*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 2, Issue 34 October 26, 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 Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu , editor for the month of November. Next issue: Wednesday, November 3. Editor for October: Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Editor for November: Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.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. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 Letters to the Editors Mark Winstead's Article of 10/12 NSF Postdocs 3 YMN Town Meeting in SF Steve Kennedy 4 JCEO Mark Winstead Annalisa Crandall 5 Internships: Readers Respond Frank Arlinghaus and Various Coauthors 6 Two Observations on the Job Market Frank Sottile 7 Issues at a One-year Position: The Temporary Blues Kevin Charlwood 8 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: How do we do it! Yet another issue packed with information. For those going to San Francisco, there is information about YMN activities there, and information about the Employment Register (see JCEO). This information should also be of use to those of you staying home. There are various observations on the job market from Frank's observations to Kevin's notes on issues of concern at one-year positions. Also, some small amount of information about internships--special thanks to Karen Singer, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, for her contribution (the major portion of the article). _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 Letters to the Editors. A) Mark Winstead's article in 10/12 issue: As I understand the manifesto of the YMN, the Network has no desire to endorse any particular candidates for the upcoming (or any) election of the AMS. However, the most recent issues of *Concerns* contain what appears to be political campaigning on the part of Mark Winstead. Is the publication of these articles an unstated endorsement of Mr. Winstead by the YMN Board? I appreciate his involvement in the founding of the YMN, but I don't believe this speaks to his qualifications for AMS Council. I also appreciate his recent articles in *Concerns*, although his message was diluted because of what appear to be pleas for votes. It should be the Editorial Board of *Concerns* who should remind us to vote and who should ensure that *Concerns* remains impartial. I look forward to reading the responses this week from Mark Winstead, Ben Lotto, and the other AMS Council candidates when they all have an equal chance to be heard. Deanna Haunsperger, Carleton College dhaunspe@mathcs.carleton.edu My impression from Mark Winstead's piece was that the only three ways to participate in the AMS were to (1) nominate people for the Council or Nominating Committee, (2) vote, or (3) communicate with members of the Council or Nominating Committee. This seems to equate membership in AMS with minor stockholdings in GM -- you can go to the annual meeting and attempt to influence operations and policy only through the election of the board of directors and voting your proxy. Surely (... and don't call me Shirley!) there are other routes for direct participation in the work of the AMS. Are there other committees, ones that consider specific issues or have particular assignments? are they elective or appointive? Are there worker bees for the annual and other meetings? can one volunteer to help with the publication of the various newsletters, bulletins, and other communications of the AMS? Mark's focus was on governance (which is important); are there other means of participation? Katie Yunker, University of Kentucky yunker@ms.uky.edu B) NSF Postdocs It's NSF postdoc season, with the deadline having just passed. This made me think of things I've read on YMN. Last year, forty NSF postdoc were awarded. The awardees were taken from a pool of 226 applicants - a large number, compared to previous years. If there were more than 1000 PhDs awarded in math last year, why were there so few applicants for NSF postodocs? Many of the applicants are a year or two out from the PhD, which makes the small number yet more puzzling. Of course, the competition is very stiff for the NSF postdocs, and it appears that many believe they would not be up to snuff and feel it would be a waste of time to apply. That's understandable. But I wonder about the effectiveness of asking the NSF to raise funding for postdocs when there are so few applicants for the existing postdocs. What if NSF got 1000 applications for the 40 postdocs? That could be a powerful message that funding for postdocs is inadequate. Of course, changes in NSF programs are not based entirely on this kind of "proposal pressure", but it is one factor. Allyn Jackson American Mathematical Society _____________________________________________________________ Item #3 YMN in San Francisco The YMN administrative board is planning its activities for the Joint Meetings in January and we want your input. There are three particular items that we need help in planning: the YMN board meeting, a public forum to discuss employment issues, and our meeting with the MAA Board of Governors. Most of the YMN board will be in San Francisco and we are planning on holding a meeting. We are now at work drawing up an agenda for that meeting. Much of this will be organizational details: choosing monthly editors, getting volunteers for the