Institutes create postdoctoral jobs

Recently, due to the scarcity of jobs, the seven National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes have created 45 postdoctoral positions for recent academics in mathematics and science.

The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA, one of the National Science Foundations that conducts research in math and science, will hold eight of the new positions.

The jobs will entail furthering mathematical and scientific research, teaching at higher education institutions and providing help for projects tied to the math and science business and industry.

This year the NSF had an increase of federal stimulus money in its budget and was able to distribute award money to the seven National Science Foundation Institutes. The money given was used to reserve teaching and researching jobs for recent graduates who hold a doctorate degree.

More than 750 applications were received for the 45 spots in March, which is around the time when most recent graduates have already been hired at jobs. These postdoctorate positions will begin this August and September. Postdoctorate researchers are people who continue to do research in their field after they have received their doctorate.

“In one month, the program literally went from being an idea to finishing having all the people hired,” said Brian Conrey, director from the American Institute of Mathematics.

In the past year, many universities have canceled job searches, creating difficulty for new doctorates and people finishing postdoctoral training to receive jobs. U.S. institutions have also cut back on their acceptance rate of graduate programs, according to the NSF Mathematical Sciences Institutes’ Web site.

“There are about 1,200 people that receive doctorate degrees in math each year. With the downturn of the economy, many of those new Ph.D.s cannot get jobs, and it would be a shame to lose a third of those Ph.D.s when there’s not that many to begin with, just because of the lack of jobs available,” Conrey said.

There will be a wide range of research within the program with the goal of furthering the math and science community. Research will regard topics including math, biology, neuroscience, the placenta and other various topics, said Estelle Basor, deputy director of the American Institute of Mathematics.

Marco Duarte, one of the postdoctorate researchers for the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, will be conducting research in mathematics and electrical engineering at UCLA.

“When we take a picture with a camera, a signal generates that gives us a compressed version of what was just captured. I will research math programs that will allow me to design cameras, microphones, airport detectors, etc. that will compress automatically,” Duarte said.

Basor said that, not only will these individuals be furthering research, they will also be helping institutions.

“When these post-docs teach at local universities and community colleges, their positions will already be funded and the universities won’t have to directly fund them,” he said. “At the same time these post-docs fill a dire need for classes and instructors.”

Stacey Beggs, assistant director of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA, said that along with filling the positions, the postdoctorates will receive mentoring.

“IPAM is specifically focused on interdisciplinary research and, because we do not have a post-doc program and because we do not have space for the post-docs, what we decided to do was to find mentors ““ that is, professors who need a post-doc for a specific interdisciplinary project.”

Duarte said he is extremely grateful for the position and feels that the opportunities awarded to the new postdoctoral students will help them in the long run.

“When most people get their degrees they become a professor. With the state of the economy, schools have to limit their hiring and cut back. This research opportunity will give people who haven’t been successful at finding a job a way to boost up their resumes so that they can get hired when things eventually turn around,” Duarte said.

Conrey also said that the postdoctorate positions will help the economy because he feels that mathematics is what drives the economy.

If Duarte did not get the position, he said that he would still be in the same situation as every other recent graduate.

“If I didn’t get the position, I would still be looking for a research job and it probably wouldn’t be what I wanted to do. I might even have had to delay my graduation,” Duarte said.