101 Careers in Mathematics (Classroom Resource Materials) - Softcover

Andrew Sterrett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0883857863 ISBN 13: 9780883857861

Publisher: American Mathematical Society, 2014

Synopsis

This third edition of the immensely popular 101 Careers in Mathematics contains updates on the career paths of individuals profiled in the first and second editions, along with many new profiles. No career counselor should be without this valuable resource. The authors of the essays in this volume describe a wide variety of careers for which a background in the mathematical sciences is useful. Each of the jobs presented shows real people in real jobs. Their individual histories demonstrate how the study of mathematics was useful in landing well-paying jobs in predictable places such as IBM, AT & T, and American Airlines, and in surprising places such as FedEx Corporation, L.L. Bean, and Perdue Farms, Inc. You will also learn about job opportunities in the Federal Government as well as exciting careers in the arts, sculpture, music, and television. There are really no limits to what you can do if you are well prepared in mathematics. The degrees earned by the authors profiled here range from bachelor's to master's to PhD in approximately equal numbers. Most of the writers use the mathematical sciences on a daily basis in their work. Others rely on the general problem-solving skills acquired in mathematics as they deal with complex issues.

About this title

Review:

This is a wonderful book, potentially of great value to students and those who advise them. It has some frustrating gaps too, but in a way they also emphasize how useful it is and could be. In brief, this book presents a collection of profiles of people who have (or had) a career that involves some aspect of mathematics. Nearly all the people here have at least one degree in mathematics; the few exceptions have degrees in fields like physics, operations research, or a statistics-related area. Short essays at the end of the book discuss the processes of interviewing and finding a job, and what it's like to work in industry (or, more broadly, outside the academic community).

There are 25 new entries in this new edition that bring the total number of profiles to 146. The "101 Careers" of the title is best regarded as meaning "lots of careers"; even the first edition had more than 101 profiles. Counting careers is also a little funny: they don't match up one-to-one with people. As many of the profiles demonstrate, many people have more than one career. Indeed it is increasingly uncommon for people to have a single career throughout their lives.

The first edition of this book was published in 1996, the second in 2002, and this update follows 14 years later. how have careers and career decisions changed since 1996? What's the effect of a couple of minor recessions and one big one? New kinds of careers in mathematics--related fields have developed in the last decade--in mathematical finance, data science, biotechnology. Jobs that involve "big data" are proliferating now. Can we extrapolate from the stories told here to guess how careers might develop in the next decade?

There is so much good data here that it is a temptation to wish that it had been assembled and analyzed more completely and methodically. But one of the great virtues of the book is that it is anecdotal. These are individuals telling their stories about their lives and careers.

There are interesting and useful messages here for students. Some are explicit in the essays that conclude the book. Others are implicit in the profiles. Many of these point to the importance of flexibility and breadth of interests, or to the considerable value of well-developed communications skills and the willingness to learn to speak and understand the special technical languages of colleagues.

I can't think of a better book for advisers to share with students. For anyone with any interest in mathematical careers, pick it up and browse. The sheer variety is fascinating. --Bill Satzer, MAA Reviews

Preface to the third edition: "The Second Edition of 101 Careers contains more than 125 career profiles, but even that collection did not exhaust all the interesting career opportunities available to undergraduate mathematics majors. Consider, for example, being a program manager for developing a game at Microsoft (Kathie Flood), working on a submarine launched ballistic missile program (Chad Magers), or developing a model from which to invest millions of dollars (Dan Loeb). Their careers, along with many other new profiles and updates of previous profiles are indicated in the Table of Contents of this edition with a (#) sign. These new profiles provide additional evidence of the imaginative use to which mathematics majors apply their degrees. --Mathematical Reviews Clippings

About this edition

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0883857863
• ISBN 13: 9780883857861
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 335