*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 2 Issue 14 April 13, 1994 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 Jeff Adams, adams@bright.uoregon.edu , editor for the month of April. Next issue: April 20 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. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's Notes 2 Summary of Ethics Responses By Curtis Bennett 3 Curious About Employment Statistics By Beata Randriana 4 A Plea for Truth in Advertising By Greg Gibson 5 SIAM Forum Announcement 6 How to Be a Good Graduate Student (Part 1 in a series of 3 parts) By Marie desJardins 7 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's Notes: Welcome to another edition of Concerns of Young Mathematicians. Last week, I sent out an appeal in these "Editor's Notes" for submissions which might be especially pertinent to graduate students preparing for the job market. I'm pleased to report that several of the responses this week fall into that category. An especially useful article for graduate students is in Item #6, which is part 1 of a 3-part article on "How to be a Good Grad Student." Marie desJardins has clearly put a lot of effort into distilling what's important from dozens of articles and publications addressing this issue, and it's my opinion that it's well worth the read. I've been wondering about computer literacy among mathematicians lately. Sometimes it's taken for granted that mathematicians will be proficient users (or at least passable users) of TeX, e-mail, Usenet news, and other software. However, I repeatedly encounter grad students and professors who never go near a computer. This isn't inherently bad, but it affects how we interact. A case in point: How many mathematicians would benefit from this newsletter but don't receive it because they don't read e-mail, or never heard of it because they don't read news? I'd like to encourage submissions on this topic. How are things at your school or installation? Are the mathematicians computer- literate? Would it make life better or worse if the job search process were more automated, with people receiving e-mail updates at semi-regular intervals? What have been effective ways to increase computer literacy, and how has it changed things? Until next week, good luck. Jeff Adams adams@bright.uoregon.edu April Editor, Concerns of Young Mathematicians _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 Summary of Ethics Responses By Curtis Bennett Two months or so ago I asked readers for their opinions on what is ethical behavior on the part of job candidates. The number of responses was small, which is part of the reason I have been slow to summarize. The first response from a tenured faculty member made comment that perhaps it was best to let the offerers worry about the problem. He then asked the following question: Suppose you accept a two-year terminal position, and two weeks later get a tenure-track offer from a comparable institution? Personally, I think--especially in this "buyer's market"--that the first chair should release you from your obligation and wish you the best. Not everyone will agree with this position. In the other responses, several good points were raised. One point was that an acceptable reason for holding onto offers was trying to solve the two-body problem. Other points made included: I would like to see discussed in CoYM other ethical issues: when is it appropriate to sit on a single offer for two weeks? (two weeks during a major interview month seems like an eternity to both the school making the offer and to candidates waiting to receive an offer or an interview.) Also, at what point do candidates start turning down interviews? (I have been advised by others to not turn down any interview until I have an offer in hand; then I can be more selective. But should I really spend Podunk U's money and time to bring me to campus for an interview when I have several other interviews and would only accept an offer from P.U. if it was that or unemployment? If I do accept additional interviews, what should I say to the person offering the interview (if anything) to let them know that other schools are interviewing me, and I might need to make a decision before I can even visit their campus?) Curtis Bennett _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 Curious About Employment Statistics By Beata Randriana Hello, I have a few questions of statistical nature. Is there any data specifying which areas of math are more "popular" for employment? I would be very interested in seeing some statistical breakdown of what percent of candidates in say, analysis/algebra/applied math/etc., get employed. Also, maybe even more, I would be interested in what percentage of available positions go to specific areas of math. I realize that border lines between those areas are sometimes very soft - but maybe AMS clasification numbers for the primary interest could be used. I imagine that this type of information could be also usuful for the beginning graduate students (even though they probably don't think about it yet) who are just about to choose their area of study. I also would like to know what percentage of available positions goes to math-ed specialists. I saw in one of the previous issues of YMN some numbers of available positions vs. annual amount of graduates. But people in math-ed typically are not graduates of math departments - how does it affect those numbers? Overall, while applying this year, I saw a large number of ads specifically asking for math-ed specialists (I never counted it but it appeared like maybe 30-40% of ads - by the way is such data available?). To be honest it bothered me a little, as maybe being a little bit overrepresented. I would be very interested to know what are other peoples' thoughts about it. Best regards, Beata Randriana (brandri@andy.bgsu.edu) [Editor's note: Probably the first source for such information would be the November issue of "Notices of the AMS" each year. However, I note that (at least) the most recent report in the Notices did not include information about Math Ed.] _______________________________________________________________ Item #4 A Plea for Truth in Advertising By Greg Gibson I would like to comment on the behavior of one of the schools to which I applied. The ad in the notices said that the position was open for candidates from all areas of mathematics. After talking to someone in my department I learned that the school in question had a very specific area in mind for the new position since it was to replace someone retiring who had specialized in that branch of mathematics. Apparently only people in this area made it onto the school's short list. I hear the school just wanted to see what was out there so they did not mention their preference in the ad. I think that it is bad form for a school to say the position is open to all areas if it is not. Many of us wasted our time applying to a position we had no hope of getting. It would have saved us and the school in question a great deal of time and effort if they had been more honest. Greg Gibson (gagibson@math.ncsu.edu) _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 SIAM Forum Announcement [This announcement has been making the rounds. Because of its special interest to readers of this newsletter, we reproduce it here. -Jeff Adams, editor] MARK YOUR CALENDAR! 1994 SIAM FORUM MATHEMATICS IN INDUSTRY: THE JOB MARKET OF THE FUTURE July 23, 1994 Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero, San Diego, California Panel sessions and presentations for mathematicians in business, industry, government, and academia will focus on The Job Market of the Future: Mathematics in Smaller Firms A panel discussion of practices, opportunities, and experiences of mathematicians working in smaller firms, a rapidly growing segment of American business. Experiences of Recent Industrial Hires Brief presentations and discussions from some who recently started working in industry. How did they find their positions? What do they do? What do they wish they knew in graduate school that they know now? Hiring: the Manager's Perspective Managers discuss the processes and practices of hiring industry and government. Who makes the decisions and how? What are current needs, practices and opportunities? Who is getting what kinds of positions? Bridging from Academia to Industry How do academic mathematicians build bridges to industry? What programs are available for student and faculty internships in industry and government? What support can university relations offices provide? How are alumni networks built? Non-Mathematicians Who Do Mathematics In Industry Many individuals whose terminal degrees are not in mathematics work in industry as applied mathematicians. How did they come to applied mathematics? What kinds of problems do they work on? How did they get their positions? What can those with mathematics degrees learn from their experiences? The Forum is sponsored by SIAM to promote exchange within the community on important issues and to inform and energize it. Extensive audience participation is always a key feature of the SIAM Forum. Informal meals and receptions will offer further opportunities for interaction and networking. This forum is being conducted with partial support from the Department of Energy. Other SIAM meetings you may want to attend while in San Diego: Symposium on Control Problems in Industry July 22-23, 1994 Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero, San Diego, California SIAM Tutorial on Ensemble Based Simulated Annealing July 24, 1994 Sheraton Harbor Island East, San Diego, California 1994 SIAM Annual Meeting July 25-29, 1994 Sheraton Harbor Island East, San Diego, California REPLY FORM THIRD SIAM FORUM ON INDUSTRIAL/ AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS JULY 23, 1994 THE HOLIDAY INN BY THE BAY SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA [ ] I am planning to register for the SIAM Forum. Please send me registration and hotel information when they become available. [ ] I am not able to attend the SIAM Forum. Please add my e-mail address to your forum database so that I can continue to receive information on upcoming SIAM Forum events. Name Address City State Zip Telephone Fax E-Mail FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Please complete and return this form by: E-MAIL: (degiulio@siam.org) TELEPHONE: 215-382-9800 FAX: 215-386-7999 REGULAR MAIL: SIAM Conference Department, 3600 University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688 Information will be sent in mid April. Thank you. _______________________________________________________________ Item #6 How to Be a Good Graduate Student Part 1 in a series of 3 parts By Marie desJardins [Editor's Introduction: This article was forwarded to us by a reader after my plea in last week's issue of CoYM for submissions pertinent to graduate students. After securing permission from the original author, we have decided to break this relatively lengthy article into three parts and include it in CoYM over the next three weeks. The following is an outline of the section titles of the entire paper: ABSTRACT (* this week) I. Introduction (* this week) II. Before You Start (* this week) III. Doing Research A. The Daily Grind B. Staying Motivated C. Getting to the Thesis 1. Finding an Advisor 2. Finding a Thesis Topic 3. Writing the Thesis D. Getting Feedback E. Getting Financial Support IV. Advice for Advisors A. Interacting With Students V. Becoming Part of the Research Community A. Attending Conferences B. Publishing Papers C. Networking VI. All Work and No Play... VII. Issues for Women