ncuwm 2024 logo
Registration Now Closed for Students

January 26-28, 2024

The 26th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM) will be held in-person January 26-28, 2024, in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the Embassy Suites and University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus. Students interested in presenting at the 2024 conference should complete an application between October 2 and October 9, 2023. Presenter applications received after Oct. 9 will be reviewed as long as talk and poster slots remain open. Non-presenter registrations were accepted for as long as we have space through November 17, 2023. Faculty wishing to register should email us at ncuwm@unl.edu. The registration fee is $50.

Women, and particularly women of color, are underrepresented in the mathematical sciences, especially among jobs that require graduate education. We at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) recognize the need to encourage and mentor undergraduate women in mathematics to pursue graduate study in mathematics and to seek mathematical careers. We do this by annually hosting the NCUWM, made possible with generous support from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency, for undergraduates that provides role models, insider knowledge, opportunities to present undergraduate research, and a growing community of peers interested in issues related to creating a supportive environment for women in mathematics.

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its programs, activities, or employment. The NCUWM is open to all undergraduate students age 19 or older and their faculty advisors. For complete rules and procedures related to registration see the Application, Selection and Policies section below.

Although we do not regard this conference as an appropriate venue for faculty representatives to recruit applicants for their graduate programs, we would like to encourage departments to contact us about sponsoring graduate students from their programs at the conference.

Our History

2023 group photo

2023 NCUWM Group Photo

As the UNL department looked back on the 1980s, it recognized that 23 men had earned their Ph.D. but not a single woman had earned a Ph.D. during the decade. The department made a commitment to create a supportive and welcoming environment for women to study mathematics. By 1998, the department received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring because of its success in mentoring women graduate students to the Ph.D. To celebrate the award and continue its efforts to create a supportive environment for women in mathematics, the department hosted its first Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics in early 1999. It is important to note that by paying attention to issues that support women in mathematics, the UNL graduate program in mathematics became a more successful program for all students, regardless of gender. For example, in the decade of the 2010s, 45 women and 68 men earned their Ph.D. in mathematics.

Plenary Speakers

Erika Tatiana Camacho

Erika Tatiana Camacho, Ph.D.

Dr. Erika Tatiana Camacho has been named the inaugural holder of the Manuel P. Berriozábal, Ph.D. and María Antonietta Berriozábal Endowed Chair as well as a professor in the University of Texas San Antonio College of Sciences’ mathematics and neuroscience, developmental and regenerative biology departments. In 2022 she was awarded a year-long Fulbright Research Scholarship to conduct research at L’Institut de la Vision-Sorbonne Université in Paris, France. She recently held a three-year position as a program director at the National Science Foundation, where she supported several programs advancing racial and gender equity in STEM disciplines, including the ADVANCE program, the Racial Equity in STEM Education program and the Hispanic Serving Institutions Program. Prior to working at the NSF, Camacho spent 16 years at Arizona State University (ASU), most recently as a professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. At ASU, she co-directed multiple summer research programs dedicated to the recruitment and training of women, underrepresented minorities and others who might not have had the opportunity to pursue higher education in STEM. Camacho’s current research focuses on mathematically modeling and investigating both the healthy and diseased retinas at the cellular and molecular levels. She published the first set of mechanistic models addressing photoreceptor degeneration, providing a new framework to mitigate blindness. Camacho’s leadership, research, scholarship, and mentoring have won her numerous national and regional recognition, including the 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award. She graduated with bachelor's degrees in mathematics and economics from Wellesley College. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Cornell University. Camacho attended Garfield High School in East Los Angeles and was a student of Jaime Escalante, the math teacher whose story inspired the 1988 film “Stand and Deliver.”

Emily Riehl

Emily Riehl, Ph.D.

Dr. Emily Riehl is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University working on higher category theory and homotopy type theory. She is both an organizer and lecturer for the HoTTEST Summer School, a co-host of the n-Category Café, a founding board member of Spectra, and a contributor to the nLab, a category-theory wiki. She serves on the editorial boards for Homology, Homotopy, and Applications, the Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, and Mathematical Logic Quarterly. In June 2023, Riehl was a visiting professor at the Institute Henri Poincaré-Sorbonne Université in Paris, Francis. She came to Johns Hopkins in 2015 from Harvard University, where she was a Benjamin Peirce Postdoctoral Fellow and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. Her work involves a variety of topics in category theory related to homotopy theory, frequently in collaboration with Dominic Verity at the Centre of Australian Category Theory in Sydney where was a visiting professor in 2017. She is the author of three books — Categorical Homotopy Theory (2014), Category Theory in Context (2016), and Elements of a ∞-Category Theory, with Verity (2022) — all of which are freely available online. She completed her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2011, under the direction of J. Peter May. She went to the University of Cambridge in 2007 and earned the Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics (Part III) with Distinction. In January 2020, Riehl became the sixth recipient of the $250,000 President's Frontier Award, which supports Johns Hopkins researchers poised to become leaders in their field. Riehl was awarded the 2021 AWM Joan & Joseph Birman Research Prize and named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2022. Riehl played Australian rugby (known as footy) for the U.S. national team in 2011, 2014, and 2017, at an international tournament for national squads hosted in Australia. She now trains for ultramarathons.

