Podcast: Episode 53 - Robert Harter - Water waves

These are the show notes for episode 53 of the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast. 53 is prime, the smallest multidigit balanced prime: primes which are the averages of their prime neighbours. More about 53 from Number Gossip.

Robert Harter talks about his PhD research at the University of Manchester into linear water wave problems. You can read a paper by Robert and others on this topic as "The effect of surface tension on trapped modes in water-wave problems". Prof. I. David Abrahams talks about problems in this area in an interview on his website. There is a lot of information on different water wave problems at Loughborough.

You can find out more about the IMA by visiting http://www.ima.org.uk/student/. You can find out more about what I do by reading this blog, by following me on Twitter or visiting peterrowlett.net. Join the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast Facebook Fan Page.

Podcast: Episode 52 - Jackie Grinsell, Mathematics teaching

These are the show notes for episode 52 of the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast. In a non-leap year, the month and day are simultaneously prime a total of 52 times. More about 52 from Number Gossip.

This week on the podcast we hear from Jackie Grinsell, Head of Mathematics, Purbrook Park School, Waterlooville. This recording was made during a careers event at the University of Portsmouth.

A good starting point if you are interested in teaching is the TDA website. You can find out about mathematics teaching from the TDA, and more information from Teachernet. Good resources for maths teachers are the NCETM and nrich.

You can find out more about the IMA by visiting http://www.ima.org.uk/student/. You can find out more about what I do by reading this blog, by following me on Twitter or visiting peterrowlett.net. Join the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast Facebook Fan Page.

Reading list for a keen 13 year old mathematician

I was asked a question from a keen 13 year old school student who has been playing around with Pythagorean triples. I asked Twitter for "inspiring reading" for such a student (and @DrLucyRogers & @MEImath retweeted this request). The responses were good and @robbieg8s wrote to ask me to post the list somewhere. Here it is.

Suggestions (chronological order; who made the suggestion in brackets):

• suggest The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose - real meat to get into and mind expanding (@CarlLegge)
• suggest after that The Structure of Delight by Nelson Zink - to look after the personal and social aspects (@CarlLegge)
• FLATLAND! Possibly also Uncle Albert books, Simon Singh's Cracking Code book, Hawking's George's Secret Key... (@alicebell)
• Group Theory in the Bedroom http://ow.ly/11Pah (@peterflom)
• I put some things up here: http://bit.ly/8Ys3q9 For a 13 year old I would suggest Martin Gardner (@Gelada)
• Mathematical Maze and Why Beauty is Truth. Think they're both Ian Stewart (@CheshireSwift)
• how about Ian Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical curiosities http://bit.ly/byYhmi and its sequel (@chrisleach78)
  
• A useful list by the MA at: http://bit.ly/c0kdmL (@MEImaths)

I hope this is useful. More welcome in the comments!

Mathematics Today February 2010: University Liaison Officer's Report

10 'rules' for a successful Careers Fair for mathematicians

So you're organising a careers fair for mathematics students? Okay, it's a tall order you've set yourself but it can be done! I have attended careers fairs that have worked for mathematics students and those which have not worked as well. I would like to share with you some thoughts about how fairs work, when they work, for mathematics students.

Mathematicians can be difficult to advise. Many, on telling people they are studying mathematics at university, get the reaction "So which do you want to do, accountancy or school teaching?" These options are fine for some but are not for everyone, while mathematics is a subject with an overwhelmingly broad range of options due to the wide ranging employability skills of its graduates. Some students, hearing this stereotype, feel detached and are turned off from seeking formal careers advice. I have had students approach me at careers fairs and say they think they have taken the wrong degree course, since they don't want to go into teaching or finance! This is a problem as once they have decided what they want to do, the careers service can be very useful indeed: who is hiring, what they are looking for, how to write a good CV and so on. Expert careers staff can usually offer feedback on draft CVs and give mock job interviews for practice. Skills training sessions are usually available. Generally, the careers service can provide a really vital function but one that some students do not seek out. The students are going to get much more out of careers advice once they have an idea what they want to do. To do this, they must be encouraged to explore their possible options and this is where your fair will come in.

The formula for a careers fair usually contains some of the following features: stalls with employers, information on further study, where to get further careers advice and of course a stall from the IMA (my stall recently at Exeter is pictured); talks on skills topics; talks from practicing mathematicians, perhaps recent graduates; talks from employers

Rule 1: Advertise with a united front

As your students may be unexcited at the prospect of a careers fair, it is helpful to present the message that the fair is happening and worth attending from as many directions as possible. A very successful fair I attended at York was advertised jointly by the mathematics department, careers service and undergraduate maths society. Particularly, if lecturers are unenthusiastic about the fair the students will pick up on this and a negative attitude will spread. Conversely, if lecturers are encouraging, the students are likely to react well. Posters in the department are one thing, having lecturers 'talk up' the fair in their lectures is another level altogether.

