[Via Jim Borger.]

——————-
Permanent positions
——————-
These positions are at levels B and C, which are the Australian equivalent of an assistant or associate professorship. It is important to add that, as is usual in the Australian system, the positions at both levels are permanent — there is no serious tenure-review process. All strong candidates currently in post-docs or tenure-track positions are encouraged to apply.

Some preference may be given to the areas of algebra and algebraic geometry, broadly interpreted. We are also looking for someone in stochastic analysis, statistics and applications. But we welcome strong applications in all areas. For applicants in Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Physics, and Statistics, joint appointments with other departments will be considered.

The teaching duties are approximately “2 and 1″, for a total of 3 semester-length classes per year. There is also the possibility of having that reduced.

The closing date for these positions is 30 November 2009.

——————
Post-doc positions
——————
There will be 3 post-docs.  They are purely or primarily research positions.

1. Complex and/or differential geometry and/or Lie groups
This is a five-year fixed-term position.
There will be some teaching duties.
The closing date for this position is 30 November 2009.
Contact Michael Eastwood for more information.
(michael.eastwood@anu.edu.au)

The following two post-docs are awaiting administrative go-ahead and will soon be open for application.

2. Algebraic geometry and/or algebraic topology
This will be a three-year position, with a possibility of renewal.
Any teaching duties will be minimal.
Contact Amnon Neeman for more information.
(amnon.neeman@anu.edu.au)

3. Number theory and/or algebraic geometry
This will be a two-year position, with a possibility of renewal.
Any teaching duties will be minimal.
Contact James Borger for more information.
(james.borger@anu.edu.au)

————
How to apply
————

The easiest way is to apply directly to the Mathematics Department. To do this, email the following to admin.msi@anu.edu.au:
1. an application letter (‘cover letter’) saying which position
you’re applying for and giving the names and email addresses of
three references
2. a CV

For more information, go to the following page:

http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~borger/2009_job_ad_webpage

Two recent articles in the Daily Telegraph, ”Students in almost 60 percent of high schools taught by unqualified teachers” and “Mathematics skills out for the count“, highlight two key (and related) concerns in Australian mathematics education: the continuing shortages of skilled maths teachers in high schools (with one in five schools having at least one maths teacher without full qualifications, according to a recent Australian Education Union survey), and the long-term decline in enrollments in advanced maths classes (stabilising a bit in the last year or so, but still 15-25 percent below the numbers from a decade earlier).

[Thanks to Phillip Booker for the links.]

As reported today on the Funneled Web, the Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, has announced a $2 million grant to fund the “Improving Mathematics Education in Schools” project, an initiative run by AMSI in collaboration with industry and teachers to promote mathematics education and awareness of mathematics career opportunities, particularly in low-income areas.

See also the recent opinion piece by Jan Thomas of AMSI on a related topic.

The new director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, Geoff Prince, has written an open letter to the Vice Chancellor and President of Victoria University, Elizabeth Harman, regarding the proposed severe cuts in the mathematics and statistics departments (from 8.5 FTE to 4.5 FTE) through targeted. (We posted about these cuts in a previous post.)

Concerted pressure of this type by the mathematical community can make a difference; strong protests over similar actions by the University of Southern Queensland resulted in a significant reduction in the staff cuts, and USQ afterwards hired several maths and stats faculty (including one who had they made redundant!) after they realised that the cuts that they did enact left them unable to fulfill their mathematical teaching obligations.

The letter is provided in full below the fold.  (Reproduced with permission.)

–

Dear Professor Harman,

I am writing to you to express the deep concern of the Australian
Mathematical Sciences Institute at the planned reduction in your university’s
commitment to the mathematical sciences.

While strategic resourcing is a university matter, on this occasion the proposed
cuts in continuing mathematics positions appear to be unwarranted in their
severity, and the plans for mathematics and statistics teaching that accompany
them threaten the provision of tertiary mathematics education and the training
of secondary mathematics teachers in the western suburbs of Melbourne. These
changes effect the broader community, and AMSI feels compelled to respond.

Students at Victoria University deserve the dedication and encouragement of
continuing academic staff committed to improving mathematical outcomes for
students in the west. Undue reliance on casual staff will weaken the quality of the
university’s mathematical program. Academics also need the opportunity for
research. Without it your university will not be able to participate in any of the
exciting new developments that are occurring in the modern mathematical
sciences and its multidisciplinary applications, or to attract the best staff in
future. The decision to abandon support for the university’s Research Group in
Mathematical Inequalities and Applications particularly undermines
opportunities for research in these areas.

