On Jul 20, 1:58 pm, rjf <fate...@gmail.com> wrote: > The issue to me is the extent to which a person in such a position is > unfairly exploited.
Right. As kcrisman says, this doesn't happen that much in math: we don't have tasks like sequencing DNA or building circuit boards that we can foist off on post-docs or grad students. Also, in math, post- docs are commonly funded by departments/universities, not through a senior faculty member's grant. So they are hired by the department, not by an individual, and there is usually no direct supervisor for the math postdoc (unless you count the chair of the department). There are likely to be unofficial sponsors who encouraged the department to hire the person in the first place, but no official supervisor. As a consequence, a math postdoc does some teaching -- sometimes a reduced load -- and gets an opportunity to work on research projects with people in the department. They also are paid somewhat reasonably: they pay better than no-teaching post-docs funded by the NSF, and much better than those funded by NSERC in Canada. Finally, since I think that the situation is okay right now, if in the future a particular department got a reputation for exploiting its post-docs, it would have a harder time hiring people. Word gets around pretty fast. -- John -- To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org
