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INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING OF US MATHEMATICS RESEARCH
6
LIKELY FUTURE RELATIVE POSITION OF US MATHEMATICS
The current trends described in section 5 are obviously mixed. This section summarizes our best estimate about the future relative position of US mathematical research. *
6.1. Intellectual Quality
As already stressed in section 5.1., the field is full of new results, new methods, new points of view, and new problems. Because the United States is preeminent, mathematics in the United States is likely in the near term to retain its dominant position in the world. In the long term, however, some of this momentum might be lost, depending on how we rise to new challenges and potentially damaging developments described below.
6.2 Interdisciplinary Research
Notable successes in interdisciplinary research (see section 3.2.1. and section 3.2.2.) have made this aspect of US mathematical research of preeminent importance today—although not uniformly throughout the United States. As recognition of the importance of mathematics in interdisciplinary research grows, opportunities will expand for collaborations that enrich other sciences and mathematics. The panel believes that the future relative position of the United States in interdisciplinary mathematical research depends in large part on the effectiveness with which these opportunities are realized. As observed in section 5.2 and section 5.3.2, governments, universities, and industry in other countries are actively supporting mechanisms that encourage interdisciplinary research. The United States must pay serious attention to this issue.
6.3. US Graduate Education in Mathematics
The panel is especially concerned about the potential erosion of the US research base because of a decrease in the number of graduate students at leading universities. The trends discussed in section 5.4 imply that the future position of US mathematics is likely to depend increasingly on graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from other countries; this makes our preeminence precarious if jobs in their countries of origin become more attractive to foreign students or if changes in immigration laws close the United States doors to non-native mathematicians. In addition, there is a dearth of minority-group members in mathematics. The panel believes that the United States must cultivate its own mathematical talent to retain its leading stature in mathematical research. A key factor in this cultivation is the quality of
*
Many of these issues are discussed in a National Research Council report (NRC 1997).
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OCR for page 45
INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING OF US MATHEMATICS RESEARCH
6
LIKELY FUTURE RELATIVE POSITION OF US MATHEMATICS
The current trends described in section 5 are obviously mixed. This section summarizes our best estimate about the future relative position of US mathematical research. *
6.1. Intellectual Quality
As already stressed in section 5.1., the field is full of new results, new methods, new points of view, and new problems. Because the United States is preeminent, mathematics in the United States is likely in the near term to retain its dominant position in the world. In the long term, however, some of this momentum might be lost, depending on how we rise to new challenges and potentially damaging developments described below.
6.2 Interdisciplinary Research
Notable successes in interdisciplinary research (see section 3.2.1. and section 3.2.2.) have made this aspect of US mathematical research of preeminent importance today—although not uniformly throughout the United States. As recognition of the importance of mathematics in interdisciplinary research grows, opportunities will expand for collaborations that enrich other sciences and mathematics. The panel believes that the future relative position of the United States in interdisciplinary mathematical research depends in large part on the effectiveness with which these opportunities are realized. As observed in section 5.2 and section 5.3.2, governments, universities, and industry in other countries are actively supporting mechanisms that encourage interdisciplinary research. The United States must pay serious attention to this issue.
6.3. US Graduate Education in Mathematics
The panel is especially concerned about the potential erosion of the US research base because of a decrease in the number of graduate students at leading universities. The trends discussed in section 5.4 imply that the future position of US mathematics is likely to depend increasingly on graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from other countries; this makes our preeminence precarious if jobs in their countries of origin become more attractive to foreign students or if changes in immigration laws close the United States doors to non-native mathematicians. In addition, there is a dearth of minority-group members in mathematics. The panel believes that the United States must cultivate its own mathematical talent to retain its leading stature in mathematical research. A key factor in this cultivation is the quality of
*
Many of these issues are discussed in a National Research Council report (NRC 1997).
OCR for page 46
INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING OF US MATHEMATICS RESEARCH
mathematics education in K-12 and college.
6.4. Support for Mathematical Research
The-most important safeguard of US preeminence in mathematical research —and in all the sciences—is the flourishing of both private and state research universities. Some of the stresses faced today by US research universities are described by the Council on Competitiveness as “facing a funding squeeze and growing, often contradictory, demands” (Council on Competitiveness 1996, p. 21). The research universities respond to this squeeze in part by reducing staff size. This situation affects mathematics because research universities provide a stable base, both financial and professional (see section 4.4). The current trend toward hiring temporary faculty discussed in section 5.3.1 is a prime indication that US universities might provide much less of that support in the future.
Today the research universities are the major instruments in the United States for research and development that fuel high technologies, an extremely important part of the US economy. Mathematics has prospered in part because it plays an important role in this research. But the research enterprise is at risk if the support for research universities continues to decline.
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