various chores which need to be done (e.g., coordinating the survey of AMS candidates for next year, soliciting articles), trying to find a way to structure the board's 15-way electronic debates. We also want to spend some time thinking of new directions we should pursue. This is where we want your input--are there issues or causes that you feel YMN should be addressing that we are not? There has been much talk in these pages (electrons?) about reforming the job search process--it is time to progress beyond talk. What changes do you think YMN should be advocating to AMS, MAA, SIAM? The agenda committee for the board meeting consists of Ed Aboufadel, Curtis Bennett, and Steve Kennedy. Please send your thoughts to any, or all, of us (addresses in Credits section below). Alternatively, submit an article to this digest. We are also organizing a public meeting--"Concerns of Young Mathematicians: A Town Meeting." Details of time and place appear in the Joint Meetings program. We want to use this hour to give you a chance to speak out. Debate in Concerns of YM suffers a time lag flaw-- if I want to rebut your opinion, it takes a week. Your response to my rebuttal takes another week,... as a result trivialities get dragged out too long and debate on substantive issues dies out too soon. Our preliminary list of topics includes: Ph.D. overproduction, which reforms of the job search process should we be fighting to get?, increasing representation of young mathematicians on the committees of AMS-MAA-SIAM, and future directions for YMN. Please send your ideas for content and format of this meeting to the organizing committee: Steve Kennedy, Kevin Madigan, Franklin Mendivil, Charles Yeomans. The MAA Board of Governors has invited us to make a short presentation to them during their board meeting. Frank Arlinghaus, Steve Kennedy, Kevin Madigan, and Frank Sottile are organizing this presentation (a proper subset of this committee will actually deliver the presentation). What message do you want us to carry to them from you? The editors hope to see many of you in SF, and we encourage you to stop us and let us know what's on your mind, if you see us there. Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu _____________________________________________________________ Item #4: AMS-MAA-SIAM Committee on Employment Opportunities (JCEO) Recently, I conversed with a member of the AMS-MAA-SIAM Committee on Employment Opportunities (JCEO) about the JCEO and the Employment Registry (ER), the occasion being an invitation to me to join JCEO. Several concerns were expressed, and I was asked if YMN could help get the message out on two points: 1) In the past, the vast majority of employers at the ER have been colleges and universities and the vast majority of those only offer B.A.s and B.S.s i.e., there are very few research oriented schools that have used the ER in the past. The JCEO is working to change this if it is possible to do so, but if the past is an indication, those of you who are interested in research emphasis schools only may find that the ER will be a waste of time and resources. Last year's list of employers is generally available, and a tentative list of employers will again be distributed this year. Check it carefully to see if it meets with your ambitions. 2) Please note that the majority of employers at the ER are 4-year liberal arts colleges, where teaching quality and skills are their highest priorities. Therefore, if your native language is not English, you would be well advised to communicate to prospective employers your ability in English. In particular, it is a good idea to let employers at the ER know your ability BEFORE the January meetings. Past experience shows that those who do not speak English well do not fare well at the ER. Some ways to verify your competency at English language include giving your scores on the TOEFL AND (not or) letters from faculty attesting to your ability. It wouldn't hurt (and might prove quite impressive) if you relayed letters from your students to the schools and/or to your letter writers. (thanks to Curt Bennett for suggestions on the wording of the last paragraph) Now, words from me, given my increased knowledge of the ER and JCEO: For those who are considering using the ER for the first time this winter, you should get a hold of last year's list of employers to aid your decision to use it or not. You should also know that the JCEO has learned that the more they cater to employers wishes, the more likely the employers will return to use the ER again and the more likely they will recommend it to other employers. And, ultimately, the best improvement the JCEO can make to the ER is to recruit more employers. Mark W. Winstead mwwinst@gcr.com Centreville, VA I've stepped down as Special Consultant to the JCEO (Joint Committee on Employment Opportunities); my term is up. I've been incredibly impressed with their work: not only does the JCEO do important things (such as distributing information about the job market and overseeing the Employment Register, the EIMS bulletin, and the e'math version of EIMS) but they are also the most *efficient* committee that I've seen. I'd like to point out two items of immediate interest to readers of YMN. First is that the new version of "Seeking Employment in the Mathematical Sciences" is available from the AMS Gopher. The previous version, which was finished in 