Author: diversityinmath

SUMM 2024 – Allison

Post author By diversityinmath
Post date January 5, 2024

Conference name: SUMM 2024, “Les séminaires universitaires en mathématiques à Montréal” / “The Seminars on Undergraduate Mathematics in Montreal”

Date: January 5-7, 2024

Location: UQÀM, Montreal

Website: https://www.summ.xyz

Funding: didn’t get any, but the entire conference only cost $25!

How did you hear about it? Someone advertised it in one of my math classes, and I saw posters around McGill.

What was your experience? The conference lasted three days, from Friday evening to Sunday midday. There were four hour-long keynote talks, given by professors from each of Montreal’s four universities. The rest of the talks were 30 minutes long and given by students, both undergrads and grad students! There were usually several talks in each block of time, so you could choose which one to attend. The topics varied a lot, from the math of music to geometric analysis. There were also lots of breaks for lunch and snacks, and a dinner on Saturday evening! This was my first ever conference and I had a great time. I of course got lost in some of the talks, but mostly followed along, and definitely learned a lot. It was also awesome to meet lots of other math students!

Do you have any advice for people interested in attending this conference? Definitely attend! It’s a great conference and I got a lot out of it. Also, if you have any topics you’re interested in, you can sign up to be a presenter!

Pictures

Conference Reports

SLMath 2023 – April

Post author By diversityinmath
Post date November 6, 2023

Conference name: Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath): Algorithms, Approximation, and Learning in Market and Mechanism Design

Date: Nov 6-9, 2023

Location: UC Berkeley, United States

Website: https://www.slmath.org/workshops/1082#overview_workshop

Funding: 800 USD

How did you hear about it? From the mailing list of SLMath

What was your experience? Not all talks at the conference were equally interesting. The part from which I took the most away was networking with other attendees. I met a lot of PhDs and Post Docs who work on similar problems as me. They gave me advice on my academic career and were very encouraging while I struggled to see myself in academia.

Do you have any advice for people interested in attending this conference? For any conference, it is important to know the speakers before you go. Pay attention to the talk you are most interested in and don’t feel bad if you fall asleep during a boring talk. Try to connect to as many people as possible and discuss with them about their research and your research.

Pictures

Conference Reports

HLF 2023 – Agnes

Post author By diversityinmath
Post date September 24, 2023

Conference name: Heidelberg Laureate Forum

Date: September 24-29, 2023

Location: Heidelberg, Germany

Website: https://www.heidelberg-laureate-forum.org

Funding: The hotel and meals were provided and directly paid for by the HLF Foundation. I applied for a travel grant, which covered the price of a return flight from Montreal to Frankfurt.

How did you hear about it? A mentor of mine attended the conference a couple of years ago and recommended it to me.

What was your experience? The scientific program was composed of lectures, panels and lightning talks in a large auditorium, as well as smaller group workshops. I really enjoyed hearing from a broad range of fields, as well as hearing the personal advice the laureates shared with us young researchers. The workshops offered a more hands-on experience, of which I wish there had been a bit more – but the program was already very packed! On one of the days, we split up to visit local industries and research groups. I had a lot of fun at the Heidelberg Experimental Geometry Lab, where I got to play with simulations and talk with students about their research projects involving more experimental approaches. Every evening there was a fancy dinner, in various locations such as a traditional German Kulturbrauerei, a Technikmuseum and the Heidelberg castle, where we got to sit at round tables with the laureates. I particularly enjoyed hearing from Hugo Duminil-Copin’s personal anecdotes. The program also included cultural and recreational activities, such as dancing and a boat cruise on the Neckar. During the little bit of free time, I got to take in the beautiful landscapes offered by the city of Heidelberg by visiting a history museum and going for a hike with other participants.

Do you have any advice for people interested in attending this conference? There were a lot of people at this conference, and at times it could feel overwhelming, but I quickly found other students whom I shared surprising connections with. There were a lot of activities to meet new people and engage in different ways. I particularly enjoyed the lunch topic tables, where I got to meet some really inspiring invited researchers and alumni of the HLF. Don’t let the pressure to talk to everyone (especially the laureates) get in the way of making meaningful connections (with other young researchers for example) by prioritizing the activities you feel most curious and excited about!

Pictures

Conference Reports

CUMC 2023 – Sara

Post author By diversityinmath
Post date June 19, 2023

Conference name: CUMC 2023 “Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference”

Date: June 19-23 2023

Location: University of Toronto, Ontario

Website: https://studc.math.ca/cumc/

Funding: did not get any for me, but some universities like Waterloo funded their students to attend! But the price itself wasn’t all that bad, like 125$ if I recall correctly (I’m unable to retrieve the exact information)

How did you hear about it? Email from the department back when I was actually paying attention to emails!

What was your experience? I got to meet so many cool people and new topics in math that I hadn’t heard of before! The event was greatly focused on getting students to present and share any topic of interest they have in math, and anyone could choose to present if they wanted to! There were a lot of fun social events like a mixer at The Madison Avenue, a movie night, and a dance party at the Moonlight Lounge. There were also very interesting workshops like the MATLAB workshop where I got to learn how to use that software, and the contest mathematics workshop where I got to learn about some creative tricks that are commonly used for competition math questions! There was also a talk about industry jobs relating to math, and I thought that was quite a breath of fresh air since doing math just implies research a lot of the time! And of course there were super cool keynote lectures from professors from various universities. All in all, I had an awesome time at the event, and I got a lot out of it! I unfortunately was too scared to give a presentation myself, but I’m thinking of maybe doing one next year!

Do you have any advice for people interested in attending this conference? It’s worth it! And don’t forget to socialize if you actually want to make the most out of it!!!! I felt like everyone there was so welcoming and kind, and had such interesting perspectives!

Pictures

Conference Reports

IAS Women+ and Mathematics – Ria

Post author By diversityinmath
Post date May 19, 2023

Conference name: IAS Women+ And Mathematics

Date: one week annually in late May

Location: The Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, NJ

Website: https://www.ias.edu/math/wam

Funding: Fully-funded! They generously fund your travel and you stay in small apartments with your fellow attendees and eat at their dining hall (which is delicious).

Topic: The topic is different every year. When I attended, it was The Mathematics of Machine Learning. Other years have included Representation Theory, Geometric Analysis and Geometry and Randomness in Group Theory.

Description: This is a weeklong program centered around two series of lectures relevant to the topic of study. The lecturers are both very well-established researchers in their fields. Every day, we attended both lectures, as well as some one-off Young Researcher Talks. These latter talks were primarily research talks by postdocs and assistant professors who participated in the rest of the program with us. Among these was Dr. Courtney Paquette, the McGill professor who told me about the event! Other activities included some teatimes with each other and researchers on the IAS campus, and a day at Princeton University, where we heard talks from professors and toured the campus. One of my favourite parts was volunteering at a ‘Math Carnival’ at the Princeton Public Library, where we designed a bunch of math-related activities for kids from around town. Overall, this was a great experience and I would highly recommend that you consider attending as an upper-year undergraduate or grad student!! It was incredibly refreshing and inspiring to meet so many brilliant women and gender minorities making their marks in math.

If you are interested in attending, the deadline to apply is in mid-February (it is past the deadline for the 2024 program, unfortunately). You need a letter of rec, which I would recommend you get from a professor who knows you well and understands to some extent what it means to be a woman+ in math!

Pictures

(more official pictures available here)