“You should be a math major!”
Non-Academic
Careers in Mathematics
Participate. Investigate. Educate.
Math majors
• High school math teachers
• College & university math faculty (teachers, researchers)
• What about non-academic careers for math majors?
Raytheon…
• A defense and aerospace systems company
• Who works there?
• Engineers of all sorts
General, chemical, computer, electrical, hardware,
industrial, logistics, mechanical, reliability, software,
systems, test
Raytheon: Not just for engineers
• Raytheon also hires mathematicians
• Wanted to hire people with graduate degrees in math, not
getting many applicants (Dorff, 2012)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymlnk_PDwnc
• Can be used outside the defense industry as well, e.g.,
by a health care professional to lift a patient from a bed
to a wheel chair.
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
http://www.maa.org/news/mathematiciannamed-best-job-for-2014-by-careercast
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
1. Mathematician $101,360
2. Tenured University Professor $68,970
3. Statistician $75,560
4. Actuary $93,680
5. Audiologist $69,720
6. Dental Hygienist $70,210
7. Software Engineer $93,350
8. Computer Systems Analyst $79,680
9. Occupational Therapist $75,400
10. Speech Pathologist $69,870
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
1. Mathematician
Midlevel income: $101,360
Key factors for ranking
•
•
•
•
Work environment
High income
Hiring outlook
Low stress
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
• Mathematicians have historically been thought of as
academics, but they do so much more.
• They work in a variety of sectors, both public and private,
including energy, transportation, IT, defense, and
nonprofits (like MAA!!).
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
• Example: They figure out if it makes sense for Chevrolet
to build a new model of car.
• Mathematics plays a crucial role in
• Planning facial reconstructive surgeries.
• Movie special effects (computer generated images).
• Speeding up the internet.
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
3. Statistician
Midlevel income: $75,560
Key factors for ranking
• Work environment
• Hiring outlook
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
3. Statistician
• They work in medicine, business, industry, and
government (e.g., law, finance, engineering, agriculture,
ecology, pharmacology)
• Experts at
• Producing trustworthy data
• Analyzing data to make their meaning clear
• Drawing practical conclusions from data
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
3. Statistician
• Example: Market research
How many people are likely to buy that new iPhone?
What are promising locations for a new retail outlet?
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
4. Actuary
Midlevel income: $93,680
Key factors for ranking
• Work environment
• Hiring outlook
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
4. Actuary
• They determine how long something is going to last.
• About 80% work for insurance companies estimating
how long people are going to live or the statistical
likelihood that they will get a particular disease.
Mathematician Named Best Job for 2014
4. Actuary
• Primarily at insurance companies, but increasingly are
working in other industries:
How long will that bridge last?
Is it time to replace that rail line?
Back to Raytheon…
• “They hire mathematicians” ??
• “Talent areas” -- http://jobs.raytheon.com/talent-areas
• Job search “Mathematics” -http://jobs.raytheon.com/search?campusOnly=1&talentArea=55901&c=
• No listings for “Mathematician” BUT…..
Modeling, Simulation and Analysis (Raytheon)
Position Description
The Modeling, Simulation and Analysis Center (MSA)
within the Systems Design & Performance (SD&P)
directorate has the responsibility to provide, develop, and
maintain performance and Operations Research
simulations for all Raytheon Missiles Systems (RMS)
products, support new business initiatives and
development and execution of technology roadmaps.
Specific responsibilities include … test bed development
and analysis, … development of high fidelity performance
simulations, …and system performance analysis …
Outside academia, rarely titled “Mathematician”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air traffic controller
Politician
Animator
Foreign exchange trader
Stockbroker
Urban planner
Forensic analyst
Market research analyst
National security analyst
Math “in the news”
• Finding the wreckage of the Malaysian plane that
disappeared
• Modeling ocean currents to make predictions
• Marketing science
• Put people in a room, show them an advertisement
on a screen, track where their eyes are looking.
That’s where we want our most important message to
be.
Math “in the news”
• NYC counter terrorism group
• Ground breaking research using visual analytics for
tracking.
• Smart hearing aids and noise cancelling
headphones
• Signals processing: filtering out noise and amplifying
the signal
Hiring outlook
• Change the Equation, Linda Rosen (May 2, 2014)
• During the recession 2009-12, for every qualified STEM
professional looking for a job, there were 2 jobs.
• For every job, there were almost 4 non-STEM people
looking for a job.
• Wall Street LOVES engineers, analytical minds, problem
solving skills.
• Projecting a growth in computing jobs (in any industry or
business anywhere) of at least 20% in the next few years.
Hiring outlook
“Mathematics and computational science are utilized in
almost every discipline in science, engineering, industry,
and technology.
