Academic research is by no means the only
career open to holders of advanced degrees in mathematics. In recent years,
more than a quarter of our PhD graduates, and probably a much higher proportion
of our Master's graduates, have found challenging and rewarding work that
uses their mathematical skills in private industry and government research
labs.
The UW Math Department places a high priority
on preparing students for careers in industry and government as well as
in academia.
The Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics (SIAM) recently
issued an in-depth report on
Mathematics
in Industry. That report listed the skills most needed by mathematicians
in industry as
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skill in formulating, modeling, and solving
problems from diverse and changing areas;
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interest in, knowledge of, and flexibility
across applications;
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knowledge of and experience with computation;
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communication skills, spoken and written;
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adeptness at working with colleagues ("teamwork'').
Virtually all math grad students become skilled
at logical and analytical thinking and at formulating, modeling, and solving
problems. But flexibility, breadth, computer and communication skills
are not always as highly developed in typical math graduate programs.
Often the best way to learn these skills is to spend some time actually
working in an industrial setting.
The UW Math Department encourages all
of its grad students, even those who are planning academic careers, to
spend at least one summer working in an industrial internship. Why?
There are several compelling reasons:
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Many math grads will end up in industrial
or government jobs, even those who initially aim for an academic research
and/or teaching career. The hard fact, as everyone knows by now,
is that the academic job market, while getting better, is still very tight,
and there just aren't enough academic jobs out there for all of you who
deserve them. Historically, even before the academic job crunch of
the 1990s, about 25% of our PhD graduates (and even more Master's grads)
have ended up in industrial or government jobs. If you talk with
these folks, you'll find that they generally love their work, and frequently
get to use mathematics in nontrivial ways (though perhaps not the particular
corner of mathematics that they wrote their thesis on) -- these are exciting,
rewarding careers, not consolation prizes.
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Some math grad students decide, after a couple
of years' exposure to research, that they're simply happier working
on projects whose results will be used by real people in the real world.
Before you make a final decision about what to do with the rest of your
life, you owe it to yourself to see what it's like to use your math skills
in this way.
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Even if you are one of the minority who will
end up in an academic position, as a faculty member you'll be subject to
increasing pressure from the government, from the society at large, and
from university administrators to expand interdisciplinary contacts, to
make mathematical discoveries more available to the users of mathematics,
and to prepare your students for a variety of potential career paths.
The more you know about how mathematics is used in the real world, the
better you'll be prepared to meet these challenges.
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Mathematical questions that arise in the course
of solving an industrial problem can lead to research questions that might
become thesis problems. Even when summer internships don't yield
specific research problems, students often find their energy and motivation
for study renewed by these experiences, and sometimes find themselves inspired
to strike out in new mathematical directions.
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In some cases, students have found their summer
internships so exciting and rewarding, and their employers have been so
pleased with their work, that they've ended up taking permanent jobs and
never coming back to graduate school. We're sorry when we lose an
excellent student, but we're always glad when students find rewarding career
paths. Conversely, summer internships have led some students to conclude
that, despite an enjoyable internship experience, they were not interested
in careers in industry; these students were re-energized and happier to
direct their efforts towards academic careers.
An experience working in industry can be appropriate
at any time during your graduate career; but by far the most useful time
for PhD students is the first summer after you've completed prelims.
Before that, you're probably spending your summers studying for prelims;
after that you're likely to be too involved with a specific research problem
to want to take a summer away. Master's students can benefit from
an internship at any time.
If you think you might be interested in
a summer internship, the time to start looking is early January.
Contact the Graduate Program Coordinator and let him/her know you're interested
in an internship. There may be funding available from the ACMS/VIGRE
program funded by the NSF.
Other resources to check out:
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The Computer Science Department's
Industrial
Affiliates Program sponsors an annual meeting, usually in
late February, which is attended by many industrial employers,
and which Math grad students are welcome to attend. Although
many of the job descriptions are geared toward CS students, a
lot of these employers are very interested in hiring mathematicians
as well. Pick some employers you're interested in and tell
them what you'd like to do!
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The Engineering
Coop Program maintains listings of internship possibilities,
and can arrange for math grad students to get academic credit
while working on a paid internship. This is particularly
useful for international students whose visas place restrictions
on employmen
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