After more than 20 fantastic years at Sandia, I am calling it quits this coming summer. I am forever indebted to my wonderful Sandia colleagues, past and present, who made my years at Sandia incredibly rewarding. In response to inquiries about this change, here’s a few questions and answers.
Q: What’s your new job?
A: I will be an independent researcher and consultant under the auspices of my business called MathSci.ai (logo above and website coming in the next few months). To be quite open, I’m not yet sure what this phase of my career will look like. My preliminary plan is that consulting will take the form of advisory boards, evaluation teams, and teaching/training. I intend to spend most of my time engaged in independent research and professional service.
Q: How do I contact you?
A: The best way to contact me is via email at tammy.kolda@mathsci.ai.
Q: What prompted this decision?
A: The primary motivator was my husband’s recent retirement. My new career will allow for a more flexible schedule so that we can travel. Additionally, I am looking forward to the opportunity to focus on some new goals, such as writing a book on tensors (with coauthor Grey Ballard).
Q: Will you continue to be Editor-in-Chief (EIC) for the SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science?
A: Yes, I just started my second term as EIC on January 1, 2021, and I plan to continue until its end on December 31, 2023. At that point, I will have “termed out”, and a new EIC will be appointed by SIAM.
Q: Are you hiring interns or postdocs?
A: I will no longer be able to hire interns or postdocs. But I hope to engage with students and early-career researchers in other ways, via teaching at summer schools, university visits, and so on. I am also happy to provide pointers to other potential summer internship and postdoc mentors.
Q: Are you open to collaborations?
A: Yes, this is unchanged.
Q: Are you available to give an invited talk?
A: Yes, this is unchanged.
Q: Will you still be engaged in professional service?
A: Yes, this is unchanged.
Q: Will you still attend conferences?
A: Yes, this will hopefully continue as before.
Q: Are you interested in visiting positions?
A: Yes, I can now consider visiting positions, with a strong preference to positions that will enable me to strengthen existing collaborations. I am also interested in visiting positions at research institutes.
Q: Are you looking for an academic position?
A: No, excepting visiting positions.
Q: Are you looking for an industry position?
A: No, excepting limited-term consulting.
Q: Are you interested in being part of any research proposals?
A: No, because I am focusing on shorter-term engagements limited to a few months.
Q: Is MathSci.ai hiring?
A: No, because it is a very small-scale enterprise.