1985, was very good but a tad out-of-date. (By "a tad" I mean that it began, "At the current time, job opportunities are somewhat plentiful in the Mathematical Sciences"). The current version is much more with-it, is very very helpful, and is a "must read" for graduate students and other young mathematicians. The second item is that the JCEO is going to have a Help Room in San Francisco, next to the Employment Register, to help applicants with their job hunting questions. In addition to having quite a few resources at hand, they hope to have volunteers to talk with whoever wanders in, answering general or specific questions about the hiring process. Anyone who is interested in helping out and who has some recent experience--either hiring or applying--is urged to contact Diane Mack [DMM@MATH.AMS.ORG] to sign up for a 1 or 2 hour slot. This is a wonderful and direct way to help other young mathematicians. Annalisa Crannell A_Crannell@ACAD.FandM.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 Internship Opportunities and Advice Many items of interest came in. Having done an internship with General Motors Research in 1985, I can only say that my experiences confirm what people had to say. Thanks to Curtis Bennett (Bowling Green), Don Lewis (Michigan), Linda Sons (Northern Illinois), 1) Many firms don't directly advertise internships. Some companies even go so far as to give them as "trial positions" to people they have some interest in hiring. This practice is common in various incarnations in other fields. 2) Smaller firms often don't know about the NSF Industrial Postdoc positions. Thus, if you want an industrial postdoc and might be interested in a particular firm, contact the firm and ask them about whether they would be interested in having you as an NSF industrial postdoc. Before doing this, be sure to have some of the information about the postdoc on hand. Even if you don't get the postdoc, you have shown initiative of the kind most companies like to see. 3) Mathematicians interested in internships should consider applying to the various national labs that up to now have regularly had internship positions. 4) The placement office of the engineering school of your university is one of the best sources for summer internships. Contact them in October and November and get on the interview lists for summer employment. 5) The Ph.D. program at Northern Illinois University requires each student to complete an Applications Involvement Component. Students must take several specific courses to prepare themselves for a "working phase" of the Component--a placement for a summer or a semester in a laboratory or company to get first-hand experience with applications work. Finally (last but not least), Karen Singer, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, sent this in: For one summer, I wished to work in biostatistics. Most such jobs require you to be studying some statistics, and to know how to use statistical software. I applied to a number of pharmaceutical companies, and also to local groups that do statistics for other researchers. One of these was a department of the research/teaching hospital here that has many ongoing projects with other parts of the hospital, and two were private companies that contract their statistical services out to people doing clinical trials. AmStat News posts information about some of the bigger internships, and I also did a lot of informational calling. I receivedoffers from all three of these types of employers. The pharmaceutical companies were able to offer a higher salary, but the smaller groups would have paid me reasonably well. I accepted a job from Merck & Co., a large drug company that hires many PhD and masters statisticians for locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Scientifically, and corporately, this is a very good company to work for. The human resources person that I had contact with at that time was Lisa Escudero (908)594-3214, and inquiries can be sent to: Human Resources Merck Research Laboratories Merck & Co., Inc. PO Box 4 West Point, PA 19486-0004 For the following summer, I decided that I would like to work in a job using discrete mathematics. I applied for internships with: NIST--National Institute of Standards and Technology (govt.) Dept. of Applied and Computational Mathematics Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 SRC--Supercomputing Research Center (computer and mathematics work for the Institute of Defense Analysis) Dawn B. Porter, Administrative Manager (301) 805-7528 17100 Science Drive Bowie, Maryland 20715-4300 Bellcore (telecommunications research, especially for the regional telephone companies) Karen Howard, Manager, Corporate Employment and Staffing (908) 699-2486 6 Corporate Place Piscataway, NJ 08854-4157 AT&T Bell Labs (telecommunications research for AT&T) 101 Crawfords Corner Road, Rm. 1E-231 PO Box 3030 Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030 (The application is by electronic resume of a specified format, in which department managers will search by key words. The resumes are submitted to summer@hogpa.att.com.) The telecommunications field is undergoing much changes right now, and the internship programs have been cut back to a smaller size than they used to be, but they currently still exist. I know that the NSA (National Security Agencies) in Maryland also offers internships to mathematicians each