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SIAM/IMA Special Workshop Careers and Opportunities in Industry for Mathematical Scientists Notes on posed questions Emmanuel M. Tsimis, Ph. D. Free Form Modeling Dpt. SIEMENS PLM (just retired on Feb 07, 2014) April 7-9, 2014 April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 1 Academia vs Industry: my case • 1977 Ph. D., Applied Mathematics, SUNY at Stony Brook. • 1977-1981 Tenure track Assistant Professor of Mathematics Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. • 1983-2014 CAD development for GM –> EDS –> SIEMENS. Left Academia due to: – Did not get tenure. – Family constraints • Feb 2014 Retired. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 2 Mathematicians in the industrial world Often an industry may face pressing technical problems, they cannot solve internally. Moreover, when no established field of knowledge exists to solve a technical problem, mathematicians are called in. Examples: • At my time, 1983, that was data exchange between CAD systems. • Wall street, early ‘80s: Financial Engineering did not exist to handle the new financial instruments. So, mathematicians were called in to establish the new field, and some became billionaires! • Early ‘90, biology needed the modeling of protein molecules and more. Mathematicians left the money poor at the time, manufacturing sector to serve the rich biological research. That is why they are respected by management and coworkers. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 3 What can under-graduate and graduate school in Math and Engineering sciences do differently in order to prepare students for an industry experience? Any specific courses? They do a great job, already! Two minor suggestions: - Bring back Differential Geometry into the basic requirements. - Teach students, to some abstraction, the concepts: - Constrained optimization. - Ill-posed vs well posed problems and regularization methods. - Sensitivity analysis of a Math Model with respect to a parameter. - The gradually being established Computational Science and Engineering, (CSE), as an approach to Applied Mathematics, is promising. The SIAM NEWS magazine of SIAM is a good source. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 4 Can middle and high schools do anything different to interest kids (especially girls) in math? Computational Science and Engineering can be taught with simple mathematical models, which high school students can handle. For example, linear systems. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 5 In a hypothetical situation where I got to go back to my alma mater, what courses would I take? • Differential Geometry (possibly with a modern approach). • Functional Analysis • Approximation Theory • Numerical Analysis • Differential Equations, (ODE and PDE). • Constrained optimization, (Calculus of variation) • Object oriented computer programming. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 6 Ensuring a smooth transition between academia and industry – what makes this successful? • Success requires an established continuous engagement between the two. Chief Technologists of industrial establishments should be assigned that role. • Was personally involved in two small scale successful projects. Yes, it took time to supervise the projects, but that was worthy. • There are academic departments, which deliver close to production solutions to problems. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 7 What are the makings of a “good scientist” or “good mathematician” in your organization? Projects involve: • User Interface Design, • Data Base Design, • ‘Math’, (established term including all except the above). For the first two parts a B.S. degree in Computer Science suffice. For the ‘Math’ part Ph. D. or M.S. is required, mostly from: Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, with • Strong Mathematics background, • Representation of curves/surfaces in NURBS/Subdivision. • Knowledge of an object oriented computer language (C++). April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 8 As a potential interviewer of industry candidates, what qualities I would value highly in an interview, apart from strength in technical area and communication? - Integrity of character. - Cooperation with coworkers in a project, (Work is done under strict project management process). - Adoptive, (projects change almost every year). - Confidence in himself and his work. April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 9 Work satisfaction: Sisyphus paradigm Life is a pleasant game April 8, 2014 IMA Special Workshop 10