [Statement on Teaching] [Grading Policy] [etc.] Other (please Specify): Duties: Teaching load [ # of credits ] Expected Research Advising major [hrs] general [hrs] Deadline: [date] Remarks: On the point: ** SAMPLE ** strong commitment to teaching college algebra. Ph.D. required [ ] ABD OK [ ] M.S. [ ] Secondary Field in Computer Science needed, etc.. General: The climate seems to be enjoyable. Fast night scene. + Ad's Credibility: [0 through 5] Max of 10 lines additional info: _____ + The department has no one in mind for the position -- rates 5. The department has a strong candidate in mind -- rates 1 and lower. Kalin Godev speedy@speedway.net _______________________________________________________________ Replies to last week's Chalk Talk Room (Education Courses on my Resume, Clueless Parents, and a Distant Spouse) [Note: The Chalk Talk Room is a regular feature of the Concerns of Young Mathematicians. Questions are both asked and answered. The following contributors are responding to last week's postings. -Ed.] -------------------------------------- Item #10 Paul Ehrlich My intuition is that in applying for jobs for which teaching is primarily a concern, i.e., small colleges, that you would want to mention your background in mathematics education in your cover letter as well as in your vita. Another possible angle: all departments offer, even at large state universities, various courses aimed at education majors, both elementary and secondary; I would think that your background here might be an asset in preparing to teach such classes, and/or act as a liason with the math ed department. Perhaps you could even mention in your cover letter and vita that you would be interested in developing your teaching careeer in this direction, if it happens to be true. [Response to] Item # 11; I am 45 years old and have just resigned myself to people in the general community, such as my in-laws ,always assuming that I only teach and have no research careeer. It seems beyond the ability of the ordinary U.S. citizen to understand that professors do more than just teach classes. Paul Ehrlich ehrlich@math.ufl.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #11 Nicolas Robidoux Since Abby has not dared reply to the anonymous writer (Volume 1 Issue 12), here is my grain of salt: Since mathematicians are much like artists or contemplative monks in the sense that most of us are platonists at hearth and strive toward oneness with some mother of all theorems, we should not be surprised to be faced with the incomprehension of those whose productive lives are not interrupted by visits of the muses. At least the situation for mathematicians in this country is better than the one faced by students of "physique" in French speaking countries, where aunts for years demonstrate disappointment that the nephew with such good grades in high school could decide on a career in "education physique", although these days it probably should be the other way around. Regarding distance between spouses, recent research seems to contradict the commonly held belief that marital bliss when one of the parties is a mathematician is inversely proportional to distance, and suggests that the data may be better fitted by a curve of the type well known to those studying stochastic resonance where it describes the fact that best results are obtained with the parameter set to somewhere between too little and too much. The question of whether the parameter should be set for all graduate students to the well known contemplative monk value is still being debated in the field. Nicolas Robidoux nicolas@goshawk.lanl.gov _______________________________________________________________ Item #12 Mark Winstead Dear Separated, 1700 miles away is tough, but you are not alone. My wife is currently in Virginia, while I am in Sweden. Come January, I will be in California while she will still be in Virginia. You are not alone. As for your related question, I find I don't experience what you do with family, as my father in law has a masters in physics and mother in law has a masters in math ed, my mother was a mathematics major before dropping out of college and my father is naive about such matters and freely admits. However, we all have had experience with people who don't understand the role of professors at research oriented colleges and universities. That is why at some point I would like to design a course called something like " intro to higher mathematics" or something like that. We would educate people to the fact that there is mathematics beyond calculus and that mathematics is an active research area ( and we don't all use computers for something besides word processing and e-mail). I think we can successfully describe math as a study of structure. In other words, some will be confused about the role of the professor other than teaching, but lets educate those who will listen, and maybe they will tell two friends, who will tell .... Signed Lonely in Sweden and Frustrated with the mathematical illiterate _______________________________________________________________ Item #14 Gene Smith: Another Response to "One Position or Two?" I have been reading the responses to John's question. I didn't answer before, but I am going to put aside any idea that I am not an unbiased party here and plunge in to favor two positions at half pay, since nobody else has. If you pay 18K, you are pretty well assured, in the present lousy job market, of getting two people who actually care about research (or they wouldn't take the job.) You will also be giving postdoc experience to twice as many people. I say go for it, John. Gene Smith GSMITH@uoft02.utoledo.edu **************************** Charles Yeomans cyeomans@ms.uky.edu comments: One problem with this this that there are fixed costs for a full-time position; ERISA requires that full benefits be paid for both positions, for instance. Thus splitting one position into two cheap full-time positions costs more than a single position. Deans may not like that. _______________________________________________________________ Item #13 Closing Credits The Young Mathematicians' Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead winstead@ml.kva.se Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kalin Godev speedy@speedway.net Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Jeff Adams adams@bright.uoregon.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues