I'm on sabbatical leave this semester at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) at Brown University. Since many of my family, friends, and colleagues have been asking questions about this, I thought I'd write a blog posting about sabbatical leave and particularly about doing a sabbatical leave at one of the mathematics institutes.
Sabbatical leave is one of the great things about working in academia. Traditionally, tenured faculty members are given the opportunity to take paid leave to work on research projects and professional development. In the US, a common policy is that faculty can take fully paid leave for one semester every seven years. Sometimes it's possible to take an entire year of sabbatical leave, although at my institution a one-year sabbatical leave is at only at half pay. Sabbatical leave is not supposed to be a simple vacation from work, so you have to apply in advance (a semester or more in advance at my institution) for the leave with a plan for what you will do during the leave. That plan might include research in a laboratory, field work, travel to access specialized library collections, writing a book, attending academic conferences, collaborating with researchers at another university, etc. I've reviewed many sabbatical leave applications as a member of the sabbatical leave committee at my university, and most of the applications that I've seen clearly show that the faculty member has a serious and well thought out plan.
It is possible to do a "staybattical" in which you remain at your home institution, but most faculty find that it is better to get away from their home department and avoid the kinds of interruptions and obligations that tend to occur at their home institution.
One common kind of sabbatical leave is a semester or year long sabbatical in an academic department at another university. Typically, this is based on a preexisting collaboration with a particular faculty member at that institution. The visitor would typically be given an office, access to computers and a laboratory. If the sabbatical is at half pay, it's not uncommon for the hosting department to pay the visitor to teach some courses. Similarly, it's not uncommon for faculty to visit at one of the national laboratories.
Another option is to visit at a research institute. Some institutes, such as the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) at Princeton University or the Simons Institute at Berkeley have been privately funded. In recent decades, the National Science Foundation in the US has funded a series of mathematics research institutes. Some of these institutes, such as the Institute for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) at Rutgers, have graduated from their initial NSF funding and become self sustaining. There are similar institutes in Canada and other countries.
These institutes are typically located at a major university where they have their own separate office and meeting space and are perhaps loosely connected to an academic department. The NSF institutes conduct summer school programs, short (one week) workshops and longer term (semester long, year long, or even multi-year) programs on specific research topics. The institutes have funding to support travel to the shorter term programs and funding for both travel and lodging for participants in the longer term programs.
In the past, I've done short term visits for workshops to the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) at the University of Minnesota and at DIMACS. In 1999 I participated in a six-week summer school on mathematical geophysics at Stanford University. In 2003 and 2010 I took semester-long sabbatical leaves at the Institute for Pure and Applied Math (IPAM) at UCLA.
This fall, I'm participating in the semester long program on Mathematical and Computational Challenges in Radar and Seismic Imaging at ICERM at Brown University. Radar and seismic imaging problems have important similarities and differences, so the program is bringing together researchers from these areas to share their ideas and approaches. The semester program is bringing together over a hundred participants in three workshops. A smaller core of long term participants is staying for the whole semester.
My official status at Brown University is that I'm a "Visiting Scholar". That means that I've got an ID and can access the libraries, gym, etc. At ICERM I've been given an office for the semester. It's pretty bare bones, with a desk, a phone, a computer, and a blackboard. I'm living near campus in a small studio apartment owned by Brown University in a building that houses visiting scholars. ICERM pays the rent for my apartment, and they'll reimburse me for my airplane ticket, but I'm responsible for my other expenses (meals, laundry, etc.).
I'm expected to participate in the semester long program by being around and discussing the research topic with other participants, attending three week long workshops embedded within the semester, and perhaps to provide some mentoring to the graduate students and post-docs that are here for the semester. I'll be looking for new research projects to work on, supervising some MS students via Google Hangouts video calls, working on the forthcoming third edition of my inverse problems textbook, and trying to finish off some leftover projects that have been hanging around my neck. I will try very hard not to get involved in committee and other service work from my own campus.
While I'm in Providence, I'll take some time to enjoy Providence and New England. For example, on Saturday I took a commuter rail train up to Boston, had some Dim Sum and then visited the Museum of Fine Art. Tonight, I went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood with an old friend from college. There will be lots of time to visit other friends and family in the area.
I'd encourage all of my math/stat faculty friends to consider taking a sabbatical leave at one of the mathematical institutes. There are also lots of opportunities for post-docs, graduate students, and even undergraduate students to visit the mathematical institutes. Check out upcoming workshops, summer schools, and semester programs, and make sure to apply early to participate.
