RESOURCES
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."
-Benjamin Franklin-
Below I have compiled a lists of links to different websites, articles, and organizations I have found useful in varying capacities as a mathematician, student, and educator.
Research
- Getting out of a research slump (click here)
Job Market Advice
My personal take is that when we apply for graduate school it’s usually a time-intensive thing where we consider what courses we should take, experiences we should get (going to conferences, math club, REUs, etc), and the different types of programs we could apply to. This type of consideration happens to various degrees in different people, but I think for most it doesn’t begin senior year of undergrad.
Another personal observation I’ve made is that in graduate school, often we are entrenched in our scholarship and teaching and don’t give much consideration to the job market until the very end. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this but it can be limiting as there are things you can do while in graduate school to strengthen your application for a particular type of job. For instance one of my academic siblings became interested in industry towards the end when he realized that he didn’t want to teach. However, he never did any internships and hadn’t acquired any additional computational skills and so it was tough finding opportunities. He was able to find something though, but he may have had more options if he had thought about this transition sooner.
Here is a loose timeline of the structure I followed when I was applying for jobs though I ended up getting an early offer from OSU that effectively ended my time on the market to the Fall of the year before I graduated. Keep in mind I was focused on teaching post-docs and teaching focused tenure-track jobs though I feel this timeline is general enough to be useful to others considering a variety of options.
Summer (before last year)
Remarks: It is ideal to draft these over the summer so that you have time to revise them and receive feedback from mentors and/or peers. Also you don’t want to have to juggle all this during the Fall with all of your other duties if you can avoid it. At Iowa there was a resource center that would give you feedback on application cover letters, your CV, teaching statements, etc. If you are applying to schools focused and teaching AND research it is good to include how you might engage undergraduates in research and how research influences your teaching. Teaching and diversity statements should be 1-2 pages max and if they are two pages it’s good to have a one page version of each just in case. Research statements should actually vary a bit based on where you are applying. I looked up advice online, solicited it from faculty in the department, and looked at statements of people in my general area around my math age online to help shape mine. I think that faculty are your best resource for making sure the ‘meat’ of these statements is in the right place. I would talk to people at Wesleyan and Vassar about these statements because they will be able to offer similar but different perspectives. Also having your research statement draft in progress or completed will help you with your NSF postdoc application 😊
Making an excel file was helpful to keep all of the jobs organized. For each job I noted the following:
Fall (of last year)
Postdocs/Fellowships I mentioned When we Talked
Where to Find Jobs
Some Considerations I Thought of When Deciding Where to Apply
Mathematical Climate
Institutional/Department Climate
Remarks: Most of your applications will be submitted from October-January. Using mathjobs.org for applications is very efficient and will help you apply to many jobs only having to change your cover letter. Cover letters are important, it is my understanding that they are less so for research oriented postdocs, but they are very important for teaching jobs. Regardless, they are the first thing people will see. Postdocs will pop up sporadically as will tenure-track jobs. I would limit my searches to these types of positions first, with visiting positions for 2-3 years following that.
I think that consideration part that I wrote down is actually pretty important. Some people I don’t think spend enough time considering the climate they are trying to enter because they ‘just want a job.’ This makes perfect sense, but you can be pretty unhappy if you are someone who loves engaging undergraduates but goes to a school with 12 math majors, not a lot of upper level offerings, and no one is really interested in graduate school or going to conferences or doing research projects if this is something that excites you. Similarly, if you want to teach, connect with students in the classroom, but be more relaxed and just spend time at home with family and not feel pressured to have to travel and spend an extensive amount of time with undergraduates outside of class doing projects then there are certain schools that will stress you the heck out. I think we’re all our best when we are at peace in our environments. But this is not always possible unfortunately…it does help though to be aware of what you’re getting yourself into as much as possible.
Spring 2020
January: JMM Employment Center (this is mainly for teaching focused jobs, postdocs don’t typically interview though some do)
January-February: typically hear back about most postdocs by this point
January-March: phone interviews followed by on campus interviews
April 15: Project NeXT deadline (https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/professional-development/project-next )
Remarks: Project NeXT is a great professional development program for new faculty where teaching is a significant component of their job. The postdoc I have has more of a teaching component and so this was appropriate for me. OSU agreed to support me participating. Another RAP here is starting Project NeXT this upcoming year, while another postdoc said he’d wait until he had a full time job. Some people with full time jobs wait a year or so, I think it’s a good way to build a network of support from the get go but may not make sense immediately depending on the position you obtain.)
With regards to interviews I can send you google docs where people have compiled lists of interview questions on the phone, at JMM, and on campus, as well as slides from conference workshops on this step of job market.
Some Upcoming Diversity Conferences
Good General Links
This is a lot! There is a lot more I could say, but I think for more individual components we can talk about those things directly, if and when you ever have any questions. Here I just wanted to present kind of a rough outline of what you should expect next year and some things you could start thinking about. It’s okay to not know exactly what you want, in fact that may even be better.
