MA798I Spring 2008
Communicating Applied Mathematics

Time and Place:  MWF: 9:10-10:00am, HA222

Instructor: 

Ilse Ipsen
317 Harrelson Hall, 515-3399
email: ipsen at ncsu dot edu

Office Hours:  MWF: 10-10:45am, HA317

Webpage for MA798I:  http://www4.ncsu.edu/~ipsen/ma798I/

Textbooks:

• Nicholas J. Higham: Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences, Second Edition, SIAM, 1998
• Steven G. Krantz: A Primer of Mathematical Writing, AMS, 1997

Homeworks: 

Usually one per lecture, group projects, in class presentations, reading assignments. No hand written homeworks, please. Use tex or word.

Course Objectives: 

This is a writing and speaking-intensive three-credit course for Ph.D. students in Applied Mathematics or related disciplines who have passed the departmental qualifying exam. The purpose of the course is to prepare you for work in an academic or industrial environment by improving your writing and speaking abilities in the area of applied mathematics.

The course requires extensive participation on your part. You will give presentations; write abstracts, summaries, and reviews; and read well written papers as well as badly written ones.

You will acquire an appreciation for how important it is to communicate well. In the short term, the course will help you with writing your thesis and teaching in the class room. In the long term, it will help you with interviewing for jobs, writing research papers, applying for funding and communicating in an industrial environment.

MA789I Publications 

Help for Writing:

• Des Higham:   101 Writing Tips
• Steven Krantz:  How to Write Your First Paper
• Marie-Claire van Leunen and Richard Lipton:   How to Have Your Abstract Rejected
• Jonathan Shewchuk:   Three Sins of Authors in Computer Science and Math
• John Chinneck:   How to Organize Your Thesis
• W. Strunk, Jr.:   The Elements of Style
• H.W. Fowler:   The King's English

Help for Presentations:

• SIAM:  Tips for Making Effective Presentations
• Charlie Van Loan:   Tips for a Short Talk
• Tammy Kolda:   Advice on How to Give a Talk
• Carmine Gallo:   Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs
• John McCarthy:   How to Give a Good Colloquium, CMS Notes, Vol.31, No.5, September 1999
• Joseph Gallian:   How to Give a Good Talk, Math Horizons, April 1998
• Edward Tufte:   The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint
• Di Cook:   Poster Presentations

Reference:

• Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Language Tools
• Latex Help

L^ATEX Resources:

• L^ATEX sample file
• Essential L^ATEX
• Essential Mathematical L^ATEX
• L^ATEX 2e Introduction

Jobs and Job Interviews:

• SIAM:   Careers and Jobs
• AMS:   Career Services
• James Lambers:   Finding An Academic Job
• AMS:   Advice for New Ph.D.'s
• Loyce Adams:   Jobs and Interviewing
• Ellen Spertus:   Tips for a Massive Academic Job Search
• Jim Austin:   Writing a Research Plan
• Joseph Brennan:   NSF Proposal Preparation

Life in General:

• Dianne O'Leary:   Survival Manual for Graduate Study in the Computer and Mathematical Sciences
• Marie desJardins:   How to be a Good Graduate Student
• Graduate Student Survival Kit

Additional Resources:

• J. C. Bean: Engaging ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, Jossey-Bass, 2001
• D. E. Knuth, T. Larrabee, and P. M. Roberts: Mathematical Writing, MAA Notes, No. 14, 1989
• N. E. Steenrod, P. R. Halmos, M. N. Schiffer, and J. A. Dieudonné: How to Write Mathematics, AMS, reprinted 1981
• E. Swanson: Mathematics into Type, Updated Edition, Updated edition by A. O'Sean and A. Schleyer, AMS, 1999
• L. Dupré: BUGS in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose, Addison Wesley, 1998