Of course your students, including those entering the teaching profession, need
exposure to these developments and that won’t happen unless Victoria
University commits to adequate continuing positions and research opportunities.

Victoria University is an inaugural member of AMSI and has benefited
significantly.
AMSI’s involvement was key to the recent upward revision of the cluster funding
rate for mathematics and statistics by the Commonwealth Government and in
the significant reduction in HECS fees for mathematics and science students and
for those pursuing teacher training in these areas. AMSI provided Victoria
University with $70,000 for the installation of its Access Grid Room, a facility
which hardwires your university into the national mathematical sciences
teaching and research scene. AMSI has recently received funding from DEEWR
for a major schools project which has the potential to deliver more students
interested in mathematics to Victoria University.

The mathematical sciences in Australia are facing unprecedented challenges
which are widely recognized as being of national strategic importance. I have
attached a copy of “A National Strategy for Mathematical Sciences in Australia”
prepared by Prof. Hyam Rubinstein, Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s
Committee for the Mathematical Sciences, in consultation with the Australian
Council of Heads of Mathematical Sciences. I hope that this document will help
convince you that Victoria University has a leadership role to play in the
provision of mathematical sciences courses to students in the western suburbs.

I urge you to re-­‐engage with the university’s mathematicians to guarantee the
integrity of this fundamental discipline at Victoria University.

Yours sincerely,

Geoff Prince
Director
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute

CC:
Commissioner Dianne Foggo
Associate Professor Michelle Towstoless
Professor Richard Thorn
The Hon Nicola Roxon MP
The Hon Marsha Thomson MP
The Hon Julia Gillard MP

Something non-serious for a change: CSIRO’s contribution to a performance entitled “CSIRO” for the 2009 University of Sydney Science Revue:  “Jurassic Quark”:

Among this year’s Nobel Prize Laureates is the Australian-American molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, currently at UC San Francisco, for her work with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak on their work on telomeres and their role in protecting chromosomes.  In the US, Blackburn is perhaps best known for being controversially dismissed from President George W. Bush’s Council on Bioethics after expressing support for embryonic stem cell research.

The Canadian physicist Williard Boyle, who won one of this year’s three Nobel Prizes in Physics for his co-invention of the imaging semiconductor circuit with George Smith, commented recently about the increasing tendency of governments to impose bureaucratic constraints on scientific research:

Dr. Boyle, who won the award with former colleague George Smith, warned that managers need to give scientists leeway to come up with the kinds of transformative inventions that are too often stifled by paperwork and red tape.

What scientists face today is “almost disgraceful … The bureaucrats want to get a hold of the money and ask for business plans. Now do you think that George Smith and I ever wrote a business plan? Not at all,” Dr. Boyle, now 85 and retired, told a reporter Tuesday. “You don’t have time to do that kind of baloney.”

In an opinion piece “Access to mathematics is vital for equity” for Australasian Science, Jan Thomas writes on how shortages of mathematics teachers has led to lack of access for many students, particularly (but not exclusively) in rural and low-income areas, to a quality mathematics education.

[Via the Funneled Web.]

On the blogroll on the left of this blog, we’ve recently added a category for blogs by mathematicians either in Australia, or otherwise affiliated with Australia: Alasdair McAndrew, the AustMS blog, Daniel Murfet, Danny Calegari, SymOmega, and myself.  If any of the readers here know of other blogs by Aussie-affiliated mathematicians (or any other relevant links for the other categories on the blogroll), please let me know so that I can add to the list further!

The Australian Research Council has released a consultation paper on its peer review process; the consultation period runs until October 19.  One of the proposals is to increase the weight of specialist reviewers, rather than focusing on other metrics such as track record.  This seems like a promising idea (and is supported by the AAS and FASTS, as reported in the Australian), though the proposals for encouraging qualified reviewers to become available seem a bit sketchier.

[Update. Sep 18: See also the recent PLoS Biology article "Real Lives and White Lies in Scientific Research", by Peter Lawrence.  Further discussion on this article can be found here.  Via the Funneled Web.]

We would be grateful for your assistance in  distributing this advertisement for a
Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Adelaide to anyone that you
think is appropriate. That may, of course, include you.

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/jobs/current/7265/

Closing date is the 18th of December. There is an associated junior tenured position
which will be advertised once the professor has been appointed.

Interested people can find out about the School of Mathematical Sciences here:

http://www.maths.adelaide.edu.au/

and information more relevant to Pure Mathematics here:

http://www.iga.adelaide.edu.au/

[Via Mathai Varghese.]