looking for phd program

looking for phd program

[James Dolan]

my name is james dolan (email address: jdolan@math.ucr.edu), and i'm
an active mathematician with a significant interest in category
theory.  i don't have a phd but would like to get one, and i'm looking
for a math (or computer science) department that would be a good fit
as a place for me to enroll as a phd student.  i'm writing to this
mailing list in an attempt to efficiently reach my target audience of
mathematicians who might be receptive to such a possibility at their
department.  (passing this message on to more appropriate recipients
would be appreciated.)

here's the most crucial factor for me in determining whether a
department would be a good fit for me:

as a phd student i'd need financial support, presumably in the form of
a teaching assistantship.  i have very strong ideas about how to
teach, and would be unhappy with any teaching assignment where i
didn't have sufficient teaching autonomy.  thus i need a department to
be flexible with regard to the teaching assignments that i receive as
a teaching assistant.

aside from this crucial requirement, all i'm looking for is a
department that would serve as an intellectually stimulating
environment in which to write a phd thesis.

some other potentially relevant information about me:

my interests include algebraic geometry, physics, computation, and
much else besides.  i'm 56 years old.  there have been some published
papers based on my ideas but they were not actually written by me and
give only a distorted view of my actual ideas.  i'm much better at
communicating my ideas in other ways than by writing research papers,
so writing a doctoral thesis is for me a diversion of my energies away
from activities (such as teaching and research) more central to my
work as a mathematician, but i'm willing to try it.  all else being
equal, i'd prefer colleagues with some understanding of and sympathy
for my goals in this respect (or at least not outright hostility
towards them).

-james dolan

email address: jdolan@math.ucr.edu



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