Career Information:
Mathematicians are found in a variety of areas. They are found in well-known companies such as IBM and AT&T Bell Laboratories in government agencies such as the Bureau of Census and the Department of Agriculture ; in the arts as sculptors, musicians, and in television; in the professions like law and medicine; and in education, elementary, secondary, college and university. Mathematicians are also found in some surprising places like the FED EX Corporation and L.L. Bean. Degrees for mathematicians range from bachelors to Ph.D. and often a bachelor's degree is more of a starting point than an end itself.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment of mathematicians is expected to increase 0 to 9% for most occupations through the year 2006, which is more slowly than the average. The number of jobs available for people with an educational background in mathematics alone is not expected to increase significantly. However, a background that includes a related discipline will have better job opportunities. Also, as advancements in technology lead to a more extensive use of mathematics, more workers with a knowledge of mathematics will be in demand.
- Academic Employment
- Nonacademic Employment
- Bachelor’s Degree Opportunities
- Master’s Degree Opportunities
- Doctoral Degree Opportunities
- Other Sources of Information
Academic Employment
Currently, many school districts have difficulty hiring teachers in subjects such as mathematics, science, bilingual education, and computer science. According to the Department of Labor, overall employment of kindergarten, and elementary school teachers is expected to increase 10 to 20% through the year 2006, which is about as fast as the average. Due to the expected large number of teachers retiring, many additional jobs should open up. The Department of Labor also states that employment of secondary school teachers is expected to grow 21 to 35% 21 to 35% through the year 2006, which is faster than average. Employment growth depends on individual teaching disciplines and on population growth rates, and thus student enrollments. Enrollment of 14 to 17 year olds is expected to grow through the year 2006 while enrollment of 5 to 13 year olds is projected to increase, at a slower rate, through 2002 and then decline.
According to the National Education Association's (NEA) Rankings of the States, the estimated national salary of public elementary and secondary school teachers in 1997 was $38,611 up from a nation average of $37,900 in 1995-1996. Teachers is the state of Wisconsin were averaged at $39,057 for the 1997-1998. The NEA Rankings of the States, 1997 also provides averages salaries for all states in the nation.
University and college teaching have always attracted many mathematicians. In most four-year colleges and universities, the Ph.D. is necessary for full faculty status. However, those with master's degrees are also hired to teach at the college level. The 1997 AMS-IMS-MAA Annual Survey (first report) states that 63.9% of new doctoral recipients from the 1996-97 academic year employed in the U.S. hold jobs in academia. Only 6.8% of all the 1995-1996 doctoral recipients are unemployed, a significant drop of 3.3% from the prior year.
Salaries for faculty depend on the types of degrees offered by the department: bachelors, masters or doctoral, and whether the school is private or public. Differences in salaries are also found between assistant, associate, and full professors. New Ph.D.s are usually hired with relatively little experience as assistant professors. In the normal progression of teaching, professional, and scholarly growth, assistant professors are usually promoted to associate professors in seven years. It then takes a minimum of five years to become a full professor. For more information on faculty salaries, see The 1997 AMS-IMS-MAA Annual Survey published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
Nonacademic Employment
A wide variety of nonacademic careers are found in industry and government. Computer science and the sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics, rely heavily on mathematics. With recent advances, each of these disciplines is increasingly using mathematical models. Mathematics is the foundation for actuarial science and is being utilized more in the social sciences, especially economics and psychology. Opportunities are also available in electrical or mechanical engineering and operations research.
Bachelor's Degree Opportunities
According to the 1993 National Survey of Recent College Graduates sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), 82% of bachelor's degree recipients with a major in math have general mathematics as their major area of study. Of these degree holders, 13% had applied mathematics, statistics, or operations research as their major area of study. This survey found more bachelor's degree recipients employed in nonacademic areas compared to an academic areas, 58% versus 29%. The main areas of nonacademic employment are Accounting and Finance, Computer Programming, Sales and Marketing, Management and Related Positions, Actuarial, Computer Systems Analysis, Engineering, Statistics, and Mathematics or Modeling. Nonacademic occupations are also found in other areas of science, computer science, health, social services and other technical areas.
The AMS, MAA, and SIAM Mathematical Sciences Career Information web page provides profiles of individuals who have pursued a variety of careers in nonacademic environments. Below is a list of specific jobs acquired by people with bachelor's degrees in mathematics. Each position is put in an occupational category. For more detailed information, visit http://www.ams.org/careers/mcbb.html.
