from.qxp 4/27/98 3:17 PM Page 1315 From the AMS ics. The Exxon Education Foundation funds programs in mathematics education, elementary and secondary school improvement, undergraduate general education, and un- dergraduate developmental education. —Timothy Goggins, AMS Development Officer AMS Task Force Receives Two Grants The AMS recently received two new grants in support of its Task Force on Excellence in Mathematical Scholarship. The Task Force is carrying out a program of focus groups, site visits, and information gathering aimed at developing (left to right) Edward Ahnert, president of the Exxon ways for mathematical sciences departments in doctoral Education Foundation, AMS President Cathleen institutions to work more effectively. With an initial grant Morawetz, and Robert Witte, senior program officer for of $50,000 from the Exxon Education Foundation, the Task Exxon. Force began its work by organizing a number of focus groups. The AMS has now received a second grant of Council Congratulates Exxon $50,000 from the Exxon Education Foundation, as well as a grant of $165,000 from the National Science Foundation. Education Foundation For further information about the work of the Task Force, see “Building Excellence in Doctoral Mathematics De- At the Summer Mathfest in Burlington in August, the AMS partments”, Notices, November/December 1995, pages Council passed a resolution congratulating the Exxon Ed- 1170–1171. ucation Foundation on its fortieth anniversary. AMS Pres- ident Cathleen Morawetz presented the resolution during —Timothy Goggins, AMS Development Officer the awards banquet to Edward Ahnert, president of the Exxon Education Foundation, and to Robert Witte, senior program officer with Exxon. For many years Exxon has sup- ported the work of the AMS. In recent years, following its Rankin Heads AMS support of the AMS strategic plan, Exxon increased its funding of Society activities, particularly those related to Washington Office education. Both the Arnold Ross Lectures and the Task Samuel M. Rankin III has been appointed associate execu- Force on Excellence in Mathematics Scholarship are being tive director and director of the AMS Washington Office. supported by the Exxon Education Foundation. The Coun- A professor of mathematics and a former department cil resolution expressed the Society’s appreciation to the head of mathematical sciences at Worcester Polytechnic In- Exxon Education Foundation for its service to mathemat- stitute, Rankin has held two other positions at the AMS. NOVEMBER 1995 NOTICES OF THE AMS 1315 from.qxp 4/27/98 3:17 PM Page 1316 From the AMS Most recently, he served as associate executive director for launched “Saturday Morning Coffee Hours” for Worcester Programs and Services and previously as associate execu- area K–12 teachers. In addition, he has been active in es- tive director for Publications. tablishing undergraduate and graduate student projects In his position at the Washington Office, Rankin will over- with business and industry in the Worcester area. see a variety of AMS projects aimed at raising awareness of the importance of mathematics within the federal gov- —Allyn Jackson ernment and the general public. He will also facilitate ad- vocacy for strong support of mathematical sciences re- search. He will work closely with the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics, which has well-established government affairs Mathematical Sciences Career and public awareness efforts, as well as with the Mathe- matical Association of America and other Washington- Information Available on the based scientific societies. World Wide Web As director of the Washington Office, Rankin will pro- vide staff liaison support for the AMS Committees on Ed- The AMS and SIAM have jointly produced a Mathematical ucation and on Science Policy. In this role, he will work Sciences Career Information home page, accessible begin- closely with the chairs of these committees to facilitate im- ning in late October or early November on the World Wide plementation of actions and projects growing out of the Web (WWW). The aim is to provide services and informa- committees’ work. tion to the mathematical sciences community regarding “My emphasis in Washington will be to develop contacts nonacademic employment. The site includes an interactive with key staff and members of Congress so as to provide careers bulletin board featuring career profiles of mathe- timely information to them about the mathematical sci- maticians working in industry or government and a forum ences,” Rankin says. At the same time, he intends to pro- that allows questions to be posed directly to the mathe- vide the mathematical sciences community with current in- maticians profiled. Also accessible from the Career Infor- formation about federal priorities and decisions affecting mation home page is a mathematical applications section science funding, with special focus on how they can affect designed to provide information about the broad range of the mathematical sciences. “A sustained two-way com- mathematical fields used in industry and the various types munication of this type is necessary in order to have max- of applied problems mathematicians work on in nonaca- imum impact,” he remarks. “We must continue to connect demic settings. For students interested in how to start a the support for scientific research to economic well-being, job search, information about books and articles on career quality education, and technological advancement.” planning and links to other online resources, including Rankin received his A.B. from Elon College and his Ph.D. online job listing services, are also provided. The Career from Vanderbilt University. He was professor of mathe- Information home page is accessible either through the AMS matics at West Virginia University from 1977 to 1987. Dur- e-MATH Employment Information WWW page, ing 1980–1981, he was on leave as a visiting researcher at http://www.ams.org/employ/, or the SIAM WWW page, Carnegie Mellon University and Virginia Polytechnic Insti- http://siam.org/. tute and State University, and during 1981–1982 he was The October careers bulletin board includes a profile of on leave as a visiting researcher at the Mathematics Re- David S. Ross, senior research scientist for Eastman Kodak search Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. and a member of the Applied Mathematics and Statistics From 1985 to 1987, he served as a program advisor for the Group at Kodak’s Research Labs in Rochester, NY. He works optimization and discrete mathematics programs of the Air together with other scientists at the Labs, building mod- Force Office of Scientific Research. In 1987, he moved to els for researching new products and manufacturing tech- Worcester Polytechnic Institute to take the position of de- niques. Also profiled is Margaret Wright, distinguished partment head of mathematical sciences, which he held member of the technical staff, at AT&T Bell Labs, Murray until January of this year. His areas of research are differ- Hill, NJ. As a member of the Scientific Computing Depart- ential and integral equations and nonlinear analysis. Rankin ment, she splits her time between basic research into the- initiated the development of the popular AMS publication ory and algorithms in optimization and linear algebra and What’s Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, obtaining solution of real-world optimization problems. Wright is also funding for this project from the Exxon Education Foun- currently president of SIAM. David Ross, Margaret Wright, dation and the Sloan Foundation. Currently, he is co-prin- and the other mathematicians profiled in October are par- cipal investigator with James Crowley, executive director ticipants in the October forum and are available to answer of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics career questions submitted by users during the month. The (SIAM), for the Sloan-funded AMS-SIAM project on non- user may choose a particular participant and pose a ques- traditional employment for mathematics doctorates. tion. The profiled mathematicians check the bulletin board Rankin has also been active in the mathematics educa- frequently for queries directed to them and post responses. tion reform movement, especially in championing curric- Each month a new group of mathematicians is profiled and ular and pedagogical innovations in calculus, statistics, available through the forum to answer questions about their linear algebra, and differential equations at Worcester. He careers. At the end of each month, the forum for that helped form a statewide mathematics coalition in Massa- month is closed. The profiles, together with the questions chusetts and served as one of the initial codirectors. He also and answers, are archived so new users can obtain infor- 1316 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 42, NUMBER 11 from.qxp 4/27/98 3:17 PM Page 1317 From the AMS mation on previously featured mathematicians and their ployment. The Board may delegate to the officers of the careers. Society duties and powers normally inhering in their re- The Career Information home page is the first phase of spective corporative offices, subject to supervision by the the Nontraditional Career Opportunities in Mathematics Pro- Board. The Board of Trustees may appoint committees to ject, a joint effort by AMS-SIAM to inform graduate and un- facilitate the conduct of the financial business of the So- dergraduate mathematical sciences students about the ca- ciety and delegate to such committees such powers as reer choices available