In May 2023, our AWM graduate chapter at UIUC invited women and gender minorities who had completed their first or second years in the PhD program to gather for three days on campus. The goals of our workshop were (1) to introduce research topics and questions, giving students a chance to explore areas that interest them, (2) learn and/or strengthen skills fundamental to success in the PhD program, (3) contextualize and deisolate our experiences as women and gender minorities in our field of study, and (4) renew our collective joy and love for mathematics!

We invited two speakers joining us, Dr. Deborah Kent (University of St. Andrews) and Dr. Emily Olson (Millikin University). Dr. Kent is a mathematician and mathematical historian, and Dr. Olson is a mathematician specializing in combinatorics and recent winner of the MAA’s Early Career Teaching Award for the Illinois Section. Additionally, we welcomed Professor Bruce Reznick to share his knowledge on the research process. Four graduate student speakers gave brief talks on their journey through grad school, research, and open questions in their respective fields: Manisha Garg, Mina Nahvi, Madie Farris, and Vincent Villalobos. 

The purpose of this web page is to document the workshop and the resources it offered.