Three Purdue Mathematics students honored with AWM Student Chapter Awards
11-25-2024
The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has recognized Purdue University’s AWM Student Chapter for its efforts towards professional development. The students responsible for these efforts are 2023-2024 cabinet members: Sarah Anderson (president), Sofía Martínez Alberga (treasurer), and Meenakshi Mcnamara(vice president).
According to their latest newsletter, AWM Student Chapter at Purdue University is recognized for sustaining and institutionalizing successful programs that help students become successful researchers and participate in mathematical communities. The Purdue AWM Chapter has managed to maintain and grow their mentoring program for more than a decade, and recently introduced a “Mentorship 101” training for new mentors. Further, the AWM Purdue Chapter introduced Basic Skills and Bridge to Research seminars to the Department, which intend to help students enhance their professional profile and explore research directions, respectively. These seminars were later institutionalized.
The awards recognize work in four categories: community outreach, fundraising/sustainability, professional development, and scientific excellence. The chapter winners were recognized at the Dessert Reception on Friday, August 8th at MAA MathFest 2024 in Indianapolis, IN.
Anderson is PhD student who served as president of the Purdue Chapter last year and is the current secretary. She credits the success of the group as having motivated people on the board. She says that building a community has been key to the group’s success.
“Being a member of AWM has been so important for growing personally and professionally,” says Anderson. “Personally, I have been able to meet and find community with underrepresented communities in math. Our chapter seeks to be a haven for lgbtq+ and BIPOC folks as well as for women. Graduate school is really hard, but when we regularly engage with each other, we are able to work together to build successful professional careers. AWM has been invaluable in my continued success in the Math PhD program at Purdue, and hope that legacy continues on to all underrepresented groups in mathematics.”
Martínez Alberga has been a member of the Purdue Chapter since 2019 and served as president from 2022-23, then treasurer from 2023-24, and is now a committee member. She is a PhD student studying Mathematics. The Basic Skills and Bridge to Research Seminars is a program started by the Purdue Chapter. Martínez Alberga says the seminars are very well attended.
“These seminars can be taken for one-credit hour,” she says. “Over the years the seminars have helped students progress in their degree programs: topics covered in the Basic Skills seminar are ‘elements of the job market,’ ‘navigating LaTex,’ ‘how to find an advisor,’ ‘the different flavors of math talks,’ and ‘building a CV/Resume/website.’ In the Bridge to Research seminar, as the name suggests, students learn directly from faculty the ongoing result that is going on in the department. Many students, including me, met their advisors by seeing their talks in the seminar.”
Martínez Alberga was most active with the mentoring program. She said that this program was started because the chapter’s cabinet wanted to better help admitted students get a better picture of what graduate life is like at Purdue.
“I have run this program for three years and after the first two I noticed that the program was not helping sustain mentor-mentee relationships,” she says. “Frequently I would hear from mentors and mentees alike that they didn't know what to do with or talk about with each other. This led me to believe that perhaps the mentors could use more resources and guidance as to what mentoring is about and what the goal of our program was. I have seen more socializing of graduate students across years outside of the department of mathematics.”
McNamara served as vice president from 2023-24 and was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics. She has recently graduated from Purdue and is working on her master’s degree at another university. She says that in addition to direct officer duties, members of the team organize several large events which provide opportunities for non-officer members to get involved.
“For the last several years we have organized a weekend long conference that invites current undergraduate students, graduate students, post docs and faculty, as well as alumni at various other universities and locations, to share their work and network,” she says. “As this is a large undertaking it allows non-officers to help and get involved. This can increase interest in becoming more involved as officers in the future, as well as increase the sustainability of the work for current officers. Similarly, this year there is a conference organizing committee for a session bringing together chapter alumni and current members at America's largest math conference, and this committee includes non-officers. Further, having fun and exciting events also motivates members to become more involved.”
She says the chapter succeeds only when it has the support and resources necessary to run it. She would like to thank students, advisors, and alumni for helping the chapter be successful.
“ I would definitely like to thank those who have put in effort to help this chapter. In particular, our club advisor Prof. Alexandria Volkening has been amazing,” says McNamara. “To fellow students and colleagues (especially if you are a gender minority in math), if you are already engaged in our AWM chapter then thank you and I hope you are finding our chapter a welcoming place! If not, then feel free to get involved. To alumni, thank you so much! Being a member of this chapter has helped me to feel less isolated as a woman in mathematics. Through coming to various events I have gotten to know members of the community ranging from undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, and professors. This has both helped me socially find people to connect with and encouraged me to believe in myself by seeing more senior women and gender minorities succeeding. Additionally, the professional development and network I've built through this chapter are certainly helping me in graduate school and beyond.”