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MAA Project NExT Application FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Please review our list of Frequently Asked Questions below. If you have a question that has not been answered here, please email the current director of MAA Project NExT at [email protected].
Eligibility Applications Meetings
Eligibility
MAA Project NExT is designed for faculty in the mathematical sciences who are early in their careers. The vast majority of Fellows apply to the program in the spring before they start their first or second year of full-time teaching. In selecting Fellows, we look for applicants who have:
- recently completed a doctorate (in mathematics, statistics, mathematics education, or any math-intensive field).
- minimal full-time post-secondary teaching experience. In measuring "teaching experience" we consider visiting professorships and teaching-intensive post-docs, but not research-intensive post-docs, summer teaching, K-12 teaching, or teaching done prior to the completion of a doctorate. Successful tenure-track applicants from R1 institutions have typically completed a few post-docs.
- obtained a full-time teaching position in the mathematical sciences in an American or Canadian institution of higher education (including community colleges).
- the potential to benefit from participation in MAA Project NExT.
- additional qualities (experiences, attitudes, ideas, and leadership abilities) that would contribute to a cohort of NExT'ers.
If you are interested in applying to MAA Project NExT but don't fit the traditional applicant profile, we are happy to provide a quick assessment of how your background would be viewed. Please email the director ([email protected]) with the following information:
- the date you received your PhD (month and year) along with the area.
- a listing (by semester, quarter or term) of all courses you have taught since completing your doctorate (including the number of sections, if you taught multiple sections).
- any additional information you think would help us understand your particular situation.
Yes. Your Ph.D. can be in any one of the mathematical sciences, which include statistics, operations research, and mathematics education, as well as all fields of pure and applied mathematics.
Sadly, no. Since the workshop program deals primarily with teaching and research in the mathematical sciences, MAA Project NExT is not appropriate for someone with a Ph.D. in computer science who teaches only computer science.
The MAA Project NExT program is designed primarily for people who teach in departments of mathematics or statistics. If you have a joint appointment, we would ordinarily expect at least half of it to be in a math/stats department. Other configurations are possible, however, including appointments to multidisciplinary departments or divisions. If you are uncertain about whether you meet this criterion, please contact us at [email protected] directly.
Yes, provided you will be teaching at a college or university in the United States or Canada (which are the countries served by the Mathematical Association of America).
Yes. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of institutions that are willing to support their postdocs in applying to MAA Project NExT - and we welcome your application. However, if you will have a postdoctoral position that involves no teaching at all, then we recommend that you wait until you have a more teaching-intensive position. See the first FAQ above for more information about how we look at teaching experience.
The three conferences are vital both for the content of the events and for bonding with other Fellows. Attending the first summer workshop and MathFest in the Fellowship year is absolutely essential to be an MAA Project NExT Fellow, because it is there that the majority of the Fellowship activities take place. Therefore, if something comes up that results in an accepted applicant being unable to attend the first summer workshop and MathFest, it is, unfortunately, the case that they cannot be an MAA Project NExT Fellow for that year.
In the event that an accepted applicant is, because of some emergency, unable to be an MAA Project NExT Fellow, it might be possible to defer acceptance until the following year. Contact us at pr[email protected] and let us know what is going on.
In general, if you are aware of a personal situation or professional commitment that will prevent you from attending any of the three meetings, then you should not apply to MAA Project NExT this year.
Check to see whether there is a Section NExT in your region. Section NExTs are regional versions of MAA Project NExT that are sponsored by the MAA's geographic Sections. You can find information about MAA Sections here and a list of Sections that currently have Section NExTs here. In addition, the MAA Committee for Early Career Mathematicians sponsors activities at the national meetings that are open to all early career mathematicians. Faculty at two-year colleges might apply for AMAYTC's Project ACCCESS. Faculty who study mathematics education might apply for AMTE's STaR Program.
Applications
The first objective of the one-page vita is to tell us who you are and where you've been, so that we don't have to piece together your life history from your personal statement. It also helps us to gauge how much teaching experience you have.
Beyond that, we're interested in whatever you consider important - teaching experience, papers and conference presentations, awards, etc.
First things first: don't just submit your the Teaching Philosophy you used to get your job. You don't need to sell yourself. Instead, we want your honest reflections on teaching. What experiences have you had? What do your classrooms look like now? What methods work for you - and how do you know they work? What teaching methods are you itching to try? How have you worked to support women and under-represented minorities in your classes and in the wider STEM community? What do you hope to get out of the program? The more experience you have, the more we're expecting deep reflections on what those experiences have taught you. In short: tell us stories about your career in teaching: what made you the teacher you are, and where you hope that story goes next.
Prove every result. Just kidding. We realize that most people can't give a detailed description of their research in one page. We're interested in knowing what you've been working on in the past and what your plans are for future scholarly work.
Your chair (or department head or dean, or other person writing a letter of support for you) is automatically notified by e-mail when you submit your application to MAA Project NExT. They can submit their letter by uploading it at the site as requested by the MathPrograms system. As a professional courtesy, you should notify your chair or dean that this request will be coming before entering their email into the system.
Because of the pandemic, our instructions for chairs have changed. We are currently asking chairs/deans to address how they will support the applicant in non-financial ways, as well as what financial support is available. We understand that many institutions have travel bans or budget freezes and are working to make sure the program remains open to as many faculty as possible.
Please send via our online application:
- a completed application form
- a personal statement (<2 pages)
- a research statement(<1 page)
- a one-page vita
- a letter of support from your chair or dean
In recent years we have received about 160 applications per year. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to accept everyone. In 2020, we accepted 120 NExTers. Our goal is to accept all qualified applicants, and we are actively seeking funds to make that possible.
MAA Project NExT is generously funded by the MAA and other groups, but that funding is not unlimited. We are always looking for ways to expand the program. If you know of a possible source of funding, let us know!
Our goal is to tell applicants on June 1st or December 1st (depending on which application group they are in) whether they were selected as MAA Project NExT Fellows. Whether you are selected or not, you will hear from us. Please make sure that you give us good contact information (including a cell phone number and working e-mail address) so that we can notify you.
Yes. See the discussion of how we look at teaching experience in the 1st FAQ. If you choose to re-apply the following year, your application should be updated to include your reflections on your teaching in the interim.
Meetings
Yes. The pandemic forced the Summer 2020 workshops to be held remotely, and JMM 2021 will be remote as well. For future meetings, we will update people via the NExT lists and the website. In terms of letters of support, pre-pandemic, we asked institutions to commit to supporting $4500 in travel. We are now asking what non-financial support they are providing to the applicant, and how much financial support is possible.
Travel expenses will (obviously) be very dependent on whether or not meetings are held in person or remotely. We will update the MAA Project NExT website as we know more about the status of MathFest and JMM.
The Fellows are expected to attend all three meetings - see the Dates and Locations page for exact dates. Although family or medical emergencies occasionally prevent a Fellow from attending one of the other two meetings, Fellows should not schedule travel or summer school teaching that would prevent them from attending. If you already know that you will be unable to attend any of the days specified, then you should not apply. If you choose to apply later, please explain your situation in your application.
Iff you are planning to attend MathFest regardless of your acceptance into MAA Project NExT, then go ahead and register. If you are not going to attend Mathfest unless you are accepted to MAA Project NExT, then you should wait until you have heard from us. If you register after being accepted to MAA Project NExT, we will provide details on how to register for the conference most economically.
