The Midwest Women in Mathematics Symposium (Midwest WIMS) will be held at Notre Dame on April 5, 2014. The goals of this symposium are to highlight women's contributions to the mathematical community, strengthen the network of female mathematicians in the Midwest, encourage new collaborations, and facilitate mentoring among graduate students, postdocs, and professors to help women stay active in research. The symposium will include several mathematical talks, including a keynote address given by Lenore Blum of Carnegie Mellon University. There will be parallel sessions in algebra, dynamical systems, geometry and topology, logic, mathematical biology, partial differential equations, and statistics. In addition, there will be a problem session to encourage new collaborations; problems that cut across disciplines are particularly encouraged. The symposium encourages participation of women in various stages of their academic careers, ranging from graduate students to full faculty.
It is not uncommon for women with research talent to drop out of the research community. The talks and the problem session will lead women to new and exciting projects. An extended lunch and other breaks will give participants at various stages in their careers the opportunity discuss mathematical problems, or simply exchange stories. The PI expects that some participants will, in discussions that are not strictly mathematical, learn strategies for staying active in research.
The conference website is at http://www3.nd.edu/~wims/
