Questions tagged [career]

For questions about careers and jobs in mathematics (inside and outside academia)

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
331 votes
16 answers
154k views

What's a mathematician to do?

I have to apologize because this is not the normal sort of question for this site, but there have been times in the past where MO was remarkably helpful and kind to undergrads with similar types of ...
4 votes
1 answer
5k views

Should a job application research statement include a "research plan"?

I am wondering whether I should include a "research plan" as part of my research statement for the academic job market. My concern is that my research plan may not exactly match the projects being ...
11 votes
1 answer
962 views

Use of an appendix in a long paper

I am writing a long paper (around 100 pages). I would consider 50 pages of it interesting in that it solves a problem of some significance in my field and contains an number of difficult ideas in the ...
12 votes
1 answer
622 views

What would you do if you improve your own result that is submitted but not published?

Here is a hypothetical situation: You have proven a result and written up a paper about it. You have submitted your article to some journal and it is being reviewed. While you are waiting, you have ...
9 votes
1 answer
955 views

How common is it for universities to create new positions for dual hires?

Let's say you happen to be a mathematician, and your spouse is also an academic and in a humanities field in which there are very few jobs advertised. Assuming that you can convince universities to ...
3 votes
1 answer
419 views

What kind of work experience should be included in a math CV for PhD programs?

I am applying to numerous PhD programs in number theory for admission next fall and I want to have a CV prepared, in part because I want to attach a CV to emails I send out to professors at some of my ...
-1 votes
1 answer
970 views

Publication Of 50 pages [closed]

Does anyone know of a research journal in mathematics that is willing to publish 50 pages of peer-review research? I would like to submit research that explores how to develop predicate models for ...
7 votes
3 answers
603 views

What are journal rankings that employers look at? [closed]

What are journal rankings that employers look at? There are few questions on this topic already, but I don't think they fully address my question. Please close this one if it is not appropriate for ...
3 votes
1 answer
706 views

Math graduate school applications and personal hardships [closed]

This question is on mathematics, career, and personal life. I.) Assumptions. i.) Suppose that I am a Junior in college majoring in mathematics at a top research institution in the U.S. I have "...
1 vote
1 answer
538 views

I want to enter graduate school in pure math. Is doing REU in “mathematical modeling” a good idea? Is it an essential skill to learn?

(please let me know if this question is not suitable here) Hello! I'm an undergraduate rising senior majoring in mathematics and it seems that I got rejected by an REU that is held in my university ...
0 votes
1 answer
657 views

Advice for PhD in Algebra [closed]

I hope that this question is okay to post here. I'm in my final year of my master's degree in Sweden, and I'm starting to feel that some doors are closing in regards to applying for a postgraduate ...
38 votes
3 answers
4k views

How to write mathematics without typing?

What solutions exist for mathematicians who need to write papers, but can't type? (I'm an early-career research mathematician and I can't type for the next few months.)
80 votes
8 answers
19k views

Teaching statements for math jobs?

What is the purpose of the "teaching statement" or "statement of teaching philosophy" when applying for jobs, specifically math postdocs? I am applying for jobs, and I need to write one of these ...
1 vote
2 answers
384 views

Are there grants supporting sabbatical year in US? [closed]

I am a tenured mathematician at a university outside of the US. I would be interested to spend my sabbatical year in one of the US universities. Are there grants I can apply to partially support my ...
30 votes
5 answers
5k views

Beginner's questions on the post-doc application

I am going on the (research oriented) post-doc job market (mainly in the US) this winter and would like to ask some questions. I am aware of the site http://academia.stackexchange.com, but I am ...
158 votes
8 answers
6k views

Resources for mathematics advising.

