Women of Applied Mathematics: Research and Leadership

Rachel Kuske
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia
#121-1984 Mathematics Road
Vancouver BC V6T 1Z2

My follow-up activity for this workshop had two parts:

1. Organizing a way to "continue the conversation"; that is, setting up a forum through which women in applied math research careers could mentor and support each other in their careers. The idea was that this would be complementary to existing activities, which mentor women students and postdocs.

2. Collecting material for a web site that points to various resources on women in math, science, and engineering careers, and linking this with AWM Mentor Network websites.

Although these two activities seemed relatively simple, they've had some temporary set-backs: my original plan for the discussion forum didn't work out so well due to limited system support, and my office assistant took on a heavy load of classes and hasn't been able to start on the web site until now.

On the positive side, I've found another resource for the discussion forum, through a secure mailing list based at UBC. The mailing list is women-amath (full name: Women in Applied Math Research). In order to maintain security of the list, subscription to the list is moderated. One can subscribe by contacting owner-women-amath"at"interchange.ubc.ca, or me at rachel"at"iam.ubc.ca. In addition, posting to the list is limited to membership on the list, and outside postings are moderated, so that it will not be an additional source of spam!

My office assistant has a list of contacts, through the AWM Mentor Network, for advertising the discussion forum. Once the term is done (mid May) I'll send to a target audience, in addition to the women who participated in this workshop. Additional advertising of the list will be through websites, AWM, and word of mouth.

I've also had a number of contributions for the website material from outside sources, and I look forward to receiving more once it is up and running, expected by the end of May. It will be accessible through my home page, www.math.ubc.ca/~rachel (and possibly also through the AWM Mentor Network page, but I will have to get that approved.)

Questions? tgkolda@sandia.gov or oleary@cs.umd.edu