How Do I Get There?

The profiles page shows the wide-range of possibilities available to individuals studying applied mathematics or computer science. Now, here are a few suggestions for mapping out the future...

Use your school's resources.

How do you find such a career opportunity? Your school's career center will help you find a job in your area of interest. At the very least, services like assessment tests can help you narrow your search to suit your personality and ability. There are many resources available through a career services venue such as resume help, interview preparation, and job opening announcements.

Arnie Kohen is a career counselor at Drexel University's Steinbright Career Development Center. Arnie's position provides an interesting set of services for students-- services that are not always utilized. "I help students with a career assessment through the administration of personality and interest inventories. Interpretations are individualized and are gratis to the student. These assessments and subsequent interpretation will enable a student to look at the elements of a program or major and say, ' I know I want to research or pursue these options '. They can come to me and learn about other available career center and university services, that will help them determine their field of interest."

We asked Arnie about what students might not realize regarding the additional services at the Career Center. He told us that the career center has "several events throughout the year where students can come and make contacts and network with employers: they can receive resume critiques by the employers; attend job and career fairs; participate in on-campus recruiting; and come to various networking functions and information sessions. If a student doesn't take advantage of these services, they are probably missing out on understanding the current job market." As far as non-academic careers in the applied sciences, he explained that universities make up a small portion of the potential co-op and post-grad employers in those fields. "Recently, we've seen increased recruiting efforts by government agencies, and especially in the Philadelphia area, we've seen a variety of scientific positions available from pharmaceutical companies."

Overall, a visit to your university's career center could only help your search for a career that best suits your interests. That's what they're there for-- to make sure that students are well equipped in making the transition from school to career, and to make that transition as smooth as possible.

Experiment with internships, summer jobs, work-study, etc.

What better way to determine the range of opportunities and explore possible areas of interest than to actually be in the workplace? With an internship, you can get a realistic feel for the field in which you're interested. Most importantly, you can make connections for future opportunities. Many internships turn into permanent positions, and even if they don't the experience will broaden your perspective and help narrow your career search.

Do your research.

There are mountains of information available on the web, in libraries, and in bookstores. This may sound like simple advice-but while you're obtaining your degree, be aware of the career options that correspond to your studies. Too often, students emerge without a point of reference or general direction. Listed below are specific resources that offer support, information, and more professional profiles.

Professional Societies for Mathematical Sciences, Computational Science, and Statistics

American Mathematical Society (AMS)
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904-2213
(401) 455-4000
Toll free: 800-321-4AMS (4267)
fax: (401) 331-3842
ams@ams.org
http://www.ams.org

American Statistical Association (ASA)
1429 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3415
(703) 684-1221
Toll free: 888-231-3473
fax: (703) 684-2037
asainfo@amstat.org
http://www.amstat.org

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 626-0500
Toll free: 800-342-6626
fax: 212-944-1318
webmaster@acm.org
http://www.acm.org

Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
4114 Computer & Space Sciences Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-2461
(301) 405-7892
fax: 301-314-9363
awm@math.umd.edu

Computing Research Association (CRA)
1100 Seventeenth Street NW, Suite 507
Washington, DC 20036-4632
(202) 234-2111
fax: (202) 667-1066
info@cra.org
http://www.cra.org

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
901 Elkridge Landing Road, Suite 400
Linthicum, MD 21090-2909
(410) 850-0300
Toll Free: 800-4INFORMS
fax: (410) 684-2963
informs@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu
http://www.informs.org

Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
1529 Eighteenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-1358
(202) 387-5200
fax: (202) 265-2384
maahq@maa.org
http://www.maa.org

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
3600 Market Street, 6th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688
(215) 382-9800
fax: (215) 386-7999
siam@siam.org
http://www.siam.org

Books

101 Careers in Mathematics, Second Edition
Andrew Sterrett, Editor, The Mathematical Association of America; 2nd edition (January 3, 2003)

Great Careers for People Interested in Math and Computers (Career Connections, Vol 1)
Peter Richardson, Bob Richardson, U*X*L; (June 1993)

Prentice Hall Guide to Scholarships and Fellowships for Math and Science Students: A Resource for Students Pursuing Careers in Mathematics, Science
Mark Kantrowitz, Joann P. Digennaro (Contributor), Prentice Hall Trade; (March 1999)

Great Jobs for Math Majors
Stephen E. Lambert, Julie Ann Degalan, Ruth J. Decotis, McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books; (November 11, 1998)

Young Women of Achievement: A Resource for Girls in Science, Math, and Technology
Frances A. Karnes, Kristen R. Stephens, Prometheus Books; (March 2002)

Video and CD: "Careers in Mathematics" -Part of the Sloan Career Cornerstone Series, available from SIAM.

Links

SIAM Corporate Members and sponsors have shown their support for the applied math and computational science community through their interest in SIAM. Visit their company home pages to search for career opportunities, explore the job descriptions for keywords and catch phrases, and get acquainted with the types of opportunities available!

Network

Join a professional organization, such as SIAM or AMS. Attend meetings. Connect with other individuals in your field.

Terry Herdman, Director at the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics and member of SIAM, had this to say about the benefits of networking: "Through networking, one has the opportunity to gain knowledge from the experiences of others, learn of the various environments and opportunities of the applied mathematician and computational scientist and thus have a solid basis for making career decisions."

About SIAM

Inspired by the vision that applied mathematics should play an important role in advancing science and technology in industry, a small group of professionals from academe and industry met in Philadelphia in 1951 to start an organization whose members would meet periodically to exchange ideas about the uses of mathematics in industry. This meeting led to the organization of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).

The goals of SIAM are to advance the application of mathematics to science and industry, promote mathematical research that could lead to effective new methods and techniques for science and industry, and provide media for the exchange of information and ideas among mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.

Today, SIAM publishes both books and journals, and our monthly periodical SIAM News. There are roughly 12 SIAM conferences per year, along with various networking opportunities. Academically, we look forward to the continued development and growth of SIAM student chapters, student membership, and our Visiting Lecture Program. Please see our website for more information!

Acknowledgements

Works Cited, Contributors:

Bill Kolata, Technical Director at SIAM

SIAM News

101 Careers in Mathematics, Second Edition
Andrew Sterrett, Editor, The Mathematical Association of America; 2nd edition (January 3, 2003)

The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, Workshop on the Mathematics of Computer Animation