A Center for Women in Mathematics at Smith College

Smith College, Northampton MA

Investigators

Abstract

With this grant, the mathematics department of Smith will inaugurate two programs both with the goal of increasing the number of women going to graduate school in the mathematical sciences. One will be a junior year program in mathematics, in which undergraduate women mathematics majors from schools across the country will spend a year at Smith taking mathematics almost exclusively. The second will be a post-baccalaureate program in mathematics, in which students who have earned a bachelor's degree but lack sufficient coursework in mathematics will spend a year at Smith studying undergraduate and graduate mathematics. Participants in both programs will receive extensive mentoring, will join research groups under the direction of faculty, and will travel to conferences. We aim to increase participants' confidence, background and desire to go to graduate school in the mathematical sciences. While women advance in many traditionally male areas, progress in mathematics has been slow. Women are a majority entering and graduating from medical school, but comprise only 32% of those studying for Ph.D.s in mathematics and only 16% of tenured mathematics faculty. At every stage in the pipeline, women withdraw from mathematics. The record at women's colleges, however, and at Smith in particular, is different. At Smith, more women major in mathematics, more advance to graduate school and more Smith graduates successfully earn doctorates. Progress here is critical to the advancement of women overall, due to the centrality of mathematics in intellectual life. A woman with a degree in mathematics is immediately a candidate for programs in biology, computer science, economics, engineering, management, and finance, in addition to the mathematical sciences. This program seeks to address the gender imbalance in mathematics by spreading the benefits of a women's education in mathematics. Our twin targets are tentative but talented undergraduate women at coeducational institutions and women graduates who recognized late their love for mathematics. By nurturing, energizing, and educating these women, we hope to make a significant change in their success rate in mathematics graduate schools and beyond.