I was pointed to a piece in the New York Times which says that being a mathematician is the best job in the U.S. A study evaluated 200 occupations against five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. Being a mathematician – a career path that the New York Times says provides a…
Membership pays
I was pointed recently to a piece from the Times that claims membership of a professional body can provide great economic benefits. Specifically, a report by the Consultative Committee for Professional Management Organisations gives the estimated lifetime economic benefit of holding a professional qualification at £81,000 and being a member of a professional institute at…
Mathematics Today February: University Liaison Officer’s Report
IMA Prize Winners IMA Prizes are awarded in UK universities which offer mathematics degrees, at the discretion of the university. In 2008 I conducted a survey of Prize giving practice among IMA University Representatives (27 responses; a 37% rate). All respondents awarded Prizes on some measure of academic excellence (all 22 who answered that question),…
Careers talk at Greenwich
Yesterday I visited the University of Greenwich and gave a talk on mathematics careers. This was an enjoyable experience and seemed to go well. The format was that I was followed by a lecturer from Greenwich, Dr Mayur Patel, who gave a CV writing session. I think this format, combining a, hopefully, inspiring careers talk…
Podcast: Episode 14 – Paul Shepherd – Parametric Geometry Generation
These are the show notes for episode 14 of the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast. 14 is the the largest number for which there are as many composite numbers less than it as there are primes. This week on the podcast we hear from Dr. Paul Shepherd of the University of Bath. Paul is…
Careers advice for mathematicians
In response to the poor state of generally available careers advice for mathematicians, Vanessa Thorogood, Education Officer at the IMA has produced an IMA Maths Careers Advice leaflet. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in careers advice for mathematics undergraduates or mathematics graduates or who offers such advice through a graduate careers…
Obscure number facts
I noticed today a link to the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast from the blog of Duncan Margetts, “Dunc’s Shed”. It’s great to see someone liking and pointing others to the podcast :) Duncan was sufficiently impressed by the peculiar episode number facts that he was moved to write about palindromic numbers on his…