The Mathematical Sciences in 2025 (2013) / Chapter Skim
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5 People in the Mathematical Sciences Enterprise
5 People in the Mathematical Sciences Enterprise
Pages 116-144
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From page 116... ...
The range of positions that require mathematical skills is also expanding, as more and more fields are presented with the challenges and opportunities of large-scale data analysis and mathematical modeling. While these positions can be filled by indi viduals with a variety of postsecondary degrees, all of them will need strong skills in the mathematical sciences.
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From page 117... ...
Shum had been a founder of Microsoft Research–Asia, in Beijing, he was also able to comment on the growing mathematical science capabilities in China. The focus of these interactions was to learn about current and emerging uses of mathematical sciences skills, whether or not carried out by people who consider themselves to be mathematical scientists.
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From page 118... ...
Dr. Simons is concerned about the pool of U.S.-born people with strong skills in the mathematical sciences.
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From page 119... ...
Just over half of the R&D staff have backgrounds in computer science, 19 percent in engineering, and 6 percent in a mathematical science. He mentioned that he does not receive many applications from mathematical scientists, and he speculated that perhaps they are not aware of the mathematical nature of work in the entertainment sector.
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From page 120... ...
Most of the people who fill those slots will need very strong mathematical science backgrounds, whether or not they actually receive a graduate degree in mathematics or statistics. And academic mathematical scientists must prepare to educate these additional people, regardless of what degrees they actually pursue.
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From page 121... ...
But there are many more whose interest in the mathematical sciences arises later and perhaps through nontraditional pathways, and these latter students constitute a valuable pool of potential majors and graduate students. A third cadre consists of students from other disciplines who need strong mathematical sciences education.
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From page 122... ...
It is critical that the mathematical sciences community actively engage with STEM discussions going on outside the mathematical sciences com 3 PCAST, 2012, Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The White House, Washington, D.C.
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From page 123... ...
The PCAST report should be viewed as a wake-up call for the mathematical sciences community. While there have been numerous promising experiments within the community for addressing the issues it raises -- especially noteworthy has been the tremendous expansion in opportunities for undergraduate research in the mathematical sciences -- at this point a community-wide effort is called for.
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From page 124... ...
A redesigned offering of courses and majors is needed. Although there are promising experiments, a community-wide effort is needed in the mathematical sciences to make its undergraduate courses more compelling to students and better aligned with needs of user departments.
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From page 125... ...
This change necessitates new courses, new majors, new programs, and new educational partnerships with those in other disciplines, both inside and outside universities. New educational pathways for training in the mathematical sciences need to be created -- for students in mathematical sciences departments, for those pursuing degrees in science, medicine, engineering, business, and social science, and for those already in the workforce needing additional quantitative skills.
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From page 126... ...
Most mathematics departments still tend to use calculus as the gateway to higher-level coursework, and that is not appropriate for many students. Although there is a very long history of discussions about this issue, the need for a serious reexamination is real, driven by changes in how the mathematical sciences are being used.
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From page 127... ...
There is a special need to improve the general level of understanding about uncertainty, which relies on an understanding of probability and statistics. Recommendation 5-3: More professional mathematical scientists should become involved in explaining the nature of the mathematical sciences enterprise and its extraordinary impact on society.
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From page 128... ...
ATTRACTING MORE WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES TO THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Concerns About the Current Demographics The underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in mathematics has been a persistent problem for the field. Fifty years ago, the mathematical sciences community consisted almost exclusively of white males, and that segment of the population remains the dominant one from which the community attracts new members.
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From page 129... ...
Although this rate of female participation is enviable compared to rates found in many other technical fields, there is still a lost opportunity, because more women than men drop out of the mathematical sciences pipeline after high school. Then in college, while mathematics initially attracts as many women as men, women seem to move away from the field at a higher rate before graduation.
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From page 130... ...
As shown in Table 5-2, the percentage of women among full-time faculty at 4-year institutions rose to 26 percent in mathematics departments and 22 percent in statistics departments in 2005, when the most recent CBMS data were collected. However, this "full-time" status can be used to describe different positions, and women tended to be disproportionately represented in posi tions that were not tenured or tenure-track in 2005.14 13 From Digest of Education Statistics, 2010, Table 323.
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From page 131... ...
(26%) NOTE: 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995 data from CBMS, 1997, Statistical Abstract of Undergraduate Programs in the Mathematical Sciences in the United States, Fall 1995 CBMS Survey, Table SF8, available at http://www.ams.org/profession/data/cbms-survey/cbms1995; 2000 and 2005 data from CBMS, 2007, Table F.1; 2010 data from CBMS, 2012, Table F.1.