summer, for both students and graduates. The application process has to begin well in advance (the preceding fall), since it involves obtaining security clearances. The phone number for the main employment office there is (301)859-6444 (or the area code may be (410)). For that summer, I ended up working for Bellcore, which I enjoyed very much. During the application process, I was especially impressed with how well-organized the Supercomputing Research Center seemed to be. In each case, I began my search process in December or January. A few jobs started to gain potential in March or April, but it was not until April or May that I was offered the job that I ended up taking. Both times, I was persistent about staying in touch with the potential employers. I believe that this helped me, because in at least one case, judging by the late date of the offer, someone else had probably turned down the offer before the company looked to me. Since the managers knew that I was still interested and available, I was next on their list, and I got the job that I really wanted. I often started by calling a general number for the company, obtained from directory assistance, and asking the person who answered if his/her company was organizing a summer internship/employment program for students. However, all of the offers that I eventually received were from places where I knew of specific people in the relevant departments and contacted them directly. I hope that this is helpful! I have found internships to be a very stimulating and important part of my graduate education. _____________________________________________________________ Item #6 Two observations about the job market Since a fair fraction of the readers of Concerns are at the beginning of the 94-95 round of the employment sweepstakes (or job roulette), I thought that I would share a couple of observations about the market. Adam Smith and the mathematics job market The job market, like all markets is not necessarily accurately modeled by perfect free competition. I see two aspects in which it deviates from that model. The first is a serious market failure, and the second is an asymmetry in the supply and demand sides of the market. First is the problem of complete information. There is a problem of a serious lack of realistic, good information so that people can make rational decisions about their careers at all levels, from the undergraduate to the post-Ph.D. Secondly, there is a serious lack of symmetry in the market, as the labour supply is in free competition, and the consumers of labour (departments and universities) constitute a (loose) oligopoly. In particular, those who may benefit from a huge pool of labour are also those who determine its size through (sometimes exploitative) graduate enrollments. This is not to say there is any venality on the part of our employers and our colleagues who engage in hiring and deciding on graduate enrollments. People sometimes forget that the `invisible hand' is invisible. There are well-understood forces that cause this imbalance. Blaise Pascal and the job market One has to face the fact that the market is really quite random. An individual may do everything `right' and still not land a job they feel they may deserve. Looking at any small sample of applicants, one finds it hard to reason why someone got a position they did, or why another person was unemployed. This `lack of justice' is especially hard to deal with, as we have come to believe that our profession is a strict meritocracy. This is not to say that the market is completely random. I have confidence that, if one were able to take a very global view of it, one would discern many obvious trends; good candidates would tend to get good jobs, people who made poor choices in their application strategy would tend to pay for it. But on the individual level, there is an unsettlingly large degree of Brownian motion. Frank Sottile (sottile@math.toronto.edu) _____________________________________________________________ Item #7 Issues at a One-year Position: The Temporary Blues Hi, it's me again. If you read my piece in CoYM recently, you know that I accepted a one-year position at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. In retrospect, I feel I made the correct decision, in spite of having to look for another job for next year (and most hopefully, beyond!). Last year, there was a good deal of discussion in this Newsletter about the affects of taking a temporary position. Here's one man's view of the situation, and keep in mind, these items can vary greatly from institution to institution. First, the salary issue. I'm being paid $29K, whereas a tenure-track individual had been hired here the previous year at $34K. A whopping big difference, to be sure!! $29K is definitely at the low end of the scale. I won't beat around the bush here....it's just plain low. I should also hasten to add that I was allotted $1K in moving expenses, most of which I used. But even so, those of you who will be looking for a position should bear in mind some of the numbers which may be thrown your way. If you don't get an interview until June or July, you'll be cornered by the powers-that-be. They know they've got you right where they want you in terms of their bottom line, so prepare for that ahead of time. Granted, some temps. are making more after being very late hires, but your chances of getting the