The GROW conference is intended to provide support and encouragement to undergraduate students considering going to graduate school in the mathematical sciences and to help build a profession in which gender identity is not a barrier to participation. The conference runs annually, and is open to undergraduates from U.S. colleges and universities, including international students.
GROW began at Northwestern University in 2015, and ran there for three successive years. It has been hosted at different institutions every year since then. These are links to webpages for GROW since its inception:
- Northwestern University (2015-17)
- University of Michigan (2018)
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2019)
- University of Chicago (2020)
- University of Illinois at Chicago (2021)
- Duke University (2022 and 2023)
GROW 2024 and 2025 will take place at Columbia University.
A European edition of GROW is scheduled for Bonn, Germany April 4-5, 2024.
The GROW Steering Committee is currently soliciting proposals to host GROW in 2026 and/or 2027.
GROW generally takes place on a weekend in the fall, and includes
- lectures,
- panel discussions about graduate research in the mathematical sciences,
- networking opportunities, and
- advice on preparing applications for graduate school.
In 2020, the GROW Steering Committee formed to help ensure the continuity of the series. The members of the committee are drawn from the four institutions involved in the management of IMSI (Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) as well as representatives from the organizing committees of the most recent and upcoming editions of GROW. The current members are: Kevin Corlette (IMSI, University of Chicago), Ivan Corwin (Columbia University), Vera Mikyoung Hur (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Bryna Kra (Northwestern University), Brooke Shipley (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Shira Viel (Duke University). The steering committee works in cooperation with IMSI to recruit host institutions for GROW, to provide advice and support to organizing committees, and to maintain continuity and adherence to the underlying vision for GROW. The committee can be reached at [email protected].