Mentoring Program for Women in Mathematics

多年来，美国授予女性的数学博士比例至少占总数的20%。在许多学院和大学中，有一半的数学专业是女性。然而，在最显眼的、最高级别的研究、教学和管理中，女性明显缺乏。这通常被解释为时间滞后，假设大学女教授和数学领袖的数量将在未来反映学生人口结构。有一些积极的迹象，因为许多数学系现在有一到两名女教授，所有主要专业组织都有女性主席，几个最著名的工业研究小组都是由女性领导的。在斯隆商学院每年颁发的20个著名博士后研究奖学金中，至少有3个给了女性，国家科学基金会博士后奖学金的统计数据甚至更好。然而，有一些迹象表明，总体情况并不像可能的那样健康。在高等研究院和数学科学研究所等研究机构，女性人数没有达到20%的数字，部分原因可能是最负盛名的学校并没有统一招收很多女性(我们发现，目前普林斯顿大学数学系研究生院只有三名女性)。特别是，国际数学协会/帕克市数学学院夏季会议难以吸引有代表性的妇女。妇女数学辅导计划是一个为期十天的讲习班，旨在为学生为PCMI的夏季会议做准备。研讨会包括讲座、研讨会、问题讨论和接触不同的科学家。它的设立既是为了鼓励同龄人小组指导和建立网络，也是为了鼓励四五个级别的参与者之间的互动。我S的短期目标是在一个具有挑战性和支持性的环境中将年轻的女性数学家聚集在一起。顺便说一句，这为活跃的妇女网络提供了基础，并向高级研究所的常驻学者介绍了一群精力充沛、认真和热情的年轻妇女。长期目标是通过为年轻的女性数学学生提供信息、高级榜样和良好的研究环境，帮助增加这个国家的女性职业数学家的数量。在1994年、1995年和1996年，该提案的短期目标都非常成功地实现了。该项目参与者的书面评论绝大多数都是积极的，并谈到了为参与者提供的具体优势：智力进步，与女数学家的接触，增强自信，在某些情况下，决定追求数学专业生涯。现在判断该计划的长期目标是否会实现还为时过早，但我们对在职业生涯后期再次访问该计划的人数感到鼓舞。Teru-Lian Terng，东北大学凯伦·乌伦贝克，德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校项目组织者

For many years now, the percentage of PhDs in mathematics granted to women in the United States has been at least 20% of the total. There are many colleges and universities in which half the mathematics majors are women. However, there is an observed lack of women at the most visible, highest levels of research, teaching and management. This is often explained as a time-lag, with the assumption that the numbers of women university professors and mathematical leaders will come in the future to reflect the demographics of the student populations. There are positive signs, as many mathematics departments now have one or two female professors, there have been women presidents of all the major professional organizations, and several of the most renowned industrial research groups are headed by women. At least three of the twenty prestigious Sloan postdoctoral research fellowships each year go to women, and the statistics of the National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowships are even better. There are, however, some signs that the situation overall is not as healthy as it might be. The numbers of women at research institutes like the Institute for Advanced Study and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute are not up to the 20% figure, probably partly as the most prestigious schools do not uniformly have many women enrolled (we find that there are only three women in graduate school in mathematics at Princeton University right now.) In particular, the IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute Summer Session has had difficulty attracting representative numbers of women. The Mentoring Program for Women in Mathematics is a ten-day workshop designed to prepare students for the summer session of the PCMI. The workshop includes lectures, seminars, problem sessions and exposure to a variety of scientists. It is set up to encourage both peer group mentoring and networking, as well as interaction between four or five levels of participants. The short-term goal i s to gather young women mathematicians together in a challenging and supportive environment. This incidentally provides a basis for an active women's network as well as an introduction to the scholars in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study of a spirited, serious and enthusiastic group of young women. The long-term goal is to help increase the number of women professional mathematicians in this country by providing information, senior role models and an excellent research environment for young female mathematics students. In the years 1994, 1995, and 1996, the short-term goal of the proposal has been realized very successfully. The written comments of participants in the program are overwhelmingly positive and speak of concrete advantages provided to the participants: intellectual advances, contacts with women mathematicians, increased self-confidence and, in some cases, the decision to pursue a professional career in mathematics. It is too soon to judge if the long-term goal of the program will be realized, but we are encouraged by the number of participants who have made a return visit to the program at a later stage of their careers. Chuu-Lian Terng, Northeastern University Karen Uhlenbeck, University of Texas at Austin Program Organizers