New application areas are constantly being discovered and
established techniques are being applied in new ways and
in emerging fields.
Consequently, a wide variety of career opportunities are
open to people with mathematical talent and training.”
(Careers in Applied Mathematics, SIAM)
Hiring outlook
2013 STEM job fair (BYU, Michael Dorff)
15 companies trying to hire math majors
Three were in finance (All three have summer internships
for students):
• Goldman Sachs (global investment banking)
• Capital One (banking and financial analysis)
Hiring outlook
2013 STEM job fair (BYU, Michael Dorff)
• RBS (global banking and markets)
• One reason they hire math majors is their
attention to detail
• Interview question: Suppose you have a
clock with an hour hand and a minute hand.
The time is 1:25. What is the angle between
the hands?
Growing fields to consider
• Systems biology (e.g., human genome)
• Data mining and analytics (e.g., recommendation
engines)
• Computer animation, digital imaging, special effects
(e.g., Pixar Toy Story, Transformers, Avengers)
Growing fields to consider
• Finance and economics ($$$$$$$$)
• Ecology and environment (e.g., management of ocean
fisheries)
• Epidemiology (e.g., spread of infection)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Government labs and research offices (Sandia, Los
Alamos, Office of Naval Research)
• Government agencies (e.g., NSA, DOD)
• Federally funded contractors (e.g., Mitre Corporation,
RAND Corporation, Aerospace Corporation)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Engineering research organizations (e.g., AT&T , Exxon,
NEC, Schlumberger-Doll, IBM)
• Computer information and software firms (e.g., Adobe,
Google, The MathWorks, Inc., Microsoft, Yahoo)
• Electronics and computer manufacturers (e.g., HewlettPackard, Honeywell, IBM)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Consulting firms (e.g., Daniel H. Wagner Associates,
McKinsey and Company)
• Aerospace and transportation equipment manufacturers
(e.g., Boeing, Ford, General Motors, Lockheed Martin)
• Financial service and investment management firms
(e.g., Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Prudential)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Transportation service providers (e.g., FedEx, UPS)
• Communications services providers (e.g., Clear Channel
Communications, Verizon)
• Chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturers (e.g.,
DuPont, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Medical device companies (e.g., Baxter Healthcare,
Boston Scientific, Medtronic)
• Producers of petroleum and petroleum products (e.g.,
Exxon, Shell, Chevron)
• Consumer products companies (e.g., Procter & Gamble,
Mars)
Organizations that hire mathematicians
• Research institutes (e.g., Institute for Mathematics and
Its Applications (IMA), Mathematical Sciences Research
Institute (MSRI))
https://www.siam.org/careers/thinking/organizations.php
New edition
101 Careers in Mathematics
•
•
•
•
Andrew Sterrett (editor), MAA (publisher)
$35 ($28 for MAA members) for print
$20 for ebook
http://www.maa.org/publications/books/101-careers-inmathematics
• Now in 3rd edition (1996, 2003, 2014)
101 Careers in Mathematics
• 146 career profiles (not 101!)
• Appendices – Math Horizons articles
•
•
•
•
“Seven Steps to Finding a Job” (updated in 2013)
“Interviewing Tips from the Pros” (updated in 2013)
“So You Want to Work in Industry”
“Teamwork – The Special Challenge of Industry”
Carriage House Distinguished Lecture Series
• Features some of the foremost experts within the field of
mathematics, known for their ability to make current
mathematical ideas accessible to non-specialists.
• Topics focus on current trends in mathematics and the
relationship between mathematics and broader scientific,
engineering and technological endeavors.
Carriage House Distinguished Lecture Series
• http://www.maa.org/meetings/calendar-events/maadistinguished-lecture-series/lecture-videos
• YouTube channel
• “Ted Talk” versions of recent talks
• Podcasts with Power Point slides
Cathy O’Neil, Johnson Research Labs
• Worked hedge fund D.E. Shaw in the middle of the credit
crisis.
• Worked for RiskMetrics, a risk software company that
assesses risk for the holdings of hedge funds and banks.
• Involved with Occupy Wall Street.
Cathy O’Neil, Johnson Research Labs
• Works as a Senior Data Scientist at Johnson Research
Labs in New York.
(Note: It’s pretty traditional for mathematicians to
work in research labs, “think tanks.”)
• Blogs at mathbabe.org
Cathy O’Neil, Johnson Research Labs
• Recommendation engines
• Netflix recommends movies you might like based on your
previous ratings
• Google News recommends articles based on your
previous reads.
• Notable difference: Google News doesn’t know if you LIKE
the article, but it does know you READ it, whereas with
Netflix, you rate the movies.
