Q&A with the ANZIAM 2021 Women Plenary Speakers
Linda Cummings
What is your name and what do you do?
I’m Linda Cummings, a Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education in the College of Science & Liberal Arts at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). My dual roles mean that my job is an interesting mix of my own research (carried out with colleagues, graduate students, undergraduate students and high-school students), teaching, and administrative duties related to graduate education and research in the College. A nice aspect of the College-wide role is that I get to interact with colleagues and students from a range of different Departments.
Why do you do mathematics?
I wasn’t always sure I wanted to do mathematics. At school I loved chemistry, and for a while I thought I’d study that at University. However, I realised that I was much more interested in the theoretical aspects of chemistry than any of the lab work – in fact, I wasn’t very good at lab work, and since it seemed impossible to avoid the lab in chemistry, I decided to do mathematics instead. Then, during my undergraduate degree I was convinced that I would give up mathematics after graduation and get an “ordinary” job. Maths seemed very difficult. But I had a tutor – John Ockendon – who kept saying “When you do your Ph.D. you’ll …” – and the more I said I wasn’t going to do a Ph.D., the more he said this. And eventually I did my Ph.D., and then I found that, once you’re focusing on something you find really interesting, it becomes a lot easier. Now I can’t think of a job I’d rather do.
What is a typical work day like for you?
My work day always starts at home – I catch up on emails first, and some days I might have a webex/zoom meeting before I leave for the office. My commute involves 15km of cycling (mainly along the Hudson river) and a train. On campus, I’ll usually have a few meetings – examples could be research meetings with colleagues and students to discuss progress and ideas, faculty meetings in my department, Dean’s office meetings, committee meetings, mentoring meetings with junior faculty – and there might also be a seminar; I have journal editorial duties to attend to, and of course I teach classes as well. If I get “free” time, I might spend it reading or editing a paper or dissertation that one of my students is working on, or if I’m really lucky, thinking about a new research problem – which would most likely turn into a research funding proposal at a later stage. Then the train/bike back home, around 6pm. Compared with earlier in my career, I have much less unstructured time now in my working day.
What keeps you in research? Have you had to overcome any barriers or problems?
The research is the most interesting part of the job, for me. I find working with students on research projects to be very rewarding – structured teaching is also rewarding of course, but students really learn a lot from engaging in a research problem, where they have to apply what they have learned, and then interpret the results. It’s great to see students gain confidence as they find out how to use mathematics to address real-world problems (much of my research involves applications of mathematics to industrial problems). Compared with earlier in my career, the way I approach research is necessarily different – as a senior academic I’m more of a “research manager”, who has to come up with ideas and mathematical models for students to solve. It’s hard to find time to do the fundamental work myself. I’m also lucky in that my administrative role as Associate Dean involves research as well – and here I get to find out about the kind of research my colleagues in other Departments are doing (for example, through review of internal proposals), which is very interesting.
How important is travelling?
Less so, these days! The pandemic has shown us how much can be accomplished without travelling to all be in the same place. It’s nearly 2 years since I did any work-related travel now. That said, I do look forward to being able to engage in some interesting face-to-face conferences again in the near future.
Do you have any advice for others who are starting a mathematical career?
Don’t be intimidated or underestimate yourself. For example, one of the things that really discouraged me as an undergraduate (the only female student among 9 male peers studying mathematics in my college) was that the male students would say how easy they found the work and assignments and how quickly they completed it, while I knew it was taking me hours of struggle. It was years later before I realised that they were mostly either lying, or getting lousy grades for the work. At the time I just assumed they were a lot better than me and that I didn’t belong. But if you are given a place to study somewhere, you do belong. If you are offered a job, you deserve it. And if you think you’re ready for promotion, you probably are – and certainly if your Department chair/head thinks you are ready, you are. If your institution doesn’t have a formal mentoring programme, find yourself a reliable mentor, who can help you navigate academic life at your institution. As soon as you can, start to build a research team of students (postdocs too if possible) who will work with you and help you accomplish your research goals. Getting funding to support your research programme is key to success these days, so take proposal writing seriously – it’s an increasingly competitive endeavour. And always have someone whose opinion you trust read and critique your proposals before submission.
Gabriele Eichfelder
What is your name and what do you do?
My name is Gabriele Eichfelder. I am a professor for mathematical methods of operations research at the Institute of Mathematics at the Technische Universität Ilmenau in Germany.
Why do you do mathematics?
I have been very interested in mathematics since school. During my studies and, most of all, during my master thesis (called at that time a diploma thesis), I had the experience that doing mathematics and developing new approaches is something very creative, which I liked a lot. Working as a mathematician is not only about solving problems, but it is in fact very versatile. A further aspect which I like about my work is that research is very international, and I love to work with people from all around the world. With math we still somehow speak the same language.
What is a typical work day like for you?
My workdays differ a lot. And I like that very much. On all days I check and answer emails, but next to that I might talk to Ph.D. students or give classes, prepare slides for my next research talk, meet with colleagues from another department to explore joint research interests, write a motivating introduction for a current research paper I am working on, write a report for someone else’s grant application, check submitted papers for a journal I am editor for, try to prove a result we are struggling with since days, do administrative things like attending the senate of my university or taking part in a selection committee, …
What keeps you in research? Have you had to overcome any barriers or problems?
I love doing research and all the aspects related to it and this keeps me in. Of course, there are always barriers or problems of different kind, but for me they have always be negligible compared to positive experiences I got.
How important is travelling?
Working internationally and exchanging ideas on international conferences is very important to me. Having nice new results is something but talking about them on a conference and getting immediate feedback is also very important.
Do you have any advice for others who are starting a mathematical career?
Talk to many people and work with different people from different groups to get to know different ways of thinking, writing mathematical papers, attitudes. Don’t rush and be careful and double check your results, and better wait with a paper or a talk until it is a good one. Go to conferences and talk about your research such that people get to know you and your research. Take up opportunities, as there will always be many around you who want to help you in your career.