Accounting & Finance
Cost Estimator, Naval Sea Systems Command, Crystal City, VA, prepares cost estimates for Navy shipbuilding construction and develops the rates for labor and overhead used to derive the total cost of construction.
Partner, Gordian Group, L.P., New York, NY, works with troubled companies by helping them develop and implement financial plans that allow them to continue in business.
Research Assistant, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC, is on the front lines of the monetary policy; works to attract new graduates who intend to move on the graduate school or Wall Street in two to three years.
Computer Programming
President, Elements Research, Charlotte, NC, develops software for engineering, medical and scientific applications.
Actuarial
Investment Actuary, Westfield Companies, Westfield, OH, oversees the company's asset/liability management processes.
Actuary, American Equity Insurance Company, Scottsdale, AZ, assembles and analyzes statistics to calculate probabilities and, thus set rates, for the company.
Consulting Actuary, Muetterties, Bennett and Associates – Consultants in Casualty, Mountain Lakes, NJ, spends time on traditional actuarial tasks and many no-actuarial tasks such as marketing and maintaining the company Web pages.
Assistant Actuary, CIGNA Corporation, Philadelphia, PA, provides support to business people in a non-technical environment; that is, communicates technical information to other employees and customers in a way they can understand.
Computer Systems Analysis
Computer Specialist, Department of the Army, Rock Island, IL, uses problem-solving skills as part of a team of UNIX systems administrators.
Mathematics or Modeling
Air Pollution Meteorologist, Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, Austin, TX, works on projects to incorporate date from a new weather satellite earth station into models used to forecast atmospheric conditions.
The 1993 National Survey of Recent College Graduates sponsored by the NSF also indicates full time salary range for math majors with bachelor's degrees in nonacademic positions. The survey also states that 23% earn between $10,000 and $19,999; 34% are in the range of $20,000 to $29,999; and 30% earn between $30,000 and $39,999. According to a 1997 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, starting salary offers for math graduates with a bachelor's degree averaged about $31,800.
Master's Degree Opportunities
Similar to the results found for bachelor's degree holders, the National Science Foundation (NSF) reports that 61% of master's degree recipients in 1991-1992 have a major area of study in general mathematics, while 19% have statistics as their major area and 12% have applied mathematics. The main areas of nonacademic employment for those with master's degrees are Statistics, Mathematics or Modeling, Computer Programming, Engineering, Management and Related Positions, Actuarial, Computer Systems Analysis, Sales and Marketing, and Accounting and Finance. These areas are listed according to popularity with the most popular math occupation being Statistics.
The following is a list of specific jobs acquired by people with master's degrees in mathematics. Each position is put into an occupational category. For more information visit the AMS, MAA, and SIAM Mathematical Sciences Career Information web site at http://ww.ams.org/careers/mcbb.html.
Statistics
Project Scientist, Silas Mason Company, Inc., Amarillo, TX, performs statistical analysis and administrative support for programs providing safeguards for the assembly and dismantling of nuclear weapons.
Statistician, National Cancer Institute, Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, MD, works in support of both basic and applied research in biology and medicine and currently working on a project developing models of interactions between macromolecules.
Systems Analyst, Ford Motor Company, Ypsilanti, MI, collect data and performs analysis that will result in the improvement of the production processes of the Electrical and Fuel Handling Division of the plant.
Mathematics or Modeling
Vice President, D.E. Shaw & Co., New York, NY, develops new trading models that are part of the automated trading strategies used by the company.
Mathematician, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, collaborates with scientists to develop models of biological phenomena, such as a recently developed model looking at an aspect of kidney function.
Computer Programming
Senior Scientific Analyst/Programmer, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Swedeland, PA, applies mathematics and computation to various problems in pharmaceutical research with much effort in support of the analysis of human genome data.
Management and Related Positions
Senior Technical Specialist, Northrop Grumman, Pico Rivera, CA, leads a group of engineers and scientists on the design and analysis of systems produced by the company.
Systems Engineering Manager, Sun Microsystems, Boston, MA, manages a staff of systems engineers that provide technical support for systems sold to the Federal Government; this often means reworking mathematical algorithms to optimize code run times.
Media Specialist, DeMasi Middle School, Marlton, NJ, helps supports the curriculum, provides resources and instruction in information processing skills, and solves problems associated with managing the media center.
Sales and Marketing
Associate Director of Clinical Research, Institute for Spine and Biomedical Research, Plano, TX, collaborates with medical personnel in area hospitals, as well as companies, to develop new health care products.
