Do you have a research journal?

Posted on 08/09/2013 by Ricardo Cortez

Now that the new academic year is about to start, I thought it would be a good idea to mention a good way to keep track of research ideas in graduate school and beyond.  Whether you are a graduate student searching for a dissertation problem, a postdoc or a faculty member engaged in research, you must be ready when an idea strikes you. Research questions and ideas do not usually just fall on our lap; you have to look for them, remember them and look for connections among them.  A good way to organize these research ideas is to keep a journal (a paper or electronic notebook) where you write them down.  Here are some suggestions.  Continue reading →

Posted in Going to graduate school, postdocs, Tenure | Leave a comment

Respect your research time

Posted on 07/10/2013 by Ricardo Cortez

Most of us who have teaching, advising, and service commitments are guilty of using time we had set aside for research for something else.  We block out some time in our schedule and even post it on the door but then, something comes up. A student needs to see us or we need to set up a time for a meeting and, somehow, we use research time to fit in those appointments. At the end of the week we realize that only a small fraction of the time set aside for research was actually used to do research.  We try to justify it saying that we’ll make up the time later in the day or at home.  I am writing this post to suggest that one of the most important habits for success is to respect your research time.

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Posted in General, postdocs, Tenure | 1 Comment

Don’t get involved in outreach! … yet

Posted on 06/21/2013 by Ricardo Cortez

Many of us are passionate about issues that affect our communities. For example, some of us care deeply about increasing the representation of  minority groups in research mathematics. Others have similar interest in increasing the representation of women in academia. Still others are passionate about improving K-12 mathematics education. Often, we are eager to get involved in these activities as soon as we can. This post represents the advice I give students and postdocs about when to get involved and how to be patient. Continue reading →

Posted in General, Outreach | 3 Comments

Linear Algebra and Pedagogy; Academic Fairness and Critical Theory

Posted on 06/02/2013 by Dagan Karp

Academic fairness is crucial in our struggle to broaden participation in mathematics. We will be well served to learn from adjacent disciplines, such as critical theory, as we think carefully about who does mathematics and why. Who is a “minority” mathematician? How does this relate to Linear Algebra, and to pedagogical considerations?

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The Unspoken side of the tenure experience

Posted on 05/15/2013 by erikacamacho

Everyone talks about how stressful the tenure process can be but no one talks about how emotionally loaded this experience can be. Not so much because you fear or worry about a negative outcome — this is just the outer layer of multilayer set of emotions you will experience as you prepare your tenure packet — but rather because you are forced to think critically of

  1. what you have done so far,
  2. why this matters,
  3. how this defines who you are, and
  4. how this sets the foundation of what you are about to become. Continue reading →
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First postdoc —> second postoc —> ?

Posted on 05/01/2013 by Ricardo Cortez

This is a post that requests comments and advice from the readers.  The issue is the following: Student X finished her PhD in mathematics at a highly-ranked university.  Upon graduating, she was able to get a three-year postdoc position in a math department that emphasizes research, so that everything seemed to go well so far. As she was finishing her postdoc and searching for jobs, she had a couple of interviews but nothing very promising and then it was March and  X had no tenure-track job offers.  However, she had an offer to do a second postdoc at a different university for 2 more years.  Question #1: Is it a good idea to do a second postdoc if her plan is to get a tenure-track faculty position? Continue reading →

Posted in postdocs | 5 Comments

Making the switch: Transitioning to a different graduate program

Posted on 04/15/2013 by twilliams

As a beginning Ph.D. student in Mathematics at Howard University, I was excited to finally spend my days doing what I loved!  Graduate courses seemed to build on much of the abstraction that I had only seen little of as an undergraduate student.  In my second semester, I took a Biostatistics elective taught in the Biology department.  All of a sudden, I was forced to analyze real biological data and draw scientific conclusions.  At the end of the semester, I had left my first love and fallen madly in love with Statistics!  The only problem was that Howard didn’t have a Statistics program.  I had to make the tough decision of whether to stay and finish a Ph.D. in Mathematics or to leave to pursue a Ph.D. in Statistics.

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Posted in Changing Graduate Programs, Going to graduate school | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The importance of paying attention to what was done before

Posted on 04/02/2013 by herbertmedina

It may seem obvious or second nature, but I often have to remind myself when working on something to make sure that I’ve taken a look at what was done before. I am going to provide a story to illustrate what I mean and how this has helped me in my career.

I still remember “the dark days” of my years in graduate school. It was 1989-1990, my 4th-5th year in the mathematics Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley. I had passed my written and oral exams, had Henry Helson (a world-famous analyst) as my advisor  and was now “doing research” in functional analysis. I use the quotes for emphasis (perhaps sarcasm is a better word), because what I was doing was trying to work on a problem that I’d found myself and was literally getting nowhere. I was learning new mathematics, but was really not making any headway on the unsolved problem that I hoped would bring me the coveted three letters after my name. Yup, each day I would bang my head against the wall for hour after hour, and at the end of the day I would be nowhere closer to solving the problem. I would talk to my advisor on a regular basis, but he also didn’t know how to approach the problem that I was trying to tackle using ideas/techniques that I felt might lead to a solution.

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PAESMEM

Posted on 03/27/2013 by Dagan Karp

PAESMEM is now inviting nominations for its next round of awards; nominations are due June 5, 2013.

PAESMEM stands for PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS & ENGINEERING MENTORING, and it’s widely regarded as the nation’s highest mentoring award. There’s a long list of mathematicians and mathematics programs who have won in the past. They include several MESA programs (New Mexico, University of California, Washington, Maryland and Arizona), mathematics institutes (such as the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute and the Center for Innovation at Stevens Institute), a few departments (including the departments of mathematics at University of Nebraska, Lincoln and University of Iowa) and many well-known mathematicians (including Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Bob Megginson, Peggy Cebe and Phil Kutzko just to name a few).

Winning PAESMEM creates a positive self-reinforcing cycle. The previous awardees were recognized for their success. In turn, successful programs gain significant recognition, spreading the word about these programs and individual mentors, alerting more people to these great mentorship opportunities.

To nominate a program or individual (including yourself!), see the full instructions at
http://nsf.gov/PAESMEM.

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Thoughts on a ‘Teaching Postdoc’ position

Posted on 03/27/2013 by Ricardo Cortez

I have visited some mathematics departments that offer “teaching postdoc” positions.  Clearly, this is a 2-3 year position that involves more teaching than a ‘standard’ postdoc. So, what exactly are these teaching postdocs positions and what are their benefits? The most common pitch for a teaching postdoc is that it trains you to prepare for a tenure-track job at a four-year college.  These postdocs are for people who seek a career in teaching.

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Posted in postdocs | 4 Comments