I would actually advise that you start by thinking about yourself. What makes you happy, what kind of work do you find fulfilling, what kind of lifestyle do you want, what is your optimal mathematical journey, etc. THEN you can start working through the ‘system.’ Once you start this process everyone and their mother will have a different perspective on what you should do but all of this advice will be rooted somewhat in what they perceive you should want and sometimes that’s based on what they themselves might want. My advisor was a bit biased against purely teaching institutions but it is because he works at a research intensive (R1) environment. I myself am pretty humanistic when I think about jobs and so some of these considerations might not be very practical if you’re gearing for a research intensive position as I made my outline based on being interested in teaching postdocs and tenure-track jobs where teaching is highly valued.
I hope this was not too overwhelming. It took quite some time to learn all that I did about this process and so I wanted you to have some of it as early as possible. You got this! Dream big!
Another personal observation I’ve made is that in graduate school, often we are entrenched in our scholarship and teaching and don’t give much consideration to the job market until the very end. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this but it can be limiting as there are things you can do while in graduate school to strengthen your application for a particular type of job. For instance one of my academic siblings became interested in industry towards the end when he realized that he didn’t want to teach. However, he never did any internships and hadn’t acquired any additional computational skills and so it was tough finding opportunities. He was able to find something though, but he may have had more options if he had thought about this transition sooner.
Here is a loose timeline of the structure I followed when I was applying for jobs though I ended up getting an early offer from OSU that effectively ended my time on the market to the Fall of the year before I graduated. Keep in mind I was focused on teaching post-docs and teaching focused tenure-track jobs though I feel this timeline is general enough to be useful to others considering a variety of options.
Summer (before last year)
- Prepare research statement
- Prepare teaching statement
- Prepare diversity statement
- Statement of Faith (if applying to religious institutions)
- Update CV
- Update website with the above documents easily accessible
- Identify and contact letter of recommendation writers (to address research and teaching)
- Begin Excel file for Jobs
- Sign up for an account on mathjobs.org
Remarks: It is ideal to draft these over the summer so that you have time to revise them and receive feedback from mentors and/or peers. Also you don’t want to have to juggle all this during the Fall with all of your other duties if you can avoid it. At Iowa there was a resource center that would give you feedback on application cover letters, your CV, teaching statements, etc. If you are applying to schools focused and teaching AND research it is good to include how you might engage undergraduates in research and how research influences your teaching. Teaching and diversity statements should be 1-2 pages max and if they are two pages it’s good to have a one page version of each just in case. Research statements should actually vary a bit based on where you are applying. I looked up advice online, solicited it from faculty in the department, and looked at statements of people in my general area around my math age online to help shape mine. I think that faculty are your best resource for making sure the ‘meat’ of these statements is in the right place. I would talk to people at Wesleyan and Vassar about these statements because they will be able to offer similar but different perspectives. Also having your research statement draft in progress or completed will help you with your NSF postdoc application 😊
Making an excel file was helpful to keep all of the jobs organized. For each job I noted the following:
- position type (assistant professor, post-doc, lecturer, visiting faculty, etc.)
- location
- institution type (liberal arts, R1, HSI, HBCU, etc)
- highest degree offered at institution (4 year undergraduate schools, schools with masters programs, PhD granting institutions, etc)
- application deadline
- comments about the job
Fall (of last year)
- Deadline for JMM abstracts (September-ish), apply early for funding to get there!
Postdocs/Fellowships I mentioned When we Talked
- NSF Postdoc (October 16 Deadline: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5301)
- Gaius Bolin Fellowship @ Williams (November 15 Deadlinehttps://faculty.williams.edu/graduate-fellowships-2/graduate-fellowships/ )
- Consortium for Faculty Diversity (https://www.gettysburg.edu/offices/provost/consortium-for-faculty-diversity/fellowships/fellows-appointed-fall-2018)
- OSU Postdoc, Zassenhaus or Ross (usually sometime in October 😊)
Where to Find Jobs
- Mathjobs.org
- Higheredjobs.com
- https://www.ams.org/employment
- NAM Newsletter
- Math Alliance
- Tweets by @MathJobs1
- Word of Mouth
Some Considerations I Thought of When Deciding Where to Apply
Mathematical Climate
- For postdocs (Is there someone in your area who could mentor you?)
- How many math majors are there?
- What types of classes do they offer? (is abstract algebra offered every other year or do they have several upper level classes and special topics courses? You can determine this by looking at major requirements on math website or the general curriculum catalogue)
- How big is the department?
- Is there a Masters or PhD program. Do undergraduate students do a thesis?
- In faculty descriptions online do they list research and professional accomplishments? Personal hobbies? A mix of both? This is a good way to get a small sense of the departmental culture just by looking at the website.
- Is there a math club? Are there seminars? Frequent invited speakers?
- Are the faculty still research active? How do they define scholarship?
- How many classes do faculty teach a semester? (4,3,2,1? For example, a teaching load might be 3-2 this means three classes in fall, 2 in spring. Other schools faculty might teach a 4-4, often at research schools you’ll see a 2-1 or 1-1. You can tell by looking at faculty CVs or teaching web pages).
