American Mathematical SocietyEducation and Diversity Department
________
AMS Committee on Education Meeting
October 27, 2017
Helen G. Grundman, Ph.D.Director of Education and Diversity
EducationB.S. in Mathematics and Psychology with Secondary Teaching
Credentials, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1979
Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, 1989
Dissertation: The arithmetic genus of Hilbert modular threefoldsAdvisor: P. Emery Thomas
Helen G. Grundman, Ph.D.Director of Education and Diversity
Prior Employment:
High School Mathematics Teacher, Harper Woods, Michigan, 1980-83
C.L.E. Moore Instructor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1989-91
Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, Chair of Mathematics, Bryn Mawr College, 1991-2016
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 1994-95
Science Fellow, Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, 1998-99
Program Director, National Science Foundation, 2001-02
The American Mathematical Society
Over 28,000 individual members
560 institutional members
450 mathematician volunteers make upthe leadership and committees
210 staff members in RI, DC, and MI
AMS Mission Statement
To further the interests of mathematical research, scholarship and education, serving the national and international community through publications, meetings, advocacy and other programs.
AMS Strategic Plan 2016-2020 Goals
• Promote mathematical research, its communication and uses• Encourage and promote the transmission of mathematical
understanding and skills• Support mathematical education at all levels• Advance the status of the profession of mathematics,
encouraging and facilitating full participation of all individuals
• Foster an awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines in everyday life
Education and Diversity Department
Seeks to promote diversity and inclusion at all stages of the mathematics “pipeline”
Initial focus on graduate education in the mathematical sciences
Concerns include:
• preparation of students entering graduate school • mentoring of students for success • promotion of diversity and inclusiveness at the graduate
level
Initial Goals of EDD
Informing the mathematical community about the department
Establishing strong connections with other organizations and groups promoting diversity in the mathematics community
Providing support and coherence to ongoing AMS inclusion initiatives
Developing projects that are candidates for external funding
2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Association for Women in Mathematics Panel: Mentoring Women in Mathematics
Michelle Manes, Helen G. Grundman, Suzanne Weeks, Emina Soljanin, Kristin Lauter, Deanna Hainsperger,
Photos by Kate Awtrey
2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings
AMS Committee on the Profession Panel: Diversity and Inclusion in the Mathematical Sciences
Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Duane Cooper, Helen G. Grundman, Kristin Lauter, Talithia Williams
Photos by Kate Awtrey
2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings
The Mathematics and Mathematicians Behind Hidden Figures
Margot Lee Shetterly, Dr. Christine Darden, Dr. Ulrica Wilson
Photo by Edray Goins
The Mathematics and Mathematicians Behind Hidden Figures organized by:
AMS Education and Diversity Department
Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
Building Diversity in Science (BDS)
Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE)
National Association of Mathematicians (NAM)
The Mathematics and Mathematicians Behind Hidden Figures
The event was standing-room only, even after a wall was opened to the adjoining room!
In the post-conference survey, many people cited this panel as a high point of the JMM
Photos by Edray Goins
WATCH-US
Women Achieving through Community Hubs in the US: an NSF-funded 2-year INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot
Goal: Understanding mechanisms that successfully broaden participation of women in the mathematical sciences.
Sociological study of six programs that have collectively served over 5,000 young women
Stake-holders’ meeting to disseminate initial results and develop prototype activities
Mini grants for scalable prototype projects that incorporate attributes found to be effective
A new website with resources for mathematics students, educators, and mentors: https://www.womendomath.org
WATCH-US
IGENInclusive Graduate Education Network:
an NSF-Funded 2-year INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot
Goal: Develop, adopt, and share inclusive practices for recruiting, admitting, and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in physics
The American Physical Society started this project to build on its Bridge Program
Part of the project involves bringing together representatives from other disciplines to study the feasibility of designing similar programs in other disciplines. (More on this, later.)
The APS has teamed with 6 selective physics graduate programs to consider their admissions committee practices
Math Subject GRE Percentiles Corresponding to In-Group Percentiles
In-Group Percentile
Asian White Hispanic
Male Female Male Female Male Female
90 95 65 80 56 65 x
75 87 48.5 60 36 39 x
50 56 28.5 39 17 23.5 x
25 28.5 17 19.5 7.5 9.3 x
10 9 7.5 9 3 4.5 x
NAM Undergraduate MathFest Represented the AMS on a panel about applying to mathematics
graduate school Donated two AMS books that were given as prizes for presentations
Donald King, Helen G. Grundman, Ryan Hynd
Photo by Tony Akeem
Additional Involvement
EDGE Summer Program: Donated funds to support 3 AMS EDGE Scholars
TPSE Math (Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics): Advised on the planning of graduate education portion of their March 2017 conference
Mathematically Gifted and Black Website: Campaigned for its creation
http://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/
Additional Involvement
Participated in a Providence NAACP event on Hidden Figures
Spectra, the Association for LGBT Mathematicians: Attended their January business meeting by invitation
Historical Black Mathematicians Poster: Helping to make it happen
AWM: Worked together on 2017 Hidden Figures event, WATCH-US, and a possible grant proposal along with EDGE and CaMeW (Career Mentoring for Women in Mathematics)
Ongoing AMS Inclusion Initiatives
EDD now facilitates the AMS Committee on the Profession’s Mathematics Programs that make a Difference Award
Worked with the Development Department in setting up the Mark Green and Kathryn Kert Green Fund for Inclusion and Diversity
EDD now processes contributions to diversity or education programs
Serve as an informal liaison with the AMS Committee on Women in Mathematics
Served as a consultant for staff and volunteers regarding diversity concerns with AMS blogs
Developing projects that are candidates for external funding
NSF INCLUDES Alliance Grant Proposal
AMS, American Physical Society, American Chemical Society
Increase the number of students from underrepresented minorities entering and succeeding in math graduate school
Collective Impact Model – shared goals and metrics
The AMS President has appointed Prof. Richard McGehee to consult with EDD about this project
Some possible components of the proposal
Bridge Programs: Establish bridge experiences for students who show potential, but are underprepared for PhD programs
Application Aggregation: Recruit students without grad school offers; circulate their applications to interested institutions
Inclusive Graduate Practices: Identify, promote, and achieve adoption of inclusive practices in graduate education (Recruitment, Admissions, Induction, Retention)
Student Career Support: Provide information to strong students from underrepresented groups, attracting them to mathematics and its many career options
Advocacy: Conduct activities and build relationships within the community that support changing the disciplinary narrative to one that is more inclusive
Research: Collect data to inform appropriate aspects of the project, and study the ongoing components to determine their efficacy
STEM Inclusion Study
An NSF funded, national study of workplace experiences of STEM students and professionals
Attempt to systematically identify areas that undermine the full inclusion of women, racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ persons, and disabled individuals
Professional organizations that participate receive reports on the make-up and experiences of their membership
We expect to use the results of this study in guiding the future directions of the EDD
Work with other AMS staff to make our programs and services more inclusive
•Mathematics Research Communities
•Who Wants to be a Mathematician? game
Photo by Kate Awtrey
Photo by Wei Wei Chen, MRC 2016
SACNAS’s National Diversity in STEM Conference
The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
Annual conference attracts around 4,000
Student mentoring
Coaching in presenting research
AMS contributes money to support mathematics programming at the conference
Photos by Annette Emerson
SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference
• Problem: Unfortunately, the numbers of mathematics students has been decreasing over the years
The Education and Diversity Department:
connected with the SACNAS Math Task Force which is working to bring more math programming
convinced SACNAS to change their schedule to spread out the math sessions
created and distributed a flyer listing the mathematics sessions, their times and locations
partnered with SACNAS to host a Math Community Reception for students and faculty
AMS’s Education and Diversity Department’s Mathematics Community Reception
Goal: To eliminate feelings of isolation for mathematics students and to foster a math community at the SACNAS conference
Introduced an ice-breaker activity (with prizes) Gave a quick introduction to AMS, EDD, and the math programming at
the conference
Photos by Annette Emerson
Field of Dreams Conference (Next week!)The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences
(Math Alliance)
For students from underrepresented groups
Math talks, panel discussions, graduate student poster session
Facilitated Graduate Application Program (F-GAP)
AMS donation supports additional student participants
HGG will moderate panel on mentoring
Photo by Matt Le
2018 JMM Panel: Strategies for Diversifying Graduate Mathematics Programs
Departments have tried a variety of strategies for achieving more diversity in their graduate programs
Four mathematicians discuss their successes and failures – what has worked and what has not
Topics include: Recruitment, Admissions, and Retention
Edray Goins,Purdue University
Richard Laugesen, University of Illinois
Richard McGehee, University of Minnesota
Katrin Wehrheim, University of California, Berkeley
https://www.math.purdue.edu/people/bio/egoins/homehttps://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~laugesen/https://math.umn.edu/directory/richard-mcgeheehttps://math.berkeley.edu/~katrin/
Latinx in Mathematical Sciences Conference (March 2018)
Poster presentations by students and recent Ph.D.’s
Mandatory preconference training in effective communication for student presenters
Supported by the Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative
EDD is working with two of the organizers to see how the EDD can help
Photo by Reed Hutchinson / UCLA
Web Pages on Diversity (under construction)
General Information about the EDD
Advice and suggestions to students and faculty
Links to other education and diversity sites
Information on making nominations for AMS prizes and awards
Upcoming and past events
Thank you!