Invited Guests

Amanda Carr
Applied Research Mathematician
National Security Agency

Dr. Erin McNicholas
Professor of Mathematics
Willamette University

Dr. Anisah Nu'Man
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Spelman College

Joana Perdomo
Systems Engineer
Raytheon

Dr. Angela Robinson
Mathematician
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Dr. Elizabeth Wilmer
Program Director
National Science Foundation

Dr. Kelly Yancey
Research Staff Member
Institute for Defense Analyses - Center for Computing Sciences

Invited Graduate Students

Leigh Foster
University of Oregon

Kendall Gibson
Tulane University

Caroline E. Hammond
Dartmouth College

Kirsten Morris
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Juliette Mukangango
Colorado School of Mines

Mychelle Parker
University of California Santa Barbara

Shelby R. Stowe
Colorado School of Mines

READ THEIR BIOS

Application, Selection and Policies

We thank you for your interest in attending NCUWM. Students interested in presenting a talk or poster at the 2024 conference should complete an application between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9, 2023, for review by Oct. 18. Presenter applications received after Oct. 9 will be reviewed as long as talk and poster slots remain open. Non-presenters and faculty registrations will be accepted for as long as we have space through November 17, 2023. Students who are listed in registrations as co-presenters must also register for the conference by Nov. 17 or before capacity is reached.

Registration fees: The rate is $50 per person and is collected at the time of registration unless the individual's institution is paying and requests an invoice.

The following policies apply:

  1. Attendees must be at least 19 years of age at the time of the conference.
  2. Each home institution will be limited to a maximum of four presenters. For the 2024 conference, we recommend no more than six total students attend from each school. No refunds will be given for any registration fees.
  3. Abstracts will be read by the organizing committee, which will select 48 for talks and as many for posters as can be accommodated. Preference will be given to original research, loosely defined as work that includes some mathematical results obtained by the student, possibly with collaborators. Applicants whose abstracts are selected for either a talk or a poster are presenters; all other student applicants are non-presenters.
  4. Selection of abstracts will be done primarily on merit, except that each home institution will be limited to a maximum of three talks and a total of four presenters.
  5. Students chosen as presenters will be accepted to the conference, provided they complete their registration by Nov. 17 and pay the registration fee.

These policies were crafted to fit a wide range of institutional situations, but nobody can anticipate all possibilities. If you believe that your situation is sufficiently unusual that it warrants special consideration, please have your faculty advisor contact Alex Zupan, NCUWM Co-Chair, at zupan@unl.edu.

REGISTER STARTING OCT. 2

Statement of Appropriate Conduct at NCUWM

To provide all participants – undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, speakers, panelists, staff, and volunteers – the opportunity to benefit from the event, NCUWM is committed to providing a harassment-free environment for everyone, regardless of gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, ethnicity, religion, or other group identity.

NCUWM seeks to provide an opportunity for diverse participants to learn, network, and enjoy the company of colleagues in an environment of mutual human respect. We recognize a shared responsibility to create and hold that environment for the benefit of all. Some behaviors are, therefore, specifically prohibited:

  • Harassment or intimidation based on race, religion, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, appearance, or other group status.
  • Sexual harassment or intimidation, including unwelcome sexual attention, stalking (physical or virtual), or unsolicited physical contact.
  • Yelling at or threatening speakers (verbally or physically or virtually).

All participants are expected to observe these rules and behaviors in all conference venues, including online meeting rooms and social events. Participants asked to stop a hostile or harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Videos and screen shares must be harassment-free at all times. Conference participants seek to learn, network, and have fun. Please do so responsibly and with respect for the right of others to do likewise.

Please contact designated NCUWM staff (identified during the conference), or any member of the organizing committee whom you are comfortable with, if you believe you have been harassed or that a harassment problem exists. Any such reports will be investigated immediately and appropriate actions taken, but only if desired by the person who was harassed. Reports will ultimately be directed to the Title IX Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which will determine and carry out the appropriate course of action, and may consult with and engage other UNL staff, leaders and legal counsel as appropriate.

Learn more about how NCUWM can benefit you:

Sponsors

National Science Foundation logo

NCUWM is generously supported by the National Science Foundation; the National Security Agency; the UNL Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education; and the UNL Department of Mathematics. We thank the NSF and NSA for their funding support over the past two decades. We also want to acknowledge the institutions that provide travel and registration support to their students who attend, which in turn allows us to utilize our NSF support for travel to additional attendees.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Contact Info

Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics
UNL Department of Mathematics
203 Avery Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0130
Phone: 402.472.8979
ncuwm@unl.edu
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