VIII. Conclusions BIBLIOGRAPHY (* this week) This week, we include the abstract, sections I and II, and the bibliography. (I suppose it makes sense to have the references up front.) Many thanks to Marie for granting permission for us to reprint this, and apologies to her if my conversion from TeX to text is less than perfect. -Jeff Adams, editor] How to Be a Good Graduate Student --------------------------------- Marie desJardins marie@erg.sri.com March 1994 Abstract This paper attempts to raise some issues that are important for graduate students to be successful and to get as much out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish to help their students be successful. The intent is not to provide prescriptive advice -- no formulas for finishing a thesis or twelve-step programs for becoming a better advisor are given -- but to raise awareness on both sides of the advisor-student relationship as to what the expectations are and should be for this relationship, what a graduate student should expect to accomplish, common problems, and where to go if the advisor is not forthcoming. I. Introduction This article originated with a discussion I had with several women professors about the problems women face in graduate school, and how more women could be encouraged to go to graduate school in computer science. Eventually, the conversation turned to the question of what these women could do in their interactions with women students to support and encourage them. I volunteered that over the course of my graduate career I had collected a variety of papers and e-mail discussions about how to be a good advisor, how to get through graduate school, and issues facing women. They were eager to get this material, and I told them I would sort through it when I got a chance. After mentioning this project to a number of people, both graduate students and faculty -- all of whom expressed an interest in anything I could give them -- I realized two things: first, the issues that we were talking about really were not just women's issues but were of interest to all graduate students, and to all caring advisors. Second, in order to disseminate the information I had collected (and was starting to collect from others) it seemed to make more sense to compile a bibliography, and write a paper that would summarize the most useful advice and suggestions I had collected. I solicited inputs from friends and colleagues via mailing lists and Internet bulletin boards, and collected almost an overwhelming amount of information. Sorting through it and attempting to distill the collective wisdom of dozens of articles and hundreds of e-mail messages has not been an easy task, but I hope that the results provide a useful resource for graduate students and advisors alike. The advice I give here is directed towards Ph.D. students in computer science and their advisors, since that is my background, but I believe that much of it applies to graduate students in other areas as well. In my experience, the two main things that make graduate school hard are the unstructured nature of the process, and the lack of information about what you should spend your time on. I hope that this article will provide information for both graduate students and advisors that will help make the process less painful. I owe a debt of gratitude to David Chapman, whose paper ([chapman]) was an invaluable reference for me not only during the writing of this article, but during graduate school as well. The goals of this article are to raise awareness of the need for a healthy and interactive graduate student-advisor relationship, to provide pointers and guidance for both advisors and graduate students in navigating the maze of a doctoral degree, and to give references and resources for those who hope to learn more. II. Before You Start Many headaches can be avoided by doing some advance planning. First, why go to graduate school at all? The usual reasons given are that a Ph.D. is required or preferred for some jobs, especially research and academic positions; that it gives you a chance to learn a great deal about a specific area; and that it provides an opportunity to develop ideas and perform original research. Wanting to delay your job hunt is probably not a good enough reason. Graduate school is a lot of work and requires strong motivation and focus. You have to really want to be there to make it through. It helps to have a good idea of what area you want to specialize in, and preferably a couple of particular research projects you might like to work on. Look for books and current journals and conference proceedings in your area, and read through them to get an idea of who's doing what where. (You'll be doing a *lot* of reading once you start graduate school, so you might as well get used to it.) This is where advisors first enter the scene: faculty members ought to be willing to talk to undergraduates and help them find out more about research areas and graduate schools. Try to get involved in research: ask professors and TAs whether they need someone to work on an ongoing project, or start an independent research project, with guidance from a faculty member. Contact faculty members and graduate students at the schools you're interested in. Tell them about your background and interests and ask them what research projects they're working on. A good way to do this is via electronic mail if possible -- e-mail is much easier and quicker to respond to than a paper letter. A good advisor will be willing to answer these kinds of inquiries (although if they're busy they may give you only a brief answer or point you towards a graduate student -- you'll have to use your intuition to decide whether they're brushing you off or just busy). If you can't get any answer at all, consider that that individual might not end up being