According to a 1997 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, starting salaries for those with master's degrees averaged about $38,300. The 1993 National Survey of Recent College Graduates sponsored by the NSF, reported that 11% of master's degree holders in mathematics with nonacademic occupations average $20,000 to $29,999 per year. The survey also reports that 40% earn between $30,000 and $39,999, 34% earn between $40,000 and $49,999 and 9% earn between $50,000 and %59,999 per year.
Doctoral Degree Opportunities
The 1997 AMS-IMS-MAA Annual Survey (first report) found that 20.8% of new doctoral degree holders received jobs in nonacademic positions. The survey also states that only 6.8% of all the 1995-1996 doctoral recipients are unemployed, a significant drop of 3.3% from the prior year. The AMS, MAA, and SIAM Mathematical Sciences Career Information web page provides a list of doctoral degree holders and a specific description of their occupation. Below is a list of some of these professions. They fall into the categories of Research or Mathematical Modeling, Engineering, and Management and Related Positions. For more detailed information on any of the following job descriptions, visit the web page at http://www.ams.org/careers/mcbb.html.
Research or Mathematical Modeling
Chief Scientist, PRC Inc., a Subsidiary of Litton Industries, McLean, VA, leads research and development efforts in the areas of computational linguistics, information science, and artificial intelligence.
Research Staff Member, Institute for Defense Analyses, Princeton, NJ, works in the area of cryptography, the writing and deciphering codes, and signals processing.
Research Staff Member, Institute for Defense Analyses, Bowie, MD, works on mathematics and computation problems in support of the National Security Agency.
Scientist, Naval Command Control & Ocean Surveillance Center, Point Loma Peninsula, CA, works on problems aimed at improving the Navy's ability to collect, transmit and process information essential to its operations.
Applied Mathematician, Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, NC, works for the Non-Cancer Program at CIIT developing mathematical models to simulate the flow of air in the respiratory tract.
Senior Research Scientist and Applied Math Technical Group Leader, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, does probabilistic modeling for waste tank safety analysis and develops numerical wavelet methods for computational chemistry.
Vice President, Ecodynamics Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM, works on an Air Force project producing computer models and simulations to help address the environmental clean-up of sites around the world contaminated with spilled jet fuel.
Research Staff Member, Center for Communications Research, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, works in support of cryptologists at the National Security Agency.
Applied Mathematician, Park Medical Systems Inc., Lachine, Quebec, Canada, performs analysis and modeling in the area of nuclear medicine.
Member of the Research Staff, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, VA, monitors the development and testing of new weapon systems.
Statistician, Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Oak Ridge, TN, provides statistical support for environmental restoration projects at Department of Energy sites where nuclear material is stored.
Engineering
Researcher/Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, works on software development projects.
Engineering Specialist, The Aerospace Corporation, Herndon, VA, works on the development of numerical methods for space vehicle trajectory simulation tools.
Senior Software Engineer, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR, leads a project that implements and optimizes speech compression algorithms for use in video conferencing system products.
Financial Engineer, Summit Systems Inc., New York, NY, develops and implements an office risk-management system used primarily by investment banks.
Management and Related Positions
Manager, System Requirements Analysis, Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Fort Worth, TX, oversees people who perform modeling and analysis to evaluate competing fighter aircraft designs.
Chief Operating Officer, Petrotechemical Open Software Corporation, Houston, TX, leads the development of technical computing and data standards for the oil industry.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, in the Federal Government in 1997, the average annual salary for mathematicians in supervisory, nonsupervisory, and managerial positions was $62,000; for mathematical statisticians, $65,660; and for cyrptanalysts, $56,160.
Other Sources of Information
American Mathematical Society
P.O. Box 5904
Boston, MA 02206-5904
(800) 321-4267
e-mail: ams@ams.org
web site: e-MATH : http://www.ams.org/
American Statistical Association
1429 Duke Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3402
(703) 684-1221
web site: http://www.amstat.org/
Association for Women in Mathematics
4114 Computer & Space Sciences Building
University of Maryland College Park, Maryland 20742-2461
(301) 405-7892
e-mail: awm@math.umd.edu
web site: http://www.math.neu.edu/awm/
Mathematical Association of America
1529 Eighteenth Street N.W. Washington, DC 20036
(202) 387-5200
e-mail: maahq@maa.org
web site: http://www.maa.org/
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
1906 Association Drive Reston, VA 22091-1593
(703) 620-9840
web site: http://www.nctm.org/
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
3600 University City Science Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-2688
(215) 382-9800
e-mail: siam@siam.org
web site: http://www.siam.org/index-g.htm