The conference brought 140 undergraduate women majoring in mathematics in 73 different schools from all over the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico to Lincoln for a weekend of mathematics. Dr. Rosemary Chang, Vice President of Engineering, Coastcom; and Dr. Dusa McDuff, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, SUNY at Stony Brook were guest speakers. Guest panelists included Juliana Berg, Operations Research Analyst, ZS Associates, Chicago; Dr. Lisa Johnson, Assistant Professor at the University of St. Thomas; Dr. Theresa Strei, National Security Agency; Dr. Amelia Taylor, Rutgers University; and Angela Vierling, Boston University. UNL mathematics faculty also participated in the panel discussions. The main portion of the program, however, consisted of presentations by the undergraduate women on their own research.

The conference provided a variety of benefits for its participants. In addition to valuable career advice from the panel discussions and the opportunity to meet many role models (including the speakers, panelists, and UNL women faculty and graduate students on hand), participants began to form a network of peers. While there were 140 undergraduate participants at the conference, only 151 women U.S. citizens were awarded Ph.D.s in the mathematical sciences last year. This means that those participants who do choose to go to graduate school have already met many of the women who will be entering the profession with them.

The first NCUWM conference was held in 1999 in celebration of the Department's receipt of a 1998 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. This award recognized the UNL Department of Mathematics and Statistics success with women graduate students. For more information regarding the 2002 conference or past conferences visit http://www.math.unl.edu/~womenws/.