This question is possibly ill-advised. (If it is not right for this site I will delete it.) I, suddenly, have students. It is very clear to me that there is nothing in my education that has ...
2 votes
0 answers
334 views

How to handle a research identity crisis

I have studied applied math and got a PhD (3yrs) in that field with applications in fluid dynamics. Then in my first postdoc (1.5yrs) I did again a postdoc in applied math but studied applications in ...
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Research in mathematics without a degree in mathematics

This question might not make much sense or be a big deal for someone but I genuinely would like to know the opinions. I am currently a software developer in a small start-up. I had to drop out of ...
3 votes
0 answers
442 views

Website for temporary instructor/lecturer positions [closed]

Is there any website for temporary instructor/lecturer positions in mathematics? Or do we have to check school's websites one by one?
-4 votes
1 answer
425 views

Amount of mathematical knowledge required for starting Ph.D. in pure mathematics [closed]

How much mathematics should one know before starting a Ph.D. program in pure mathematics? For example what topics one must understand well to pursue a Ph.D. in US University in Number Theory (...
60 votes
10 answers
12k views

What do you do when you're stuck?

I'm pretty sure almost all mathematicians have been in a situation where they found an interesting problem; they thought of many different ideas to tackle the problem, but in all of these ideas, there ...
18 votes
4 answers
3k views

What are the "hot" topics in mathematical QFT at the time?

I am currently finishing my Master's studies in mathematical physics. One topic which always interested me a lot were modern mathematical approaches to Quantum Field Theory (QFT) as well as the ...
-5 votes
1 answer
464 views

How much would a mathematician cost? [closed]

Recently our department lost one of the best professors who was attracted by a better University. If we were a football club, and he were a leading player, we would receive many millions of ...
3 votes
0 answers
846 views

How to find research topics in Linear Algebra in Graph Theory [closed]

Note: My first question in this site. MSE users asked me to post this question here for better response I am a Masters student in Pure Mathematics. I need to do a Masters thesis in "Linear Algebra ...
5 votes
4 answers
458 views

Funding programs for mathematical research [closed]

In the USA, as far as I know, the main grants available to mathematicians are collected on the NSF or the AMS websites [please, correct me if this perception is inaccurate]. On the other hand, for ...
72 votes
8 answers
11k views

What to do after a pure math academic path?

I don't know whether my question is in the appropriate place. I've studied physics, and then did a PhD in (pure) math and 2 postdocs. I definitely love math research, but I am not ready to apply all ...
164 votes
22 answers
25k views

When should a supervisor be a co-author?

What are people's views on this? To be specific: suppose a PhD student has produced a piece of original mathematical research. Suppose that student's supervisor suggested the problem, and gave a few ...
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

How many graduate students in mathematics are there worldwide?

There is already a question about the number of research mathematicians here, but I was wondering : is it possible to estimate the number of graduate students in mathematics worldwide in 2019 ? (...
30 votes
7 answers
10k views

When your paper makes a borderline case for a top journal

Say you write a paper that you feel makes a borderline case for publication in a prestigious journal (Annals, Acta, Inventiones, JAMS, etc). What are the advantages and disadvantages of submitting ...
8 votes
4 answers
6k views

Computational algebra: where?

I'm on my last semester of a math B.Sc. and about to start studying for a math M.Sc in the same institute. It now seems like a good time to start thinking of a PhD. I'm interested in both algebra and ...
173 votes
8 answers
19k views

How to escape the inclination to be a universalist or: How to learn to stop worrying and do some research.

As an undergraduate we are trained as mathematicians to be universalists. We are expected to embrace a wide spectrum of mathematics. Both algebra and analysis are presented on equal footing with ...
25 votes
8 answers
14k views

Is it possible to start a PhD in mathematics at the age of 29? [duplicate]

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. I was initially focused on branches in analysis like operator algebra. At the third year of my undergraduate study, I experienced a financial ...
2 votes
0 answers
282 views

How does one build and refine strong technical skills relevant to research?

I am an early career researcher working in an area of "hard" analysis but this is a fairly broad question. My technical skills are likely below par and my greatest hindrance to my research ...
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is computer algebra or symbolic computation an active area of research?