Cathy O’Neil, Johnson Research Labs
• Latent factor analysis
• e.g., sentimentality (chick flicks)
• Latent topic analysis
• e.g., DIY series
• Co-visitation
• If you and someone else have been reading lots of the
same kinds of articles, or listening to lots of the same kinds
of music, then you’re probably going to like something
ELSE that person likes, but that you haven’t tried.
Karen Saxe, Macalester College
• Chair and Professor of Mathematics
• Consults with city governments
• Just ended a term as AMS Congressional Fellow in
Senator Al Franken’s office
Karen Saxe, Macalester College
• Served on Minnesota Citizens Redistricting Commission,
created to draw congressional districts following the
2010 census
• Carriage House lecture: A Mathematical Adventure
through the Census, Reapportionment, and Redistricting.
November, 2012.
Richard DeVeaux, Williams College
• Professor of Statistics
• Data mining and statistical consultant
•
•
•
•
•
American Express
National Security Agency
Office of the Attorney General of Vermont
Comptroller's Office of New York state
Others
Richard DeVeaux, Williams College
• Carriage House lecture: Data Mining: Fool's Gold? Or
the Mother Lode? April, 2012
• Can government agencies really track what you are doing?
• Do credit card companies know what you are going to
purchase before you do?
• How much of your information do you want available via
social networks, and what are they doing with it?
Richard DeVeaux, Williams College
• Carriage House lecture: Data Mining: Fool's Gold? Or
the Mother Lode? April, 2012
• Data mining and analytics
• Just statistics? Yes and no.
• Process that uses a variety of data analysis tools to
discover patterns and relationships in “big data” (e.g.,
terabytes per hour) that may be used to make valid
predictions using models created.
Other mathematicians doing
interesting work
Sommer Gentry – Math & Medicine
• Is a mathematics professor at the U.S. Naval Academy
• Does operations research at Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine
• Made national news when she teamed up with her
husband (a surgeon) to find a more efficient way to
match kidney donations
Eric Murphy – Math & National Defense
• Has a Ph.D. in complex analysis
• Works in the Pentagon as an advisor to the Joint Chiefs
of Staff on how to best move supplies and troops in and
out of foreign countries such as Afghanistan (operations
research)
Industry problems vs. academic problems
• A solution to a problem in industry can be very different
from a solution to an academic problem. In industry, a
group is usually given a problem with a timeline and is
told to come up with the best possible solution within
that time frame.
• They are not necessarily looking for an exact answer
but the best possible approximation given the
constraints.
• Once the time period is over, the group will move on
to another problem. They don’t have the luxury of
exploring nooks and crannies of a problem.
Micheal Dorff
• Prepares students for industrial careers by engaging
them in research problems that come directly from
business, industry, and government.
• Also aims to increase awareness among math faculty
and undergraduates about non-academic career options.
• Students work on a semester-long research problem as
part of a class.
• Undergraduate research is a high impact practice shown
to improve students’ skills in:
•
•
•
•
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Independent thinking
Communication
All these are valued by employers of math majors
• 2014-15 is first year of project, Year 2 applications will be
accepted early in 2015 for summer 2015 (one year
commitment)
• Michael Dorff (BYU), Suzanne Weeks (WPI), Reza
Malek-Madani (USNA)
http://www.maa.org/programs/students/undergraduateresearch/pic-math-preparation-for-industrial-careers-inmathematical-sciences
Web resources
• www.maa.org/careers
• http://www.maa.org/meetings/calendar-events/maadistinguished-lecture-series/lecture-videos
• http://www.maa.org/programs/students/undergraduateresearch/pic-math-preparation-for-industrial-careers-inmathematical-sciences
• www.siam.org/careers
• http://weusemath.org
• http://www.amstat.org/careers
References
• Sterrett, A. (Ed.). (2014). 101 Careers in Mathematics
(3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of
America.
• Careers in Applied Mathematics [brochure]. (2008)
Philadelphia, PA: Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics.
• Dorff, M. (2012). Non-academic careers, internships, and
undergraduate research. Paper presented at the Trends
in Undergraduate Research in the Mathematical
Sciences conference, Chicago, IL.
References
• O’Neil, C. (2013). Deciphering recommendation engines.
• Saxe, K. (2012). A Mathematical Adventure through the
Census, Reapportionment, and Redistricting.
• DeVeaux, R. (2012). Data Mining: Fools Gold? Or the
Mother Load?
All three podcasts retrieved from
http://www.maa.org/meetings/calendar-events/maadistinguished-lecture-series/lecture-videos
Questions?
Contact Information:
Linda Braddy
Deputy Executive Director
Mathematical Association of America
lbraddy@maa.org
www.maa.org