101 Careers in Mathematics

I personally enjoyed this book and feel it is a great resource for junior high, high school, college & graduate students to discover the wide array of career possibilities a mathematics degree can give you. My only complaint is that the careers profiled missed a VERY important career path for those with degrees in Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, and some of the Engineering and physical science disciplines. The missing profession is that of being a military ORA (Operations Research Analyst). All five branches of the Armed Services(Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marine Corp) have active duty officers who work as ORAs. They may have another primary specialty as an operator(Cutterman, Aviation, Marine Safety, TACLET, Boat Forces, Surface Warfare, Port Security, SPECWAR, etc) but rotate in and out of doing good work for the services as ORAs to optimize the way the military does business. I can bear witness to this as I am an ORA for the U.S. Coast Guard. Although I prefer to think of myself more as an Operator who uses OR/Mathematics to help my service vs an OR that is trying to learn operations. I would love to see a revision to the book that profiles some of the good work our men and women in and out of uniform are doing for the military(the military has civilian personnel as well as Active Duty officers that do OR.) To learn more about military ORAs contact MORS(Military Operations Research Society) or INFORMS Military Applications Society. Additionally each of the services can tell you more about their ORAs and what they do. In the words of our current COMMANDANT," All Threats! All Hazards! Semper Paratus!!!" v/r, Lee

This is one of the few books that should be on the library shelves at all levels of education, from the middle school up through the bachelor's degree. A collection of short essays written by people who work in many different areas, it is a demonstration of the enormous number of ways math is used in the modern world. By reading this book, anyone contemplating a career in mathematics or one that uses mathematics can understand the value of taking mathematics courses. The people interviewed includes math teachers at all levels, actuaries working for the insurance industry, people who work with computers, others who work in industry and some in the public sector. None of the jobs is the same as any of the others, even if their job descriptions are the same. From these essays, it is clear that no two math jobs are the same. The joy and excitement that these people have about their work also comes through very strongly, demonstrating that mathematics knowledge is a path to exciting and interesting work. Given the unsettled nature of employment at this time, it is comforting to anyone contemplating a career path when they hear that mathematics is a skill that is very transferable and one that employers desire. There are so many myths that permeate the collective psyche of society. One of the most pervasive (and incorrect) is that there is no use for math outside of the classroom. That is wrong, and this book contains 101 existence proofs of the contrary.Published in the recreational mathematics newsletter, reprinted with permission.