Rule 2: Make it relevant

It is important to make sure the event is relevant to the students. I have attended fairs for multiple subjects and the mathematicians tend not to turn up to these in substantial numbers. At a maths-specific careers fair, the students perceive the advice, employers, etc. are aimed at them specifically and this can be a more attractive draw.

Rule 3: Location, location, location

Silly though it sounds, distance can be a real factor. If students have to leave the areas they normally visit you have already lost a proportion of them. Run the fair in a building they visit often, perhaps where they take lectures. Keep them in their comfort zone, in their home territory. A Careers Fair is a scary prospect, full of scary employers. If you make them comfortable and make it easy for them physically to attend they are much more likely to drop by.

Rule 4: Timing is everything

Plan the fair well in advance, schedule it when the students (at least final years) aren't busy and if possible put it on the students' timetable. Don't let on that attendance is anything but compulsory. I've been to fairs where a whole or half day has been scheduled with no lectures to make sure everyone is able to attend, though this is a difficult decision to take.

Rule 5: A small window of opportunity is good

If the fair includes employer stalls, have this within a fairly tight period. I have been to fairs that last all day and the number of students at any one time is low. I have also been to fairs with a tight period – the Calculating Careers fair at Manchester has hundreds of students focussed in just a couple of hours – and this leads to greater numbers in the room at any time. The students are more likely to know others when they arrive – safety in numbers! – and so more likely to stay for longer. Having a busy room and limited time produces an energised environment that benefits everyone. The stallholders will appreciate a more focused time period as well.

Rule 6: Avoid sign-up sheets

It is very tempting to try to get students to put their names on a sign-up sheet for individual sessions or even the whole day. This can help in planning room sizes and I think there is a perception this makes students feel they have made a commitment to attend. In my experience students are not good at making such a formal commitment and, having not signed up, feel they can't just drop in. Those who do sign up are far from certain to attend.

Rule 7: Get the students involved

A way to create a buzz about your fair among the students is to involve them in the planning. Ask the students what employers they want at the fair. The employers are more likely to attend if you can tell them "our students have asked that I invite you" and the students are more likely to attend if they know the employers they want to talk to are there. If there is a student rep. or a student maths society, get them involved as well. If the students feel some involvement with your fair and start talking about it to other students this is the best advertising of all – peer endorsement. Perhaps the students can plan a social event – cheese and wine, for example – to end the fair, which can help encourage attendance and allow the employers to speak to students in a less formal setting.

Rule 8: Get a good mix of employers

If you are having employers, getting a good mix is crucial. Not everyone you invite will come but try to get a mix of job sectors. Go to the IMA website and look at the Careers Advice leaflet, available via www.ima.org.uk/student. On page 3 of this is a list of job sectors: try to get employers from each sector. In the Professional Affairs section of the website is a list of employers who are Friends of Mathematics (mostly because they employ mathematicians). If you lean heavily towards one kind of employer, you will put some students off. With a good mix of employers there is something for everyone. In rule 7 I suggested asking the students which employers they would like to talk to – this can be a significant factor in encouraging attendance.

Rule 9: Start with a rousing talk

I had an interesting experience earlier this year at a very successful fair at York. I opened the fair with my careers talk. This was an exhilarating experience, the students responded really well and left my talk straight into the hall of employers, enthused and ready to learn more about their career options. I talked about careers options, taking charge and choosing your own path, employability skills, evidencing those skills in a job application and having a professional career development following graduation. Feedback given to me from employers at the fair in York was that the students were enthusiastic (in precisely the way they normally aren't at such fairs), pragmatic and realistic about what they need to do to get a job. I think this was a good experience all round and it was well worth firing the students up with an opening talk.

Rule 10: Provide practical advice

Students like to meet early career mathematicians. They like to see people who were in their position just a few years ago and find out how they got to where they are now. Particularly if they are graduates from the same university. To be seen as a role model at their former university is good for the professional development of the speaker. The IMA can help here by trying to connect universities to IMA members who are recent graduates. Email me if you are such a recent graduate or if you are organising a fair and would like to find some (peter.rowlett@ima.org.uk).

Students also value practical advice which is applicable to job hunting. The careers service can likely help here in running career development workshops. A fair I attended at Portsmouth had a full programme of careers skills sessions and employer talks and the students responded very well. With an awareness that not all students are interested in all the options open to them, this used parallel sessions to make sure there was always something for everyone. If there are mathematics staff who have previously worked in industry they might be able to give good practical advice as well. I saw an excellent CV writing session at Greenwich by a lecturer whose former job included assessing CVs to hire graduate mathematicians.

If you are considering running a maths-specific careers fair and would like to talk to me about this I can be reached on peter.rowlett@ima.org.uk.

