2019 Pacific Math Alliance Conference

California State University, East Bay Foundation, Inc., Hayward CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award will provide funding for "The 2019 Pacific Math Alliance Conference" which will be held in Hayward, California on October 12, 2019. The conference is being hosted by the Department of Mathematics at the California State University, East Bay. This inaugural conference will bring together mathematicians and students at all career stages from the talented undergraduate to the internationally distinguished researcher. In addition, the meeting will serve as a venue for faculty from community colleges, four year colleges and universities, and PhD granting institutions to increase the understanding of the synergy they must provide in order to best serve the exceptionally diverse student populations in the Pacific region. This award will provide travel support for students, early-career faculty, and mathematicians belonging to under-represented groups, as well as other participants who have no other federal support. The proposed conference will create awareness about and promote the Pacific Math Alliance's mission -- to increase the number of under-represented minority students who enter PhD programs in the Mathematical Sciences, as well as to improve the quality of mathematical education provided to them prior to the PhD program. The conference will develop networking groups; provide students with a venue where they can present their work to a welcoming and supportive audience; provide space for senior faculty to mentor/train junior faculty in representation of all groups in the mathematical sciences; provide a venue in which faculty with a proven track record in increasing diversity and opportunity can collaborate for student success; and hold career panels for students and workshops for faculty. In order to elucidate matters and circumstances that are particular to under-represented minority students and faculty in the mathematical sciences, the conference will also feature talks addressing socio-cultural issues in mathematics. Conference website: http://tiny.cc/2019PMAConf This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.