Have you ever attended a conference focused on preparing for careers in the mathematical sciences? Have you ever considered organizing such a conference? A group of friends and I co-organized such a conference recently, and I’m writing to share some reflections.
For those that are on the cusp of Phinishing and have had the fortune of receiving an offer from an academic institution, congratulations! If you have not had the opportunity to attend a workshop on negotiating, read on. Your first offer is just a starting place.
Your salary is always negotiable. In public (and many private) institutions, salary information on faculty is available and reviewing this will give you an idea of the typical range at your institution. Also useful is knowing national averages, which is published annually in the AMS Notices. This report from the AMS contains the most recent publication. Make sure you are aware of your institution’s group when reading this report and note that these graphs represent information from only those departments that responded to the survey. Remember your benefits are also tied to your salary, so there is a compounding effect on your retirement plan.
This is the time of the year when students who have applied to graduate programs in mathematics hear back from those programs about admission and funding. If you are a student in the process of choosing a graduate program this year, one of the most important things you will do is to visit the potential graduate schools to try to determine if they are a good match for you. I can’t stress enough the importance of visiting the schools and talking to the faculty and the current graduate students there. When you visit each school, be sure to ask questions that give you the information you need to make the decision. Here are some ideas:
I work at a Research I university where students hear about faculty conducting research all the time. Some students actually know what this means, while others have worked with faculty on their own research projects. (I’m not claiming these two sets of students overlap.) But if you’re a student, how do you find a project to work on? Even worse, if you’re a faculty and you have a student who wants to work with you, how do you find a projects which will yield a meaningful experience for the both of you?
Two years ago, at the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans, I attended a panel discussion sponsored by the MAA. The session title was “Good intentions are necessary but not sufficient: Steps toward best practices in mentoring underrepresented students” and one of the goals of the session was to propose specific ideas that could be implemented as a result of the comments made by panelists and participants. In other words, there was a desire to go beyond offering opinions and advice. There was a desire to come up with concrete actions. I really liked the idea.
The e-Mentoring Network in the Mathematical Sciences Blog is designed to address relevant questions that students, postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty may have regarding their own advancement in mathematics. Its goals are to reach and engage as many readers as possible, especially those who may not have sufficient mentoring at their current institution, and to connect students and mentors–to ask questions, provide feedback, answer questions, and share links on meetings, networking and research opportunities, articles, non-academic career information, and any other helpful resources.
Topics can be: considering graduate school, choosing a graduate program, leveraging REU work experience during the academic year, the benefits of a professional society for graduate students, how to measure a successful postdoc position, preparing for tenure review, etc.
While employment is a natural topic for discussion here, the blog is not a place to post job openings.
