Alejandro Adem

Professor

Mathematics Department

University of Wisconsin



Louis Auslander

Professor

Mathematics Graduate School

City University of New York



M. Salah Baouendi

Professor

Mathematics Department

University of California-San Diego



Hyman Bass

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Columbia University



Lynne Billard

Professor

Department of Statistics

University of Georgia



Spencer Bloch

Professor

Department of Mathematics

University of Chicago



Joseph E. Brandenburg

Principal Engineer

Intel Corporation



William Browder

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Princeton University



Lawrence Brown

Professor

Department of Statistics

University of Pennsylvania



Robert L. Bryant

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Duke University



Jennifer Tour Chayes

Professor

Mathematics Department

University of California-Los Angeles



Ralph Cohen

Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics

Stanford University



James Crowley

Executive Director

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics



Ronald G. Douglas

Executive Vice President, Provost

Texas A&M University

Robert Fefferman

Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics

University of Chicago



Walter Feit

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Yale University



Avner Friedman

Director

Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications

University of Minnesota



Donald Goldfarb

Professor and Chair

Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

Columbia University



David Goldston

Legislative Director

Office of Representative Sherwood Boehlert

U.S. House of Representatives



John Guckenheimer

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Cornell University



Philip Hanlon

Professor

Department of Mathematics

University of Michigan



Richard Herman

Dean, College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

University of Maryland-College Park



Ettore F. Infante

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

University of Minnesota



Arthur Jaffe

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Harvard University



Stephen Kennedy

Assistant Professor

Mathematics Department

Carleton College



Jon R. Kettenring

Executive Director

Software Technology Integration

Bellcore



Joseph J. Kohn

Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics

Princeton University



Donald J. Lewis

Director

Division of Mathematical Sciences

National Science Foundation



William James Lewis

Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

University of Nebraska-Lincoln



Mary Montgomery Lindquist

Professor

School of Education

Columbus College



Robert MacPherson

Professor

School of Mathematics

Institute for Advanced Study



Marilyn E. Mays

Professor

Department of Mathematics

North Lake College

David W. McLaughlin

Professor and Director

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

New York University



Donald St. P. Richards

Professor and Chairman

Division of Statistics

University of Virginia



Hugo Rossi

Professor

Mathematics Department

University of Utah



Michael Schrage

Science Writer

MIT Media Lab, Los Angeles Times, Wired Magazine



Frank Stillinger

Technical Staff

Bell Laboratories



Dewitt Sumners

Professor

Department of Mathematics

Florida State University



John R. Tucker

Director

Board on Mathematical Sciences

National Research Council



James C. Turner, Jr.

Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics

Florida A&M University



Michael Waterman

Professor

Department of Mathematics

University of Southern California



Andrew B. White, Jr.

Program Director, High Performance Computing and Communications

Advanced Computing Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory



Shmuel Winograd

IBM Fellow

IBM T.J. Watson Research Center



Margaret H. Wright

Distinguished Member, Technical Staff

Bell Laboratories

Each of the four groups will focus on one of these topics (recognizing that the topics have areas of overlap, and that all have as a subtheme undergraduate education):

Discussions should address

Needed Changes & Action Guidelines to Achieve Them

How to Assure that Guidelines Will Work and Be Acted On

Group Leader: Margaret H. Wright (Bell Labs)

The mathematical sciences occupy an unusual position in the public consciousness. Essentially all adults studied mathematics in school, but many disliked it; most people would say that mathematics is important, but, if pressed, they might have difficulty explaining why; abstraction is one of the chief virtues of the mathematical sciences, but nonexperts understand science best if it is described using concrete examples related to their daily lives. Our community therefore has an especially challenging obligation to clarify the many ways in which the mathematical sciences are beneficial to society. We have an equally compelling responsibility to convey to our colleagues in other disciplines the contributions that research and education in the mathematical sciences have made and continue to make to advancing their fields. Our community needs to articulate its contributions in three areas: general education (K-12); undergraduate and graduate education; and research.

Possible questions to be addressed include:

• What efforts are being made in public awareness?
• How effective have these been? Which have been most and least successful? What lessons can be learned from these experiences?
• Which public awareness activities can be expected to appeal to various segments of the public?
• What kinds of activities in public awareness are mathematical scientists willing to support and join? How can such activities be organized for maximum impact and participation?
• How can we in the mathematical sciences build stronger connections with other disciplines and with nonacademic organizations?
• How can our community work effectively with other disciplines to convey the benefits of education and research in the mathematical sciences?

Group Leader: Hugo Rossi (University of Utah)

Last year, the National Academy Press published a report of the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) entitled Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers (NAS/NAE/IOM, 1995). It is appropriate to take this report as background for the discussion.