Institutional/Department Climate
- What are the demographics with respect to student population and faculty population?
- Is this a religious institution?
- Are there women that are part of the math faculty? Persons of color?
- Is there a Dean or appropriate person appointed to focus on Institutional Diversity?
- Are there diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus that are established?
- Do you find yourself mentally trying to think of all the things you could add to improve the department and/or school with respect to these issues? How long did the list get….?
- How big is their endowment? (A tiny endowment (a couple million) would make me run the other way. You are less likely to receive consistent pay raises, have access to a lot of internal resources for professional development and teaching, and the administration might be more occupied with enrollments than most. I know we should be happy for all opportunities, but just be weary of schools not in great financial standing. Someone I knew went to a school with a very low endowment and found it stressful for the reasons mentioned above and ultimately left. This school had to get rid of programs, i.e. let go of entire departments due to low enrollments and budget cuts, and it just seemed like a mess.)
Remarks: Most of your applications will be submitted from October-January. Using mathjobs.org for applications is very efficient and will help you apply to many jobs only having to change your cover letter. Cover letters are important, it is my understanding that they are less so for research oriented postdocs, but they are very important for teaching jobs. Regardless, they are the first thing people will see. Postdocs will pop up sporadically as will tenure-track jobs. I would limit my searches to these types of positions first, with visiting positions for 2-3 years following that.
I think that consideration part that I wrote down is actually pretty important. Some people I don’t think spend enough time considering the climate they are trying to enter because they ‘just want a job.’ This makes perfect sense, but you can be pretty unhappy if you are someone who loves engaging undergraduates but goes to a school with 12 math majors, not a lot of upper level offerings, and no one is really interested in graduate school or going to conferences or doing research projects if this is something that excites you. Similarly, if you want to teach, connect with students in the classroom, but be more relaxed and just spend time at home with family and not feel pressured to have to travel and spend an extensive amount of time with undergraduates outside of class doing projects then there are certain schools that will stress you the heck out. I think we’re all our best when we are at peace in our environments. But this is not always possible unfortunately…it does help though to be aware of what you’re getting yourself into as much as possible.
Spring 2020
January: JMM Employment Center (this is mainly for teaching focused jobs, postdocs don’t typically interview though some do)
January-February: typically hear back about most postdocs by this point
January-March: phone interviews followed by on campus interviews
April 15: Project NeXT deadline (https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/professional-development/project-next )
Remarks: Project NeXT is a great professional development program for new faculty where teaching is a significant component of their job. The postdoc I have has more of a teaching component and so this was appropriate for me. OSU agreed to support me participating. Another RAP here is starting Project NeXT this upcoming year, while another postdoc said he’d wait until he had a full time job. Some people with full time jobs wait a year or so, I think it’s a good way to build a network of support from the get go but may not make sense immediately depending on the position you obtain.)
With regards to interviews I can send you google docs where people have compiled lists of interview questions on the phone, at JMM, and on campus, as well as slides from conference workshops on this step of job market.
Some Upcoming Diversity Conferences
- Oct 2019: SACNAS
- Nov 2019: Field of Dreams (It was helpful for me to go to this the year I was applying, I think this was because the faculty focused on diversity and inclusion that were there represented a lot of different types of schools and gave me really solid advice and told me about opportunities. Some were also hiring! Thus I got professional development and also got to help others at the very beginning of this journey all in one conference.)
- April 2020: USTARS
Good General Links
- General Advice for Market and Different Components of the Application(https://www.math.lsu.edu/grad/handbook/hb9 )
- https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~notlaw/advisees.html
- http://www.ams.org/profession/career-info/new-phds/new-phds
- http://www.math.ucla.edu/~bertozzi/advice-jobs.html
- https://math.duke.edu/graduate/applying-for-jobs
This is a lot! There is a lot more I could say, but I think for more individual components we can talk about those things directly, if and when you ever have any questions. Here I just wanted to present kind of a rough outline of what you should expect next year and some things you could start thinking about. It’s okay to not know exactly what you want, in fact that may even be better.
I would actually advise that you start by thinking about yourself. What makes you happy, what kind of work do you find fulfilling, what kind of lifestyle do you want, what is your optimal mathematical journey, etc. THEN you can start working through the ‘system.’ Once you start this process everyone and their mother will have a different perspective on what you should do but all of this advice will be rooted somewhat in what they perceive you should want and sometimes that’s based on what they themselves might want. My advisor was a bit biased against purely teaching institutions but it is because he works at a research intensive (R1) environment. I myself am pretty humanistic when I think about jobs and so some of these considerations might not be very practical if you’re gearing for a research intensive position as I made my outline based on being interested in teaching postdocs and tenure-track jobs where teaching is highly valued.
I hope this was not too overwhelming. It took quite some time to learn all that I did about this process and so I wanted you to have some of it as early as possible. You got this! Dream big!