Conference: Field of Dreams Conference 2023-25

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This award will fund participation in the Field of Dreams Conference from 2023-25. This meeting brings together approximately 200 undergraduate and terminal MS students, about 85% of whom belong to underrepresented minority groups as defined by NSF. The awarded funds will support the participation of approximately 150 of these student attendees each year, and many are participants in the Math Alliance’s Facilitated Graduate Admissions Procedure (F-GAP), which helps students navigate the graduate school application process. F-GAP has been placing an average of 70 students in graduate programs per year since 2013-14. The meeting also attracts about 150 faculty members, most of whom are Math Alliance Mentors, about 50 doctoral students (many former attendees to Field of Dreams as undergraduates), as well as representatives of industry, government, professional organizations, scientific institutes, and other quantitative science professionals. The Field of DreamsConference is the capstone event for the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences (Math Alliance) and serves many important community building roles. A major focus of the conference is preparing students for entry into and success within graduate programs, and this goal is addressed in part by a series of panels focusing on important information for students as they consider their path forward. There are also sessions for mentors to exchange best practices, meetings of affiliated regional alliances, plenary addresses, and an REU & Internship Fair. A major conference event is the Graduate Program Fair, where students meet representatives and students from many graduate programs. Panels prepare the students to maximize their success in gathering information at this fair. In recent years there have been as many as 70 tables at this event. The Math Alliance is a national mentoring community consisting of Mentors (faculty) and Scholars (students) focusing on broadening participation in the quantitative science professions. The primary goal is to increase the number and proportion of students from historically underrepresented minority groups who enroll in and graduate from doctoral programs in the broad STEM disciplines which depend strongly on mathematics and computational science. Our community seeks to support these scientists as they make their way through their undergraduate education, the graduate application process, graduate programs, and into the quantitative science professions. The Math Alliance provides a national supportive community, and builds a national cohort of peers from similar backgrounds who are advancing through graduate programs and careers. 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.