salary you deserve are greatly diminished. Late in the search year, you basically have no leverage, unless you're fortunate enough to have another offer sitting on the table. If so, my hat's off to you! Second, benefits. Bradley is picking up 2/3 the cost of my health insurance, which leaves me to pay around $45 a month. Not bad, as I know some people who are tenure-track and have to foot the entire cost of their health plans, even for HMO's. The downside (ah, and there are plenty!) is that I couldn't get into TIAA-CREF or any other plan offered here. In other words, of my salary, I'm on my own completely to save for retirement. I figure based on what schools normally give, I'm losing around $2K toward retirement. Ok, I'm still 30 years young (!) but I'm resigned to losing a year in terms of benefits. Keep this all in mind when considering an offer...you may regret it all later if you don't! Third, the teaching load. In CoYM last year, there was an abundance of stories relating people's high teaching loads, i.e., more than the standard twelve hours per week. Of those I'm aware of this year, I know of no one suffering through this, but I'm also quite sure it exists. Here at Bradley, I'm teaching 12 hours of Business Calculus (3 sections). I must say that for me, it's an ideal load, as the prep. work is minimal. (That's part of the reason I have enough time to goof off and write some opinion pieces for your reading enjoyment!). I have ample time to dissect my thesis (a rather bloody chore!) as I didn't get finished until August, and attempt to work on some related results to make myself more marketable. If you get stuck with four course, three prep. someplace, that all goes out the window in a hurry, believe me, especially if you haven't had a lot of "full control" teaching experience and experience preparing decent tests. It can really suck up your time if you're not careful, and if you're amongst those unfortunate ones teaching more than 12 hours (like 15, for instance) it's really unavoidable. As an aside, I'd greatly love to hear from anyone out there who is undergoing this high load now or who has in the past. I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences. (Plus, it's lonely here....shower me with e-mail!!) Next up: Having to look again. This is perhaps the most professionally crippling item of all. When I consider the shear number of hours I spent researching schools and putting together my 137 application packages over a period of 8 months, I get physically numb! And now I, like many others of you out there, am staring down the barrel at having to do all this again. But since how you sell yourself to prospective employers is of paramount importance, you'll need to spend gobs of time doing it and doing it well. For some schools, it'll mean the difference between top 50 and getting into the final list for an on-site interview. Of course, we all want to land that elusive tenure-track job at a good school, and so with 600+ applicants in many cases, it behooves you to spend your time applying. Between now and March, I honestly expect to get little else done besides look and do a great job teaching. If I get two papers submitted out of my thesis, I'll consider it miraculous! Finally, an intangible. Moving! This can be a pain, indeed! Moving around the country, taking temp. positions (like a gypsy) and not having any chance to put down some roots in a community. The upside is, if you don't like where you are, well, by golly, you'll be out of your current situation in just a few months! Worse yet, is if you're dragging a spouse around with you. Don't they just love that?! Fortunately for me I'm still single, so I can pick up and take off without any hassles imposed on anyone else. It's still a hassle for me, but I'd hate to be the cause of someone else's discomfort...especially a spouse. Are there any solutions to this "temporary" insanity?! I liked the idea that some guidelines be sent to all schools regarding fair and/or reasonable employment practices. I may be unaware, but perhaps this is standard practice. Would unionization help or hinder the "temp." syndrome? Can the AMS or some other such powerful body intercede when the situation gets out of hand? Right now, as the market is so competitive, we as individuals have little voice, so the likelihood is, these temp. situations will only increase, in my estimation. Schools get the best of all worlds: cheap, talented labor, and you're quite expendable once the contract expires. I'd like to see more on this topic in CoYM, and again, anyone with thoughts they'd like to share privately, hey...shower me with e-mail!! Good luck on your search (whoever's doing it!) and I'll see you in 'Frisco! Kevin Charlwood, Bradley University kec1@bradley.bradley.edu ________________________________________________________________ Item #8 Closing Credits The Young Mathematicians' Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead mwwinst@gcr.com Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Vic Perera vicum@math.ohio-state.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu Bob Dobrow dobrow@cam.nist.gov Lyle Cochran address change pending Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Wendy Brunzie brunzie@mathfs.math.montana.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Jeff Adams adams@bright.uoregon.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues