paraDIGMS Spring 2021

Plenary Speakers

Panels

Panel #1: What can we learn from intentional research communities about helping students transition into research?

This panel will discuss issues related to helping graduate students to begin their path in research, with a focus on the importance of having an environment and network conducive to research. To this end, we have invited a slate of panelists with broad and extensive experiences in research programs and intentional research communities to share the expertise and perspectives they have gained through these experiences.

Dr. Federico Ardila received his Ph.D. from MIT in 2003, and is Professor of Mathematics at San Francisco State University and the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, an NSF CAREER Awardee, and a winner of the MAA National Haimo Award for Teaching in the US, and a recipient of the Premio Nacional de Ciencias and Premio Nacional de Matemáticas in his native Colombia. His research is in combinatorics and its connections to geometry, algebra, topology, and applications. Federico is constantly working towards fostering an increasingly diverse, equitable, and welcoming community of mathematicians that serves the needs of all communities. With that goal, he founded the SFSU-Colombia Combinatorics Initiative, he co-directs the MSRI-UP undergraduate research program, he hosts more than 200 hours of combinatorics lectures on YouTube, and he reads and writes about the role of mathematics in education and society. Federico has advised more than 50 thesis students; the majority of his US advisees are women, and the majority are members of underrepresented ethnic groups. These days, when he is not at work, he is probably cooking, reading, playing records, or playing marimba de chonta.

Dr. Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver is a Professor of Statistics at North Carolina State University (NC State). She earned her PhD in Statistics from NC State in 1991, following a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cincinnati in 1986. She was Director of the Exploratory Center for Cheminformatics Research at NC State (2005-2009) and was Director of Graduate Programs for the Department of Statistics at NC State (2007 to 2010). Hughes-Oliver’s methodological research focuses on prediction and classification, variable and model selection with dimension reduction, design and analysis of pooling or mixture experiments, optimal design, and spatial modeling. Application areas include drug discovery and cheminformatics, environmental modeling, transportation modeling, engineering manufacturing, genomics, and metabolomics. Hughes-Oliver is passionate about outreach to underrepresented groups in the mathematical and statistical sciences. She has an extensive service record to conferences and workshops such as StatFest, Field of Dreams, Infinite Possibilities, Joint Statistical Meetings Diversity Program and Mentoring Workshop, and ENAR Diversity Workshop. She also currently serves on a number of boards focused on broadening participation, including the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences, and the African Diaspora Joint Mathematics Workshop (ADJOINT). Hughes-Oliver is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and a recipient of the Blackwell-Tapia Prize. 

Dr. Emily Riehl (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore working on higher category theory, abstract homotopy theory, and homotopy type theory. She has mentored one postdoctoral fellow, four PhD students, one masters student, and has led reading courses with half a dozen undergraduates, starting as a mentor for the Directed Reading Program while in grad school at the University of Chicago. She has been mentored by too many wonderful people to name at each stage of her mathematical development. As a postdoc, she founded the Kan Extension Seminar, an online graduate reading course in category theory. At present, she serves as the organizer for the Johns Hopkins Category Theory Seminar, an expository seminar aimed at graduate students.

Panel #2: Models for orienting graduate students

The goal of this panel is to share robust models for orienting and enculturating first-year graduate students into the practice and culture of the mathematical sciences at the graduate and research levels, as well as setting norms and expectations for students as members of their department. Panelists will share details about the history, goals, structures, and outcomes of such efforts in their departments.

Dr. Silas Alben has been a professor in the mathematics department at the University of Michigan since 2012, and was previously an assistant professor at Georgia Tech. He has been the director of the Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics graduate program at Michigan since 2015. In this role he advises Master’s and Ph.D. students and oversees their progress through their respective programs. He is an applied mathematician working in fluid and solid mechanics inspired by biolocomotion, and has received a Sloan Fellowship and funding from the National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

John Peca-Medlin is a PhD student in mathematics at UC Irvine, studying random matrix theory and its applications to problems in numerical analysis, physical system modeling, and number theory. His advisors are Mike Cranston and Tom Trogdon. Next fall he will be the Richard Pierce Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona. Prior to UCI, John received an AB in mathematics from the University of Chicago. He then worked in educational research at the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center with Washington State University and as a data analyst in the Office of Research at the University of Washington. This year, John is the inaugural COMP (Community, Outreach, and Mentoring Program) Fellow for the math department at UCI. COMP is a student-led program designed to foster community and inclusivity within the math department through organized social events and weekly seminars on topics ranging from student health and well-being to broader social issues that affect the mathematical community.

Dr. Kim Ruane: “I am a first generation college student with a “colorful” past. As an undergraduate, I remember calling the Graduate Director of a program I had hoped to attend for my Ph.D. and when he asked me about my GRE scores, I said, “what are those?” His response, “how did you get my number?” This was the beginning of my journey. I am currently serving as Chair of the Mathematics Department at Tufts. I served as the Graduate Director of our program for 7 years and I am proud to say that we transformed —and continue to transform—our program into a community where students have a voice and a support system. I wish I could take all of the credit for the good stuff, but almost all of our success can be traced back to student initiatives that our department supported. Our students formed the OGSM (Organization for Graduate Students in Mathematics) and this has been an important structure that fosters solid communication between the graduate students and the faculty. Our students developed and now run a Graduate Development Seminar for all first students which helps first year students acclimate to the department. This is a formal course on the books, required of all first year Ph.D. students that includes teacher training, mentoring by senior students, discussions about how to choose an advisor, how to do research and many other things. The Graduate Committee selects two Head TAs that serve as the instructors of record for this course each year and we have a faculty member who serves as an advisor for the course. I have advised both Masters and Ph.D. students over the years.  It is truly one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”

Panel #3: Experiences and perspectives of graduate student labor union organizers

The panel will present some of the basics of graduate student labor unions, share successes and setbacks panelists have had in trying to improve student working conditions and lives through organizing, and share ways that faculty members support their students’ efforts in organizing.

Dr. Claudio Gómez-Gonzáles is a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Irvine, working with Jesse Wolfson and Nathan Kaplan in arithmetic topology, and will begin in the Fall as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Carleton College. Before that, Claudio earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago as a student of Benson Farb. While in graduate school, Claudio was an organizer with and later President of Graduate Students United, the labor union representing graduate workers at the University. He was also a co-founding organizer of the UChicago Labor Council, a coalition of unions and community organizations, and has both trained and organized with various academic unions and mutual aid groups over the last four years. Today, he is a proud member of UAW Local 5810.

Amzi Jeffs: “I am a fifth-year PhD student in Mathematics at UW Seattle, studying discrete and convex geometry under Isabella Novik. I am also a Head Steward and Bargaining Team member with UAW 4121, the union of graduate students, academic workers, and postdocs at UW. Our union has won important improvements to equity at UW, including access gender-affirming healthcare, mental healthcare, and robust protections from discrimination and harassment. In our current contract negotiations we are fighting to extend these victories, and make UW’s wages competitive with peer schools so that academic workers and grad students (especially those from underrepresented backgrounds) can afford to live in Seattle. I am also active in local political movements such as Tax Amazon, the People’s Budget, and the Kshama Solidarity Campaign, which are crucial extensions of our work on campus.”

Liz Tatum: “I’m a PhD student in the UIUC math department. My research interests are in algebraic topology, particularly chromatic homotopy theory. I have also been an active member of the GEO, our graduate student labor union. In particular, I helped to organize the math graduate students during our 2018 strike, and helped to coordinate our picket lines.”