NSF Award
1720963
The Women and Mathematics Program (WAM) at the Institute for Advanced Study is an annual program with the mission to recruit and retain more women in mathematics. WAM aims to counter the initial imbalance in the numbers of men and women entering mathematics training as well as the higher attrition rate of female mathematicians compared to their male counterparts at every critical transition stage in mathematical careers. WAM encourages female mathematicians to form collaborative research relationships and to become active in a vertical mentoring network spanning a continuum from undergraduates to emerita professors, which provides support and reduces the sense of isolation experienced by many women in mathematics.<br/><br/>The program is organized around a mathematical topic of current research interest. The scientific program is comprised of lecture <br/>series accompanied by daily problem sessions designed to offer top quality instruction and research experience; research seminars by post-doctorates and advanced graduate students; and colloquia by prominent women mathematicians. In addition, evening Women in Science seminars explore wide ranging topics of concern to women mathematicians. Since 1994, both the scientific and mentoring aspects of WAM have had a lasting impact on over 1000 women mathematicians. In bringing WAM into its third decade, the following are seen as the key new aims in broadening the reach and longevity of the program and its effects on the national STEM community: expand the footprint of WAM so that more women benefit from both mathematical and mentoring aspects of the program; increase visibility of women mathematicians to both the mathematics community and the society at large; spread effective paradigms developed at WAM to the wider mathematical community; facilitate opportunities for women mathematicians in both research mathematics and careers outside academia.
