Hi, I am Anil! Caleb has graciously opened up the AMS Graduate Student Blog for me to plug an upcoming event at the Joint Meetings this week. I am one of the organizers of the Early-Career Discussion and Social Hour, which takes place Thursday, January 7, from noon to 1 PM MST. In this post, I will give some quick background on how this event came about and what you can expect to get out of it.
My first JMM was in 2015 when I was finishing up my PhD and interviewing for jobs. It was by far the biggest conference I had ever attended, and I recall feeling pretty unsure about what I was supposed to do there. Luckily, a good number of my grad school friends were in the same boat, so I had a little “conference crew” to hang out with in the evenings. I have attended every JMM since then, and after five years of networking (with the help of great organizations like SIGMAA-ARTS and Project NExT), I finally feel like I have an established crew to hang with when I arrive.
Back in January 2020, I reached out to some contacts at AMS and offered to help make JMM more inviting to graduate students and new PhDs. What we ended up with is a series of networking events (see here) of which the Early-Career Discussion and Social Hour is just one component. My co-organizer Rebecca R.G. and I are hoping that this event will serve as an informal channel to discuss any issues or questions you may have about the early-career experience. Whether you are on the market this year or still a few years out, we would love to have you drop in and say hello! Most of all, we hope that the event gives you the chance to start filling out your “conference crew” for the years to come.
The event is listed in the JMM Virtual Program like any other session. To attend, simply access it through the Virtual Program and click the “Join Now” button (you must be registered for the meeting). Lastly, please note that events this year are in Mountain Standard Time. We would hate to miss you due to a time zone miscue!
Assistant Professor, Math and Computer Science
Adelphi University
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