*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 7, Issue 9 13 October 1999 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the administrative board or membership of the Young Mathematicians' Network. The editorial policy of this newsletter is to encourage discussion of issues and facilitate the dissemination of information relevant to the concerns of young mathematicians. Please direct submissions and questions to Kevin Charlwood , editor of the CoYM for the month of November. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editorial 2 A Wish-List for Future Discussions 3 "Rumor Mill" websites on jobs in physics 4 Call for Lesser-known Mathematics Journals 5 Project NExT/YMN Poster Session 6 Subscription & Web Site Info 7 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editorial Welcome to the October issue, and do we have some interesting items for you! We start with a short piece by board member Heather Ames Lewis soliciting ideas for discussion and previewing an upcoming article. Next, Greg Kuperberg points out some interesting, controversial web sites that post information about physics job searches at specific universities. Greg thinks that the YMN should offer a similar service. Read his article, browse the sites, and tell us what you think. Kevin Charlwood, the ringleader of the editorial board, asks whether you know of any refereed math journals that are not as well known as major journals and hence may be overlooked by young mathematicians seeking publication opportunities. Finally, we repeat the call for the poster session at the Joint Meetings in Washington DC. Recently we've had some comings and goings on the board. Frank Sottile and Evelyn Hart have retired from the board, and John Kuchenbrod has joined us. We thank Frank and Evelyn for their service and look forward to working with John. Frank has been with the board as long as I can remember and has contributed in many ways, including CoYM editing and running our job surveys. I would like to offer him special thanks. Also, Steve Brick has turned over the maintenance of the YMN archives to us. He designed a nice interface to the archives and kept them up-to-date over the past few years. We appreciate his help. The archives are now hosted on youngmath.org and can be accessed directly from the YMN home page. Emil Volcheck volcheck@acm.org _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 A Wish-List for Future Discussions A colleague recently suggested to me that the CoYM run a list of specific topics for readers to write in about, in addition to the general request for submissions. With that in mind, I've put together a wish-list of topics based on conversations I've had and heard around campus and at conferences. I've tried to limit this list to issues that people are interested in, but that we aren't already discussing regularly. One of the biggest issues I've heard raised in the hallways is how to deal with having kids before tenure. Many of the new faculty who've expressed concern about this are women, often the primary wage-earners for their families (so taking a leave of absence isn't financially feasible); certainly, however, this is a concern of men as well, and there doesn't appear to be much information out there. A recent article ("Planned Parenthood," The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 25, 1999) touched on this, but it primarily focused on the pressure for faculty to plan childbirth for the summer and the difficulty of doing so. One of the other math professors here at Nazareth is in the process of writing an article for the CoYM on this -- she had a baby mid-semester two years ago and paid someone out-of-pocket to cover her classes rather than risk being told she had to take unpaid leave. No doubt other people have had very different experiences, and I think it could be really interesting if they submitted stories from the front-lines, simply so that others know what the possibilities are. A second popular issue is how to prepare for tenure review (this generated a lot of interest at the Project NExT workshop at Providence). The CoYM has discussed this in the past, but people seem eager to hear more. What is the best way to put together a portfolio? What can people do in their early years to prepare themselves for fourth-year and tenure review? Third, do people have general advice for starting a new job? We've run articles on this before, but it is an appropriate topic to bring up as many people finish their first month. If you have a few pieces of advice (the best things you did when you started your job, or the things you wish you'd done) then you can submit them directly to the CoYM. If that is too daunting, then submit them directly to me, and I'll gather everything together into a single article. I look forward to reading responses to these topics and to hearing other suggestions for discussion. Heather Ames Lewis Nazareth College of Rochester _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 "Rumor Mill" websites on jobs in physics Subject: Astrophysics and theoretical particle physics "rumor mills" I would like to call everyone's attention to two fascinating web sites for the physics job market, the astrophysics and theoretical particle physics "rumor mills": http://www.phys.washington.edu/~calvin/ (particle physics) http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/enfield/207/ (astro) The pages are compilations of rumors about interviews and job offers for open positions in the respective job markets. Of course their sources are confidential, so who knows where they really get this information. One speculation is that a lot of it comes from the job candidates themselves, i.e., the buddy system. I think it would be very interesting if young mathematicians set up a similar system. (I can't get involved myself, sorry.) Even though I fully respect confidentiality in academia, I also believe in a free and adversarial press. I think it makes the establishment more honest. Greg Kuperberg University of California, Davis greg@math.ucdavis.