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Summer Mathematics Program for Women

Summer Mathematics Program for Women

The mathematics departments of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges intend, pending renewed funding from NSF, to offer again their month-long summer mathematics program for eighteen mathematically-talented first- and second-year undergraduate women. By introducing them to new and exciting areas of mathematics that they would not see in a standard undergraduate curriculum, and by honing their skills in writing and speaking mathematics, the program leaders endeavor to excite these women on to advanced degrees in the mathematical sciences, and, more importantly, to increase each woman's confidence in her own abilities and connect them all into a supportive network to carry them through their undergraduate and graduate education.

At the heart of the program are two demanding, intense courses under the supervision of female faculty who are active in research and renowned for their teaching. In past summers we have had the following instructors: Judy Kennedy (Topological Dynamical Systems), Erica Flapan (Knots and Chemistry), Laura Chihara (Algebraic Coding Theory), Karen Brucks (Low-Dimensional Dynamical Systems), Margie Hale (Fuzzy Logic), Rhonda Hatcher (Game Theory), Katherine Crowley (Morse Theory) and others.

Besides the coursework, participants take part in a variety of mathematical events: panel discussions on graduate schools and careers, colloquia on a variety of topics, recreational problem-solving, and visits from at least one REU organizer and the organizer of the Budapest Semester. The mathematical part of the program is balanced with optional weekend events including canoeing, hiking, picnics, and tubing. Past participants have reported (through program evaluations and the list server set up for their correspondence) increased facility with mathematics, bolstered self-confidence, and new or renewed excitement toward mathematics.

If you have first- or second-year women students whom you think would benefit from a demanding, invigorating month-long exposure to mathematics next summer (June 18-July 16), please refer them to the program web page at http://www.mathcs.carleton.edu/smp or have them contact Deanna Haunsperger at Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057 (dhaunspe@carleton.edu). The deadline for applications is February 24, 2006.

id: 
4098
News Date: 
Friday, November 11, 2005