A List
11/8/04

SLU'S MATH ALUMNI TO BE HIGHLIGHTED IN PROJECT 

CANTON – What can you do with a major in the mathematical sciences?
	St. Lawrence University's department of mathematics, statistics 
and computer science is one of 30 nation-wide that has been selected to 
participate in a program to develop a series of profiles of recent graduates, 
with the goal of helping undergraduates learn about career possibilities.
	Funded in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and part of the 
Sloan Career Cornerstone Series, the project is coordinated by the American 
Mathematical Society (AMS).
	The AMS plans to develop a diverse network of mathematical sciences 
departments that agree to systematically provide job profiles of a small 
sample of their recent (within six years) bachelor-level alumni. Each 
participating department will place alumni profiles on a departmental computer 
server, and the AMS will place links to the profiles from the AMS Careers and 
Employment Web page, adding to the information developed previously under the 
Sloan-funded Careers project. In addition, the AMS will build and maintain on 
its Web pages indexes to the combined collection of profiles to serve as an 
aid to those interested in finding profiles that fit certain characteristics.
	According to a statement from the AMS about the project, "Our goal is 
to collect relevant and timely information about career opportunities for 
undergraduate mathematical sciences majors that can be broadly disseminated 
to high school and college students. Over the past several years, a number of 
mathematicians have pointed out that most undergraduates have only a vague idea 
about the utility of the major. Even experienced counselors are sometimes 
hard-pressed to provide specific details to inquiring students, and the 
information that is provided tends to be anecdotal and incomplete. And yet, 
most faculty know that a student with a major in the mathematical sciences 
has excellent opportunities in business, government and further education 
in virtually any field."

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