I'm interested in doing PhD in computer algebra or symbolic computation, and was wondering if this is an active area of research? Would this area of research also help me in the transition to ...
45 votes
3 answers
13k views

A second Ph.D. in mathematics?

I have now some problems about my research Career, I would like to tell my stories. I am a Chinese guy, but now a Ph.D. candidate in Germany, in the field of so called 'Geometric Analysis', but I do ...
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Does this qualify as "self plagiarism" or something?

Over the last few years, I have been writing several papers in the same direction as part of a research program. This means that the same exact setup is introduced at the beginning of each of my ...
2 votes
3 answers
2k views

What kind of jobs are available for a quantum logician?

What kind of jobs are there for someone with a strong, research-level theoretical background in the topic? I'm especially interested in the industry rather than academic jobs.
35 votes
15 answers
9k views

Is pure mathematics useful outside of mathematics itself? [closed]

From time to time Mathoverflow allows soft questions because they are arguably best answered by active mathematicians and they can benefit other mathematicians/PhD students/math undergraduates. I ...
0 votes
1 answer
659 views

Applying Phd directly after undergraduate [closed]

I'm a math undergraduate and I'm about to finish my second year at UCL. It's time to consider my graduate school, and I have some questions about it. In the UK, many universities provide math PhD ...
24 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is an interpretation mathematics (fit for publication)?

Background I am a mathematician with two published papers. The first is based on my PhD thesis and generalised a tool to a more general setting. The thesis was cited a number of times by the time the ...
42 votes
6 answers
23k views

"Industry"/Government jobs for mathematicians

Suppose that you graduate with a good PhD in mathematics, but don't necessarily want to go into academia, with the post-doc years that this entails. Are there any other options for continuing to do "...
103 votes
12 answers
31k views

Where are mathematics jobs advertised if not on mathjobs (e.g. in Europe and elsewhere)?

My impression is that in the US, there is a canonical place for finding math jobs, namely mathjobs.org. For those of us who live and apply for jobs elsewhere, life is more complicated, and searching ...
1 vote
1 answer
665 views

What qualities and achievements can outweigh bad grades? [closed]

I will try to formulate my question so that the answer is not opinion-based. My question: Considering a undergraduate math student planning to pursue a PhD program, what qualities and achievements can ...
8 votes
0 answers
1k views

How difficult will it be to start doing research in pure mathematics in the near future? [closed]

I am a first year PhD student in mathematics (complex differential and Kahler Geometry) and the other day I had a thought about the difficulty of starting to do research. This is my first post here ...
9 votes
1 answer
632 views

how mathematicians do research? [closed]

I am a first-year physics graduate student with a deep interest in mathematics. I am specifically interested in algebraic geometry and algebraic topology, and I would like to employ advanced ...
108 votes
9 answers
35k views

How do you not forget old math?

I am trying to not forget my old math. I finished my PhD in real algebraic geometry a few years ago and then switched to the industry for financial reasons. Now I get the feeling that I want to do a ...
0 votes
1 answer
743 views

Is it all right to invite a professor to cowrite a paper

I managed to improve the techniques of a year-old paper to get a significantly stronger result. I used original ideas, but a large part relies upon results of the original paper. (to the point that ...
3 votes
2 answers
579 views

Which fields of mathematics are most straightforward for a statistician to do research in, other than probability theory?

I have a Ph.D. in Statistics and have always been interested in pure mathematics, but never had a chance to really pursue it. My mathematics background includes real analysis, linear algebra, ...
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can learning Riemann surfaces be more beneficial than numerical analysis for an analyst?

I am in master program of mathematics, specialized in PDE and numerical analysis. Now I am trying to decide which classes to take for next semester. Of course I want to become an expert in my field, ...
31 votes
6 answers
8k views

Pros and cons of specializing in an esoteric research area

If a mathematician specializes in a popular research area, then there are many job positions available, but at the same time, many competitors who are willing to get such job positions. For an ...