a very accessible advisor. Asking these questions will help you narrow down your choices and may increase your chances of admission if the professors you contact become interested in working with you. Your best bet is to find a school where there are at least two faculty members you'd be interested in working with. That way, if one doesn't work out, or is too busy to take on a new student, you have a fallback position. It's also important to most people to feel comfortable with the community of graduate students. It pays to talk to some of the graduate students (both junior and senior) to find out how they like it, which advisors are good, and what kinds of support (financial and psychological) are available. Because there are so many students applying to each school, even highly qualified applicants are often rejected. You should apply to a range of programs -- and don't take it personally if you do get rejected by some of them. You can increase your chances of getting into graduate school by getting good grades, especially in upper division classes in your area of interest, having a broad background in your field and in related fields (for example, psychology classes are useful for AI students), getting a high score on the GRE if required, developing good relationships with your professors and work managers (this is very important for getting good recommendations), working on a research project, and having a clear sense of what you want to work on (although it's always all right to change your mind later). Also, it's a good idea to start thinking early about sources of funding: apply for an NSF fellowship and ask your advisor or department office about other fellowships. BIBLIOGRAPHY ------------ [agre] Philip E. Agre. "What to read: A biased guide to AI literacy for the beginner." Technical Report Working Paper 239, MIT AI Lab, November 1982. [bental] Diana Bental. "Thesis prevention: Advice to phd supervisors." AISB Quarterly No. 80 (Newsletter of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour), pages 58--60, Summer 1992. (Published under the alias `The Siblings of Perpetual Prototyping'). [bundy] Alan Bundy, Ben du Boulay, Jim Howe, and Gordon Plotkin. The researchers' bible. Technical Report DAI Teaching Paper No. 4, Dept. of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, September 1986. [chapman] David Chapman. How to do research at the MIT AI lab. Technical Report AI Working Paper 316, MIT, October 1988. [grad-money] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Finding money for dissertation research/writing. The Graduate, II(3), Fall 1986. [grad-quals] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Studying for the qualifying exam. The Graduate, II(3), Fall 1986. [grad-thesis-writing] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Writing your thesis. The Graduate, II(1), Spring 1986. [grad-interviewing] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Interviewing for a faculty position. The Graduate, III(2), Fall 1987. [grad-proposal] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. The making of a successful proposal. The Graduate, III(1), Spring 1987. [grad-thesis-choosing] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Choosing your thesis or dissertation topic. The Graduate, IV(2), Fall 1988. [grad-isolation] UC Berkeley Graduate Division. Beating the isolation blues. The Graduate, V(1), Spring 1989. [hall3] Roberta M. Hall and Bernice R. Sandler. Academic mentoring for women students and faculty: A new look at an old way to get ahead. [hall1] Roberta M. Hall and Bernice R. Sandler. The classroom climate: A chilly one for women? [hall2] Roberta M. Hall and Bernice R. Sandler. Out of the classroom: A chilly campus climate for women? [lefferts] Robert Lefferts. Getting a Grant: How to Write Successful Grant Proposals. 1978. [leveson] Nancy Leveson. Women in computer science: A report for the NSF CISE cross-disciplinary activities advisory committee, December 1989. [mckay] Nellie Y. McKay. Minority faculty in [mainstream white] academia, 1988. Chapter 5. [nsf] NSF. An NSF study and report about women in computing research. Computing Research News, Summer 1989. [sandler] Bernice R. Sandler and Roberta M. Hall. The campus climate revisited: Chilly for women faculty, administrators, and graduate students, October 1986. [shriver] Bruce D. Shriver. The benefits of quality refereeing. COMPUTER, pages 10--16, April 1990. Also includes COMPUTER's guidelines for referees. [smith] Alan Jay Smith. The task of the referee. COMPUTER, pages 65--71, April 1990. [somerville] Bill Somerville. Where proposals fail: A foundation executive's basic list of what to do and not do when requsting funding. The Grantsmanship Center News, Jan/Feb 1982. [spertus] Ellen Spertus. Why are there so few female computer scientists?, 1992. Expected to become an MIT AI Lab Technical Report. [strok] Dale Strok. Women in AI. IEEE Expert, 7(4):7--21, August 1992. [toth] Emily Toth. Women in academia. In The Academics' Handbook. Duke University Press, 1988. Chapter 4. [white-grants] Virginia White. Grants: How to Find Out About Them and What to Do Next. Plenum Press, 1975. [white-proposals] Virginia White. Grant Proposals That Succeeded. Plenum Press, 1983. ____________________________________________________________________ Item #7 Closing Credits The Young Mathematicians' Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead winstead@euclid.ucsd.edu Vic Perera vperera@silver.ucs.indiana.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Stephen Kennedy kennedy@stolaf.edu Kalin Godev kalin@math.psu.edu Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Jeff Adams adams@bright.uoregon.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu ____________________________________________________________________________ End of Journal