Dr. Susan Minkoff, a professor of mathematical sciences at UT Dallas, is enjoying serving her second term as secretary of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), a post she’ll keep till the end of 2023.
SIAM, with roughly 15,000 members, is an international professional society that serves as the main applied mathematics professional organization in the United States.
Minkoff finds the role of secretary both stimulating and intense.
As SIAM secretary, she’s an officer and member of the president’s cabinet. She’s also a voting member of the SIAM council, and she serves on the major awards committee. She also chairs the Committee on Committees and Appointments that oversees and makes recommendations for members of all the non-elected SIAM committees, and she chairs the Block Lecture Committee. The Block Lecture is open to the public and occurs each summer as part of the SIAM Annual Meeting.
“The SIAM Secretary holds a key position in the governance of the Society, and Sue is doing an exceptional job in this role. I am very grateful that she is serving in this position during my Presidency!” said Louisiana State University System Boyd Professor Susanne Brenner, president of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Minkoff has been a SIAM member for 30 years. She first started attending meetings while a graduate student at Rice University.
“SIAM always has been a place that welcomes students, and it is a really great way to meet and hear from successful and interesting junior and senior mathematicians from around the world working in applied mathematics on all sorts of topics about which I knew very little as a student,” Minkoff said.
Applied mathematics, in partnership with computational science, is essential in solving many real-world problems. Through publications, research, and community, the mission of SIAM is to build cooperation between mathematics and the branches of science and technology.
“Back in 2010, I was giving a talk at Columbia University and joined a group for dinner with the head of the applied mathematics department there, who also was SIAM vice president at large. I told him I wanted to do some SIAM service work, and he ended up recommending me for the Membership Committee, which he chaired. Eventually, I was asked to take over as chair of the Membership Committee.
“I have served in other roles as well – conference-organizing committees, prize-selection committees, and as chair of the SIAM Geosciences Activity Group. SIAM always has been a great way for me to network and make friends in the wider community,” Minkoff said.
SIAM started student chapters about 15 years ago, and now there are more than 200 worldwide. Students in chapters receive free membership to SIAM and on their own initiative, with the help of the faculty advisors, organize activities, such as hosting visiting lecturers and distinguished speakers, setting up career panels and professional development sessions to help students navigate their future careers.
“When I chaired the Membership Committee, we started a column in SIAM News called ‘Careers in the Mathematical Sciences.’ I solicited columns from all sorts of folks about their personal career journeys. We ran a series that compared working in academia versus working in labs versus working for companies. About 25 columns appeared as part of that series when I was editor,” Minkoff said.
As for SIAM members, they receive reduced conference registration fees, reduced prices on SIAM published books and journals, and publications like the monthly news journal, SIAM News.
SIAM advocates to Congress and federal funding agencies seeking money for applied math research. But mainly, she says, belonging to SIAM is a great way to meet other applied mathematicians and to network and make connections.
“I had started the SIAM student chapter at my former institution, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and knew what was required to establish a student chapter.
“Because UTD didn’t have 12 members to sign a petition to form a new chapter when I first arrived, we decided to join forces with Southern Methodist University (SMU), which also lacked a SIAM student chapter. I knew Alejandro Aceves, then head of the department at SMU, and together he and I started the UTD/SMU SIAM student chapter,” she said.
Current UTD/SMU student chapter faculty advisors are Aceves (SMU) and Dr. Yifei Lou (UT Dallas).
Stories for the newsletter, Math Matters, are produced by faculty and staff of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
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