Mathletes

One of our readers (Matt) suggested the following video to us. I think the video really demonstrates the fact that we should support students in their academics. Enjoy the video!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AGT4M3Z1OM

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New Trends in the Workplace

Time Magazine LogoTime Magazine recently had an interesting article enumerating trends that Millennials (people born after 1980) tend to expect in the workplace, thus reshaping certain standards. The article (linked below) is a nice quick read which brings up a lot of good points on what I would personally expect in a work environment, either currently in my classroom or in the future.

One particular point was that Millennials require immediate attention. I definitely find this true in my own life. My favorite teachers always returned graded homework within a week, and I challenge myself to return my student’s work within a class period. Additionally, every semester I ask my students to take quick surveys (either online or on paper) on how effective my teaching is every few weeks. I find this very helpful since my teaching can vary drastically without me realizing it. This always helps my teaching evaluations at the end of the semester (the one that other people read) to be quite good.

The original article can be found at http://moneyland.time.com/2012/03/29/millennials-vs-baby-boomers-who-would-you-rather-hire/

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MAA MathFest 2012

MathfestThe Mathematical Association of America (MAA) will host a national conference on August 2-4, 2012, in Madison, Wisconsin. It seems it is a big event that I had not been aware of; the website mentions that 1, 535 participants were present last year.

While the registration price seems to be exorbitant for institutions, I would say the Graduate Student price is rather reasonable ($50). Also, discounts are offered for reservations at the Hilton Madison Hotel and Sheraton Madison Hotel; for a cheaper price, the Madison Smith Hall at the UW-Madison has available rooms for the conference.

Furthermore, the invited addresses seem to be interesting, and graduate students will definitely find many ways to keep themselves busy with all the activities for graduate students.

Take a look. I hope to see some of you over there.

 

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Scientific Publishing Link Roundup

ELSEVIERMy colleague covered the particular airing of grievances following Timothy Gowers’ blog post in January. As a graduate student still working to finish up course requirements, I think about the publishing process sort of how I think about taxes. I know there’s a very real deadline, after which I will have to deal with all the pains of this aspect of my career. But for now it all seems a wee bit ethereal. However, I found the nature of the discussion of this story, spread quickly across the internet, incredibly engaging. The stage was set within two days of Professor Gowers’ blog post, when David Clark, an employee of Elsevier, directly addressed the issue in the comments section.

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The “Cost of Knowledge” – On the Elsevier boycott and the push for more open access

A visual as to why academics are boycotting the publisher Elsevier. © 2012 Giulia Forsythe; taken from http://blog.thecostofknowledge.com

In the STEM fields, knowledge through research results is shared amongst academics and researchers by means of publications in research journals.  Some of the big name research journal publishers consist of Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, Science, Nature, etc.

In the last several months, the controversy over the “cost of knowledge” started to gain momentum; this can be seen most recently in the ongoing Elsevier boycott.  In January, Fields medalist Timothy Gowers wrote an article on his blog urging fellow mathematicians to boycott the publisher Elsevier; he also wrote how he had “contributed to their downfall”.  Why Elsesvier?  It turns out that even though other private publishing companies have had similar practices, Elsevier appears to be the worst offender.   Continue reading

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