Workshop

The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) celebrates May 12 with a panel discussion and social event open to all on the topic "Being a Woman in Mathematics". This is a hybrid event taking place on Zoom and in person at SLMath.  This event is free and open to worldwide participation - please register online for Zoom link & details. For registration questions, contact 1118@slmath.org. Those in Berkeley, California are welcome to join in person at SLMath (MSRI) on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. If you plan to participate online, please connect using this LINK.   Download a PDF flyer to share with your network   2024 Event Schedule All event times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7). (What time is that for me?) 8:00am – 8:05am PDT - Introduction 8:05am – 9:35am PDT - Panelist Presentations 9:35am – 9:45am PDT - Break 9:45am – 10:45am PDT - Panelist Discussion 10:45am – 10:55am PDT - Break 10:55am – 11:55am PDT - Breakout Room Discussions 11:55am – 12.00pm PDT - Final Remarks   2024 Featured Panelists Dr. Sarah Chehade, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA Dr. Chehade currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where her work focuses on bridging the gap between theoretical and practical quantum computing. Her research entails applying operator theoretic and algebraic tools to address quantum computing questions, particularly concerning the expressibility of quantum circuits and entanglement models. Prior to her current position, she earned her PhD from the University of Houston's Mathematics Department in 2021. Passionate about advancing gender equality in mathematics, Dr. Chehade dedicates herself to supporting women in the field through a variety of initiatives. She acts as a mentor to both undergraduate and graduate female students, volunteers in underserved communities to instill a passion for mathematics in young girls, and designs talks tailored to inspire future female mathematicians. Dr. Chehade's efforts aim to empower girls to recognize and pursue their mathematical potential, encouraging their involvement in STEM fields. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys hiking, cooking, and eating. Sucharitha Dodamgodage, Clarkson University, USA Sucharitha Dodamgodage is a dedicated researcher with a passion for statistics and data science. Originally from Sri Lanka, she pursued her Bachelor of Science in Statistics at the University of Kelaniya in 2020, before proceeding to Clarkson University for her graduate studies, and in 2023, she completed her master's degree in Applied Mathematics. As a third-year PhD student, she has had the opportunity to engage in numerous collaborative endeavors, focusing on epidemiology and microbiome data analysis. Currently, she works as a research assistant at Clarkson University, and she is a recipient of the prestigious Lawrence ’57 and Antoinette Delaney Ignite Research Fellowship. Her research interests center around the advancement of statistical methodology for analyzing microbiome data, addressing the inherent challenges posed by compositional data structures. By leveraging the Dirichlet distribution, she aims to provide powerful tools for unraveling the intricate dynamics of microbial communities and their implications for human health and disease. In the upcoming summer of 2024, Sucharitha will be working as a Biostatistics PhD intern at Inari Medical, a leading biomedical device company in the United States, located in Irvine, California. Her role as a Biostatistics PhD Intern will be to support their research and development efforts by applying statistical methods to analyze clinical data. She will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to drive data-driven decisions and enhance the quality of medical devices. Beyond her academic pursuits, Sucharitha is actively involved in promoting diversity and inclusion in mathematics. She currently serves as the president of the Association of Women in Mathematics student chapter at Clarkson University, where she plays a pivotal role in fostering a supportive and empowering environment for women pursuing careers in mathematics and related fields. Dr. Aihua Li, Montclair State University, USA Dr. Aihua Li is a Professor of Mathematics at Montclair State University. She earned her PhD in mathematics from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is an active researcher with a record of more than 50 publications in mathematics. Her current research involves commutative algebra, number theory, matrix theory, and graph theory. Dr. Li has supervised many student research projects and organized several Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs at Montclair State University. She was the recipient of the 2023 “New Jersey Section Award for Distinguished College and University Teaching”, “2021 Sr. Stephanie Sloyan Award for Distinguished Service for the MAA-NJ”, the 2013 “Faculty Mentoring Award” by the Division of Mathematical Science and Computer Science of CUR, and the “University Distinguished Scholar Award for 2013-2014 Academic Year” by Montclair State University in 2013. Dr. Li has been active in the mathematical societies at the national and regional levels. She has been an undergraduate mentor in the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences (Math Alliance) since 2009. She served as a committee member on the AWM-MAA Liaison Committee (2019-2021) and the MAA Committee on Undergraduate Students (2016-2022). From 2017 to 2019, she served as the chair of the MAA-NJ section. At MSU, Dr. Li served as the director of MSU’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program from 2015 to 2019. Dr. Guadalupe (Guada) Lozano, The University of Arizona, USA Dr. Guadalupe (Guada) Lozano grew up in Argentina and is mom to two teenage boys. She serves as Director and Endowed Chair for the Center for University Education Scholarship and is an