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From page 132... ...
However, there are some indications that in the last 5 years or so all kinds of universities made good progress in increasing the percentage of women who were hired.15 Still, the mathematical sciences are not retaining as many women in the pipeline as would be desired, and, in particular, not enough women are being hired into academic careers.16 Several racial and ethnic groups (most notably black, Hispanic, and Native American/Alaska Native) are even more seriously underrepresented in the mathematical sciences.
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From page 133... ...
citizens and 560 Ph.D.s overall. In order for the nation to have a workforce that can exploit the kinds of opportunities described in Chapters 3 and 4, the mathematical sciences 18 See Figures C-4, C-5, and C-6 in Appendix C
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From page 134... ...
They can be broadly applied to all students, regardless of race or gender, to increase the population of undergraduate majors in the mathematical sciences. Despite the small numbers of underrepresented minorities entering the mathematical sciences, there are a number of programs across the country that are quite successful at achieving greater participation.
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From page 135... ...
they compiled that academic departments should consider when determining how to improve their recruitment and retention of women and other underrepresented groups. Issues That Affect Recruitment and Retention at the Undergraduate Level • ffordability of undergraduate education and awareness of assistance A programs, such as Research Experiences for Undergraduates and sup port for travel to conferences; • wareness of and motivation to enter the mathematical sciences, such A as information about career options made possible by mathematical science coursework or majors and comparison of those options to some more common career paths; • dequacy of mentoring, including encouragement, coaching, and strate A gic advising; • ccess to, and encouragement to participate in, a variety of research A opportunities; • he possibility of boosting confidence by departmental approaches to T structuring the curriculum and course pedagogies, such as confidence, study habits, sense of community, and so on; • cademic requirements, structure of courses and majors, academic sup A port, choice of gateway courses, teaching effectiveness, and classroom practices; • ampus climate and department culture.
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From page 136... ...
Statistics departments have been quite successful in recent years in attracting and retaining women, and it would be very helpful to understand better how the broader mathematical sciences community can learn from this success. A similar observation has been made with regard to attracting women to application-oriented computer science (CS)
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From page 137... ...
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF K-12 MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS EDUCATION The extent to which size of the pipeline of students preparing for mathematical science-based careers can be enlarged is fundamentally limited by the quality of K-12 mathematics and statistics education. The nation's well-being is dependent on a strong flow of talented students into careers in STEM fields, but college students cannot even contemplate those careers unless they have strong K-12 preparation in the mathematical sciences.
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From page 138... ...
Education Secretary Arne Duncan's report on December 7, 2010, presented on the occasion of the release of the 2009 results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
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From page 139... ...
. The McKinsey report concludes: "The available evidence suggests that the main driver of the variation in student learning at school is the quality of the teachers." Three illustrations are provided to support this conclusion: • Ten years ago, seminal research based on data from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests showed that if two aver age 8-year-old students were given different teachers -- one of them a high performer, the other a low performer -- the students' perfor mance diverged by more than 50 percentile points within 3 years.28 • A study from Dallas showed that the performance gap between stu dents assigned three effective teachers in a row and those assigned three ineffective teachers in a row was 49 percentile points.29 • In Boston, students placed with top-performing math teachers made substantial gains, while students placed with the worst teachers r egressed -- their math actually got worse.
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From page 140... ...
public middle and high schools do not have degrees or other certification in mathematics or science.31 ENRICHMENT FOR PRECOLLEGE STUDENTS WITH CLEAR TALENT IN MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS While, as noted above, the current study does not have a mandate to examine the broad question of K-12 mathematics education, the mathematical sciences community does have a clear interest in those precollege students with special talent for and interest in mathematics and statistics. Such students may very well go on to become future leaders of the research community, and in many cases they are ready to learn from active re earchers while still in high school, or even earlier.
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From page 141... ...
Nevertheless, it does fit with the individual experiences of many members of this committee that early exposure to highly challenging material in the mathematical sciences had an impact on their career trajectories. One means by which the mathematical sciences professional community contributes to efforts to attract and encourage precollege students is through Math Circles.
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From page 142... ...
As is the case in Eastern Europe, math circles have become one of the most effec tive ways for professional mathematicians to make direct contact with precollege students. In math circles, students learn that there is mathematics beyond the school curriculum.
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From page 143... ...
Many participants in math circles have gone on to success in scholastic math competitions, such as the USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO)
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From page 144... ...
The goal of growing the mathematical sciences talent pool broadly is synergistic with the goal of attracting and preparing those with exceptional talent for high-impact careers in the mathematical sciences.
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