University of Utah hosts BRIDGES Conference

In July of 2024, The University of Utah hosted the BRIDGES conference; Building Relationships for an Inclusive and Diverse Group of Emerging Students. As part of the RTG: Algebra, Geometry and Topology at the University of Utah funded by an NSF RTG grant, this conference was organized by the student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics at the University of Utah. 

The conference aimed to introduce students to potential areas for research, role models, mentors, and to foster a sense of community amongst underrepresented groups in mathematics. Around 60 early graduate and advanced graduate students from across the country, as well as from Canada and Mexico, participated in the conference.

Rekha R. Thomas (University of Washington), Kim Ruane (Tufts University), and Ila Varma (University of Toronto) were panelists at the conference, in addition to hosting minicourses. The panel covered topics such as finding a good advisor, balancing work and personal life, imposter syndrome, and other topics related to community, mentorship, and self-care.

In the mincourses, Thomas covered topics of graph theory and its connections to optimization, combinatorics, and geometry, Ruane talked about geometric group theory, and Varma spoke about counting number fields in number theory. 

Hands-on problem sessions followed the minicourses, where participants were given an opportunity to work on problems connected to the minicourse topics with the panelists and graduate student TAs. Student participants were also given the opportunity to share during the Lightning Talks, where they could introduce themselves and their intended research topic. 

The organizing committee was Thomas Hill, Anna Fayolle, Jenna Judd, Sandra Rodríguez, Madison Pearce, Priyam Patel, and Karl Schwede.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact bridges@math.utah.edu.

By Izabella Bourland