Findings of the COSEPUP report:

1. There is a changing pattern of employment of graduate students:

• growth in faculty positions is slowing down; expect a reduction in demand for traditional researchers;
• new R&D needs in industry result in emerging production, service, and information enterprises;
• in government labs, research foci are shifting (i.e., from defense to energy), and the labs are challenged to build linkages with industry and universities.

2. There are far more seekers of jobs as professors and primary researchers than there are positions; however, the number of positions in applied R&D is increasing.

• about 50% of new Ph.D.s are employed in academic departments; the number of Ph.D.s in mathematics fell during the 1970s, but since has increased to boom-time levels. Almost 50% of Ph.D.s awarded in the 1990s have gone to foreign students. Employment of Ph.D.s in academic positions has steadily decreased over the past 12 years, while other employment has remained level.

3. We have not, as a nation, paid adequate attention to the function of the graduate schools in meeting the country's needs. The simplifying assumption has been that the primary mission of graduate programs is to produce the next generation of researchers.

Recommendations of COSEPUP:

1. Offer a broader range of academic options that allow students to gain a wider variety of skills.

• mechanisms of support should include education/training grants to departments.

2. Provide better information and guidance, directed toward possible career goals.
3. Devise a National Human Resource Policy, beginning with a national discussion of goals and policy, system characterization, and contemporary issues.
4. Curricular:

• ''tighten" time to degree. At present, the average time to degree in the mathematical sciences is about 6 years.
• provide options: at the time of qualifying examinations, students should choose from (a) a viable master's degree, (b) proceed to a Ph.D. and a position in research, (c) a "designed" dissertation for work in nontraditional fields.

• create interdisciplinary programs.
• introduce internships outside academics.
• devise and implement steps to increase participation of women and minority groups.

Questions and Possible Action Items

1. Accept, reject, or modify with some detail the recommendations of COSEPUP for the mathematical sciences.
2. How can the mathematical sciences community develop mechanisms for information about successful programs, and develop networks of people who will help provide advice?
3. Is there a changing pattern of how mathematics research is done: individual to group and interdisciplinary? How can graduate programs encourage versatility?
4. What curriculum changes are high priorities?

• time to degree
• interdisciplinary programs
• computer competency
• teaching competency

5. Should there be a strengthened and revitalized professional master's degree?
6. Should there be optional internships (in other departments or in industry)? What should be their character, and how should their implementation be facilitated?
7. Should NSF broaden its sabbatical programs (for faculty or students); should the mathematical sciences move toward a postdoctoral system, as exists in other sciences?

Group Leader: Arthur Jaffe Harvard University)

The NSF Division of Mathematical Sciences is under stress because funding (in recent years, in constant dollars) is diminishing. Mission-oriented research funding agencies are even more focused on deliverables. Advantage needs to be taken of interdisciplinary avenues and information provided on what possibilities are coming, what has worked, and what people are doing; guidance is needed on how funds should be spent.

Possible questions to be addressed:

• Where are the new opportunities for mathematical sciences research (e.g., mathematics with materials science, statistical analysis and modeling of DNA, topological and geometric methods for molecular biology, software engineering, high-performance computing, and combining information—including linkage of databases, combining

• results from independent studies, and in geographic information systems for spatial analysis)?
• How can the mathematical sciences community encourage entrepreneurs?
• How can the mathematical sciences community set in place mechanisms for lecture series, reports, symposia, and committees to explore ways to further increase research opportunities?
• How can the community be made aware of promising opportunities?
• How can more of the community be positioned to take advantage of those opportunities?
• What are appropriate modes of support?

Group Leader: Robert MacPherson (Institute for Advanced Study)

Traditional evaluation in most departments is based first on research, then on education and on interdisciplinary work. Since such a criterion does not encourage faculty who wish to contribute more in the way of teaching innovations, interfacing with other departments, and engaging in extra-university activities, questions naturally arise. While change is needed with regard to what is rewarded and what the culture values (JPBM, 1994), it has to come from the grassroots.

Possible questions to be addressed:

• How to develop a more appropriate evaluation process?
• What are the impediments to effecting such a process?
• How can departments overcome such impediments?
• What role should NSF play here?
• What ways of evaluating teaching, or interdisciplinary research are working?
• How can the value of interdisciplinary work be better conveyed?
• What are some specific actions that can be taken concerning this?

Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM). 1994. Recognition and Rewards in the Mathematical Sciences. Committee on Professional Recognition and Rewards. Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society.

National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering/Institute of Medicine (NAS/NAE/IOM). 1995. Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers. Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.