The Summer Institute for the Mathematical Sciences at Berkeley The University of California at Berkeley proposes to develop and operate the Summer Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (SIMS), a 6-week program for mathematically talented undergraduate women. SIMS provides 24 women, selected nationwide, with an intensive mathematics program that is designed to motivate and prepare them to enter and complete successfully a Ph.D. program in the mathematical sciences. SIMS aims to provide participants with a mathematical experience that will give them a taste of what it is to be a researcher in the mathematical sciences, and it aims to communicate to the students that women can and should be doing mathematics. At the heart of the program are four seminars, two each in pure and applied mathematics. Each seminar is led by a woman, selected nationwide, who is an active research mathematician and a talented teacher. She is aided by a teaching assistant who is a graduate student in mathematics. The students take two seminars, one pure and one applied. The character of the work is very different from that which is encountered in typical undergraduate mathematics courses. Students immerse themselves in the seminar material to discover and prove results without the aid of textbooks, they are given many hard problems and projects, and they learn how to obtain and express mathematical ideas in conversation and in writing. In addition to the seminars, mathematics colloquia are held twice weekly. In these talks, well-known mathematicians introduce the students to a vast panorama of mathematical topics. There are also panel discussions on: applying to graduate school and fellowship sources, the variety of graduate programs available in the mathematical sciences, non-academic careers in mathematics, and the challenges women face as graduate students and as professionals in the mathematical sciences.