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #4 Call for Lesser-known Mathematics Journals Last January at the San Antonio Meetings, I had a discussion with four other YMN Board members asking about titles of lesser-known journals in mathematics focusing either on pedagogical issues or pure or applied research. As a group we came up with a list of about ten or so (see below), and I wanted to post this note to our readership which numbers well over 1300 to attempt to develop a larger, more complete list. Since many YM's are enduring the rigors of the tenure process, it would be nice to assemble a list of titles of perhaps lesser-known, refereed journals to which one may submit material to enhance one's chances of publication. So here's what I'm looking for (if possible): 1. Name of journal and any affiliation or sponsorship it has; 2. Name of current editor-in-chief or partial list of editorial board and their institutional affiliations; 3. Genre of the journal's articles; ie., is it strictly math-ed., or does it focus on any particular area with the mathematical sciences; 4. Any other pertinent information you feel is helpful to those who are unfamiliar with the journal. Note that there is a partial list of journals (some well-known) in the Spring 1996 issue of UMAP put out by COMAP. Assuming that I can generate sufficient responses to this query, I will write an article within the next few months to publish this list, and hopefully our readers will be able to make use of it. Please e-mail me directly with your suggestions of journals at my e-mail address below and I will get the ball rolling! Here are suggestions for less well-known journals that we came up with: 1. Manuscripta Mathematica (Springer) 2. Archiv der Mathematik (Birkhauser) 3. Communications in Algebra 4. Pacific Journal of Math (UCLA/Stanford) 5. Rocky Mountain Journal of Math (Colorado) 6. Fibonacci Quarterly (very specialized) 7. Canadian Math Bulletin (short articles; has web site) 8. Canadian Math Journal 9. Quebec Journal Kevin Charlwood Washburn University zzcharlw@washburn.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 Project NExT/YMN Poster Session Project NExT/Young Mathematician's Network **** Poster Session **** Project NExT and the Young Mathematician's Network invite submissions of abstracts for a poster session to be held on Thursday, January 20, 2000 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington DC. The room location is to be announced. The poster size will be 48" by 36"; it is best to have the posters 36" high. Materials for posting pages on the posters will be available on-site. We expect to accept forty posters from different areas within the mathematical sciences. Should you require a special connection for a computer hook-up, please let us know and we will check to see if it may be accommodated. If you are interested in participating, submit copies of your abstract to: Prof. Ken Ross Department of Mathematics University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1222 Phone: (541) 346-4721 Fax: (541) 346-0987 (Label Fax clearly for "Ken Ross") e-mail: AND Prof. Kevin Charlwood Dept. of Math & Statistics Morgan Hall Washburn University Topeka, KS 66621 Phone: (785) 231-1010 ext. 1499 Fax: (785) 231-1089 (Label Fax clearly for "Kevin Charlwood") e-mail: Our poster sessions at the San Diego, Baltimore and San Antonio Meetings the past three years were a great success. Visitors to the session each year were numerous, and included prospective employers. This session provides an excellent way to showcase one's work in a relaxed, informal environment. The deadline for final consideration is December 12, 1999. Preference will be given to those who are three or fewer years beyond their Ph.D.; please include with your submission when and where you received your Ph.D., or indicate when you expect to receive it. Submissions received in any form will be acknowledged quickly via e-mail. _______________________________________________________________ Item #6 Subscription & Web Site Info To subscribe or change your subscription, email Majordomo@youngmath.org with either of the following commands in the body of your message: subscribe concerns or unsubscribe concerns To obtain a summary of these and other majordomo commands, send "help" in the body of your message. Visit the YMN homepage for back issues and more information. The URL is http://youngmath.org The YMN Newsletter Archive maintained by Steve Brick can be reached from the YMN homepage. _______________________________________________________________ Item #7 Closing Credits Editor: October: Emil Volcheck November: Kevin Charlwood December: Birk Huber The YMN Board: Emil Volcheck Jonathan Rubin Michael Prophet Leigh Lunsford Heather Ames Lewis John Kuchenbrod Kevin Knudson Matt Hudelson Birk Huber Philip Gustafson Sharon Frechette Karrolyne Fogel Greg Dresden Dov Chelst Kevin Charlwood Scott Berger Frank Arlinghaus _____________________________________________________________ End of Journal---Next issue (November): The Discussion Continues