Associate Research Professor of Mathematics, at the University of Arizona. Originally trained as a theoretical mathematician, Guada’s current academic pursuits are aligned with equity and the student experience as causes and are generously supported by philanthropic and federal grant funding. These pursuits include building university-wide capacity for research and innovation in teaching and learning, advancing postdoctoral research in STEM equity, and supporting asset-based institutional transformation. A current grant-sponsored project dear to Guada’s heart, is the creation of a culturally affirming precalculus curriculum grounded in the Southwestern U.S., its identity and its people. Guada is the convener of a community of practice where secondary and post-secondary educators come together to explore this curriculum and cultivate collective critical consciousness anchored in mathematics teaching and learning. Guada’s recent writing aims to nurture equity and flourishing in the academic experience for faculty and students. She is the author of two chapters in the 2024 book, Antiracist Mathematics: Stories of Acknowledgment, Action and Accountability, and an Education Column writer for the Association of Women in Mathematics newsletter. Her recent advisory involvement in the E.U. based Global Gender Gap in Science project led her to author two articles in major journals—an invited STEM equity provocation, and a forthcoming research article on the impact of editor gender and peer review practices in women authorships in mathematics. In 2021 Guada was named a Notable Woman in Math by the Association for Women in Mathematics and featured in the inaugural deck of EvenQuads Playing Cards for her contributions to research, the profession, and higher education on teaching, learning, and equity. Prof. Bethany Rose Marsh, University of Leeds, UK Dr. Marsh is a Professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, where she was appointed, first as as a Reader, in 2006. She was a PhD student of Roger Carter at the University of Warwick from 1992 to1995, before moving to Germany as a Research Assistant to Claus Ringel. She was also a Research Assistant in Glasgow with Ken Brown from 1996 to 1998, and was a Lecturer and Reader at the University of Leicester, UK, from 1998 to 2006. Marsh is most well-known for her joint work on cluster categories, cluster algebras and associated ideas in the representation theory of finite dimensional algebras. In particular, her joint paper with Aslak Buan, Markus Reineke, Idun Reiten and Gordana Todorov, published in Advances in Mathematics in 2006, introduced the notion of a cluster category for an arbitrary finite dimensional path algebra (independently introduced in type A by Caldero-Chapoton-Schiffler). This provided a categorical model for the cluster algebras introduced by Sergey Fomin and Andrei Zelevinsky. She was awarded a London Mathematical Society Whitehead Prize in 2009 for this work. She wrote a book on cluster algebras, published by the European Mathematical Society in 2014, based on a graduate course given at the Institute for Mathematical Research (FIM) at ETH Zuerich. Marsh has also carried out joint work on mirror symmetry for the Grassmannian (with Konstanze Rietsch) and the Grassmannian cluster category (with Karin Baur and Alastair King). Marsh is the Algebra Group coordinator at the University of Leeds. She was an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Leadership Fellow from 2008-2014, and she was the lead for preparing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) return at the University of Leeds for REF2020. She is co-investigator on an EPSRC Programme Grant on Combinatorial Representation Theory (led by Karin Baur) at the University of Leeds, running from 2022 to 2027. She was interviewed at the Isaac Newton Institute in 2021 on her experiences as a trans mathematician, where she also co-organised a discussion panel on ‘Life decisions in mathematics’. She was also a group co-leader at the Women in Non-commutative Algebras and Representation Theory 3 meeting (WINART3) at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS), Canada, in 2022. Prof. Gisèle Mophou, Université des Antilles, Guadeloupe, French West Indies Prof. Gisele Mophou is a native Cameroonian, born in 1966. She is currently Vice President of the Commission of Research of Université des Antilles and the Director of the Laboratory of Mathematics, Computer Sciences. Prof. Mophou earned a PhD in mathematics from the Université des Antilles in Guadeloupe, French West Indies (FWI), and then joined the faculty as a lecturer in 2000. After her habilitation to supervise research in Mathematics in 2010, she became Full Professor in 2013. She earned a grant of 4 years as Alexander Von Humboldt Chairholder in “Mathematics and its applications” at AIM-Cameroon in 2017. Her research areas include Partial Differential Equations, fractional differential equation, control theory, and the theory of almost periodic and almost automorphic functions. Prof. Mophou authored over 80 research publications. She is co-organizer of several special sessions of international conferences (including AMS sessions) and has supervised 10 Ph.D. students. She is an elected member of the African Academy of Sciences, a French Knight of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms), editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nonlinear Evolution Equations and Applications (JNEEA), and a member of the editorial board of at least seven more journals.   About the May 12 Initiative May 12 is the birthday of Maryam Mirzakhani, selected by participants at the 2018 World Meeting for Women in Mathematics, (WM)² to host events internationally with a goal of inspiring women everywhere to celebrate their achievements in mathematics, and to encourage an open, welcoming and inclusive work environment for everybody. Learn more: https://may12.womeninmaths.org