Activities Nov-Dec 2009

This period I have been busy with visits to give talks at universities. I have given my careers talk at Kent, Durham, Sheffield, Dundee, Stirling, Strathclyde, Glasgow, Brighton, Portsmouth, Exeter and Plymouth. I have given a talk on cryptography at Sheffield, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Southampton, a talk on puzzles at LSE, Newcastle, Northumbria and Edinburgh and my spin in ball games/Wii talk at York. In the 10 week period (Oct-Dec) of teaching in the autumn term I have given 32 talks and operated 3 careers stalls and so have spoken to over 1100 students and 80 staff at 29 universities.

Also in November 12,600 IMA leaflets were distributed to 71 university maths departments, careers services and student societies. If you work in a university mathematics department I hope you will have seen these around the department. I spoke on my activities to the 11th Younger Mathematicians Conference in Birmingham. In December I had my six monthly meeting with my steering group and annual appraisal. I am pleased to report both went well.

Podcast: Episode 51 - Sebastien Guenneau, Optical wave guides and applied mathematics research

These are the show notes for episode 51 of the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast. 51 is the smallest number which can be written with all the digits from 1 to 5 (without repetition) as a sum of primes: 51 = 2 + 3 + 5 + 41. More about 51 from Number Gossip.

Dr. Sebastien Guenneau of the University of Liverpool talked to me in episode 50 about his work in invisibility cloaks. Here he follows this up by giving some examples from optical wave guides and other areas to highlight the processes which drive applied mathematics research and collaboration. You can read an introduction to optical wave guides at electron9.phys.utk.edu. You can read about the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics at nobelprize.org. Sebastien talks about Professor Alexander B. Movchan and Professor I. David Abrahams.

You can find out more about the IMA by visiting http://www.ima.org.uk/student/. You can find out more about what I do by reading this blog, by following me on Twitter or visiting peterrowlett.net. Join the Travels in a Mathematical World Podcast Facebook Fan Page.

Maths Maps

Over at edte.ch blog, Tom Barrett has been encouraging people to get involved with Maths Maps, a collaborative initative to create classroom resources that you are invited to contribute to. The idea is to put mathematical or numeracy activities and questions into real world maps, for example in the shapes or numbers of objects found there. Currently there are maps available for Measures in Madrid, Shapes in Paris and Data Handling in Nottingham. And I have seen that the idea is being taken up by others too.

There is a blog post explaining the idea here, "Maths Maps – A New Collaborative Project". Tom is featured in an article in the Guardian NCETM supplement "Do the Maths" as "How to use Google Maps in maths teaching".

Here is the Nottingham Data Handling map:


View 7 Data Handling Activities in Nottingham in a larger map

Macro December

The last two blog posts have attempted to catch up this blog on October and November. This post will be an attempt to bring December up to date.

I started the month by giving a lecture at Nottingham on subsitution ciphers for the History of maths and x and recording this using the in-room capture system. This is by no means the best recording I have ever seen but it is a rough and ready approach which involves no cost (to me for the recording - obviously the kit cost money to set up). The talk was advertised through the Nottingham Mathsoc and I was nervous about the number that would turn up. I didn't want very many - although I have spoken to fairly large audiences I am not accustomed to being recorded speaking and this added to my nerves - but I wanted the number to be greater than zero so I had an audience to judge my timings against and react to. Anyway, the recording seemed to go well and the result is available to view on this blog and elsewhere.

The next day I began a trip along the south coast. I started by going to Brighton to give my careers talk. This went well and I headed to Portsmouth to set up camp. The following day I was the opening speaker at a Portsmouth careers day and this went well, then I headed to Surrey to meet the new student society there over lunch. I returned in the late afternoon to Portsmouth to watch some alumni give talks (look out for a couple of upcoming podcast episodes). It seems the student maths society at Portsmouth is called Portsmath and the membership fee is £3.14, which I found pleasantly geeky. Finally, in the evening, I headed to Southampton and gave my cryptography talk - the first pop maths talk put on by a usually more party-oriented society there.

The following week I took a trip to the South West. In Exeter I stayed in a hotel with a giant Christmas tree outside my window, it being nearly Christmas. I went to Exeter university to hold a careers stall and give my careers talk. Unfortunately the stall was fairly poorly attended - I think I saw 13 maths students in twos and threes over a 2 hour period - and my talk broke a new record for size of audience with only 2 students in attendance. The talk went well anyway and I was reminded it is quality, not quantity, but being so far from home I felt like I was experiencing very inefficient use of my time. The following day I went to Plymouth and was well looked after while I gave my final careers talk of the year to a nice response.

In preparing my 6-monthly report for the IMA I realised that in the nine week period 7 Oct-10 Dec 2009 just over 1100 people had seen me give 32 talks at 28 universities and 150 have spoken to me at 3 universities when I have operated careers stalls. This feels very pleasing.

At the end of the year my 6-month IMA review and annual appraisal both went well, I received my copy of iSquared issue 10 containing my article "Ciphers through the ages" (to accompany my History of maths and x video on the same topic) just before Christmas and the podcast was on its half century episode with Sebastien Guenneau on invisibility cloaks. So it is we move into 2010 (or is it MMX?) hoping the blog will keep proper time this year and not need periodic catching up!