In general, I am happy to write a letter of recommendation for anyone who has taken a class with me. The purpose of this page is for students to get a feel for the process of asking for one, and to lay out clearly when I will not be willing to write a letter so that no one feels blind-sided.
As a matter of moral principle, I will not write letters of recommendation for programs or jobs involving any of the following:
Policing (including but not limited to predictive policing, development of algorithms that predict recidivism, etc.) see here for more on this;
Military applications (such as internships at the Department of Defense);
Private weapons manufacturing;
Intelligence gathering (such as internships at the NSA, FBI, or GCHQ)-- see here for more on this and the previous two bullet points;
Opportunities that violate the USACBI cultural and academic boycott of Israel as I am a signed endorser of that call-- see here for more on this.
I am very happy to have an in-person discussion with any student who has questions about this policy. Conversations around when and how mathematics should be used are sorely lacking in our community, so in fact I encourage questions and discussion! Note however that this policy is non-negotiable. Therefore, if it's invoked when I am asked to write a letter, know that it is not personal.
Have you seen the above detailing the types of opportunities for which I will not write a letter? If not, check it out.
Send me an email! The body of the message could start with something like "I am going to be applying for XYZ and would like to request a letter of recommendation from you."
Your email should include the following information:
Why you're interested in whatever it is you're applying for;
Why you think I would be a good letter writer for this opportunity (e.g., the program calls on skills you learned in our class);
Some sort of attached resume - this doesn't have to be anything official! It could even just be a list of relevant course work and past experiences that relate to the opportunity;
Clear instructions for how to submit the letter and when the deadline is.
I appreciate as much advanced notice as possible. It takes time to write a convincing and detailed letter, so as a guideline, aim to email me at least 6 weeks before the deadline. Keep in mind that at any given time, professors are fielding requests from multiple students so our schedules fill up quickly. And the more time you give me to write the letter, the better it will be.