{"id":26507,"date":"2015-11-22T20:24:53","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T01:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/?p=26507"},"modified":"2016-01-31T19:49:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T00:49:58","slug":"great-math-staycation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2015\/11\/22\/great-math-staycation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Have a Great Math Staycation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_26512\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/files\/2015\/11\/Hoeft-IAS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26512\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26512\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/files\/2015\/11\/Hoeft-IAS-1024x739.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Alexi Hoeft\" width=\"640\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/files\/2015\/11\/Hoeft-IAS-1024x739.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/files\/2015\/11\/Hoeft-IAS-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/files\/2015\/11\/Hoeft-IAS.jpg 1074w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-26512\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ is one of many possible hosts for your math staycation. (Photo by Alexi Hoeft)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanksgiving is this\u00a0week and the holidays are right around the corner, which means most of us will be getting\u00a0several weeks off from formal grad school requirements. \u00a0But the time off is good for much more than just plentiful eating, quality family time, and Netflix binge-watching (a verb which, if you missed it, was recently <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.oxforddictionaries.com\/press-releases\/new-words-added-oxforddictionaries-com-august-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\">added to the dictionary<\/a>). \u00a0A\u00a0fun holiday activity to add to the list: a <strong>math<\/strong> <strong>staycation<\/strong>! \u00a0(Shockingly enough, this marvelous term [according to Google] is not yet in use.) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>A\u00a0math staycation consists of remotely (in space and\/or time) attending a math conference by watching the video lectures from the convenience of wherever you might find yourself during the holidays<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After deciding that this sounds like<!--more--> the most exciting use of your holiday time that you ever could\u00a0have imagined, the first step toward planning your math staycation is choosing the math conference that you want to follow. \u00a0The quantity, quality, and variety of recorded conferences has skyrocketed in the last decade, and you will likely have many more good candidate workshops than time allows. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are two main styles of math staycation:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>video combo plate (custom-build a playlist\u00a0of math video lectures\/recorded seminars that are of interest to you, even if they originate from different conferences) and<\/li>\n<li>traditional conference entr\u00e9e (watch an entire conference more or less in its entirety and in the original order).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Search for your math staycation materials<\/strong>\u00a0using Google or begin with the extensive lists I&#8217;ve gathered for you below:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msri.org\/web\/msri\/online-videos\" target=\"_blank\">MSRI in Berkeley, CA has been recording their workshops and summer schools<\/a> for over a decade now, and the lectures feature world-class mathematicians speaking on an incredible multitude of topics. \u00a0The above link is the official MSRI video page, but\u00a0you may want to narrow your search by instead searching Google for \u201cMSRI\u201d followed by the main keywords in your field.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.birs.ca\/videos\/\" target=\"_blank\">Banff International Research Station records the video lectures<\/a> of their exclusive (invitation-only) math research weeks which take place tucked away in the mountains of Canada.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fields.utoronto.ca\/video-archive\" target=\"_blank\">Fields Institute in Toronto boasts an impressive archive of recorded conference lectures<\/a>, and some of the videos feature a\u00a0useful\u00a0interactive zoom and pan capability\u00a0so\u00a0you get to control which\u00a0part of the board or slide that you\u00a0see.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/video.ias.edu\/sm\" target=\"_blank\">Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton has quite the extensive archive of video lectures<\/a> in mathematics (in addition to other subjects studied at the IAS). \u00a0Their archive is particularly useful for the \u201ccombo plate\u201d approach of the math staycation. \u00a0(Note the useful search bar in the upper-right corner of the page.)<\/li>\n<li>(Suggested by commenter) <a href=\"http:\/\/library.cirm-math.fr\/Main.htm?context=2&amp;lang=en - See more at: http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2015\/11\/22\/great-math-staycation\/#comment-6499\" target=\"_blank\">The CIRM in Marseilles, France hosts an AV library of recorded math talks<\/a> from their research center (and <a href=\"http:\/\/library.cirm-math.fr\/area.htm\" target=\"_blank\">here the videos are conveniently sorted by subject area<\/a>) and also has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/CIRMchannel\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube channel called CIRMChannel<\/a> with interviews in addition to the lectures. \u00a0The lectures and a fair number of the interviews are in English.<\/li>\n<li>A growing number of math departments at universities across the country and around the globe offer their own pages of recorded math talks, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.math.stonybrook.edu\/videos\/\" target=\"_blank\">e.g. this page by Stony Brook\u2019s math department<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Next, you will want to <strong>plan your math staycation<\/strong> (to ensure it actually happens). \u00a0Set aside about a week of time for your\u00a0staycation. \u00a0Schedule your staycation for a quieter portion of your holiday season, e.g. after the New Year if that is when you might have a bit more uninterrupted time to yourself. \u00a0Mark it in your calendar to help make it psychologically \u201cofficial\u201d that you are \u201cattending\u201d the conference. \u00a0If you also want more guidance on the day-to-day schedule of your math staycation, feel free to use as a guide the posted program on the corresponding conference site or that of a similar conference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>If you thrive with accountability<\/strong>, you can use these last remaining weeks of the semester to find one or two graduate students in your area of interest who might want to embark on a math staycation with you; your group could maintain an email chain throughout the math staycation to help everyone stay connected and engaged. \u00a0You could even choose students outside your field and mutually commit\u00a0to presenting what you learned from the math staycation to one another over lunch soon after the holidays are over. \u00a0Alternatively, you can sign yourself up to give a talk next semester\u00a0through\u00a0one of the graduate student seminar series at your department in order to give yourself a focused\u00a0goal\u00a0during your math staycation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are there other great web pages of archived math conference videos that you would recommend? \u00a0Have you chosen your math staycation? \u00a0Leave a comment below! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I hope you enjoy your\u00a0math staycation, and come back after break to let us know how it all\u00a0went!<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanksgiving is this\u00a0week and the holidays are right around the corner, which means most of us will be getting\u00a0several weeks off from formal grad school requirements. \u00a0But the time off is good for much more than just plentiful eating, quality &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2015\/11\/22\/great-math-staycation\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" 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