Finding and Keeping Graduate Students in the Mathematical Sciences

December 4 to December 8, 2006

at the

American Institute of Mathematics, San Jose, California

organized by

Amy Cohen-Corwin, Abbe Herzig, and David Manderscheid

Original Announcement

This workshop Increasing attention is being paid to the small numbers of American students who pursue and who complete PhDs in the mathematical sciences. There has been particular concern about the small numbers of such students who are members of underrepresented groups (women and minorities).

This Leadership Workshop will build on recent efforts by groups and individuals within the mathematics community to enhance the recruitment and retention of graduate students in the mathematical sciences, with a particular emphasis on women and underrepresented minorities. The Workshop will bring together leaders in graduate education in the mathematical sciences, giving them the opportunity to develop tangible plans to take these efforts to the next level at their institutions. The Workshop will provide a varied mix of principles for designing successful programs and examples of programs that have demonstrated success in responding to the issues, including models of funding and other logistical considerations. An emphasis will be placed on programs that benefit all students.

Individuals with a record of success in recruitment and retention will work with multi-person teams from interested campuses. Through the sharing of a range of concrete examples of other successes, including discussion of obstacles faced and overcome and strategies for success, leaders in graduate education will have the opportunity to devise specific plans that will work in their particular campus contexts. Through ongoing communication among the presenters and participants following the Workshop, support will be provided to help the campus teams further develop and implement their plans.

The workshop will involve about 24 participants and 8 presenters and facilitators. Presenters will include Lenore Blum (Carnegie Mellon), Carlos Castillo-Chavez (Arizona State), David Manderscheid (Iowa), John Meakin (Nebraska) and Richard Tapia (Rice). Participants will apply in teams of 2 or 3 from the same educational institution; each team will include a faculty member from a mathematical sciences department, a departmental or campus-level administrator, and possibly a faculty member from one allied discipline.

Material from the workshop

A list of participants.

The workshop schedule.

A report on the workshop activities.