Thursday, September 19, 2013

Collocamento a riposo

A few days ago I  received from the Rector of the University of Insubria my letter of "collocamento a riposo" - that is, on the 1st November 2013 I will no longer be a professor at the the university.

I admit to a certain relief.

 Last week boxes arrived unannounced for the transport of the contents of our offices to a new uncertain location. Yesterday I spent the day packing my papers.
Late in the afternoon we in via Carloni 78, Como, received a letter with information about the closing of our offices. I was reassured to find that in fact I do not have to relocate before retirement.

It seems I do have to do something else unexpected in my last days at Insubria - all staff members must complete a course on security by 31st October, to assume some responsibility for security in the university.

What I am really thinking about in my last days at Insubria is the writing I intend to do. We just finished revising an article for possible publication responding to referees' comments and I realised that the referees were not familiar with the preceding papers. It is clear that the work we have been doing on the algebra of automata has not been well understood by the intended audience. I think the work is very good but journal articles are too hard and we haven't written well.  It is true that in mathematics it often takes years or decades for work to be appreciated, but in an interdisciplinary area the problem is even greater. The  upshot is that I want to write some books with a leisurely exposition of our work - the students in my courses have not had difficulty understanding.

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