Algebraic Combinatorixx is a five-day workshop to be held May 22-27, 2011 at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) in Alberta, Canada. This workshop will bring together forty-two senior and junior female mathematicians to collaborate on cutting-edge research problems in algebraic combinatorics and to forge mentoring networks, with the long-term goal of increasing and strengthening the participation of women in mathematics. BIRS will provide the necessary facilities for uninterrupted research activities including intense and prolonged interactions for collaborative and cross-disciplinary research among participants.
Algebraic combinatorics is a broad discipline with substantial connections to many different areas of mathematics and physics such as knot theory, representation theory, algebraic geometry, number theory, mathematical biology, statistical mechanics, and quantum computing.
The workshop will also have a major mentoring component. Over half of the participants will be early career (pre-tenure or recently tenured) women faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students who will be paired with senior researchers working in combinatorics. In addition to research talks, on two of the evenings there will be discussions on building the tools to succeed: from professional development to work-life balance.
The long-term benefits of this workshop will be an increase in the participation of women in research activities, the creation and maintenance of a research network of potential collaborators, and visibility and connectivity for younger researchers, especially those at smaller colleges.
NSF Grant DMS #1101740 supported the travel of 25 participants to the Banff International Research Station Workshop 'Algebraic Combinatorixx,' May 22-27, 2011. This workshop, which brought together 42 female mathematicians to collaborate on cutting-edge research problems in algebraic combinatorics and related fields, also featured a strong mentoring component. Almost two-thirds of the participants were early-career (pre-tenure or recently tenured) women faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students. Of the 25 individuals supported by this grant, 19 of them were early-career mathematicians. As one participant remarked in her evaluation of the conference: 'This was a unique experience; fully energizing, an eye opening in how a well-planned workshop can be extremely productive.' The program for the workshop consisted of survey lectures on the latest research developments given by more established researchers and some shorter research talks by junior participants. In addition, early-career participants presented posters and gave a brief 2-3 minute preview of their poster before it was displayed. Roughly half the time was spent working in smaller groups organized according to research interests, where actual research problems were discussed, and in many cases solved. Groups gave brief daily updates to the entire workshop audience on the topics and problems they had worked on and posed open questions. As a result, there was much collaboration and discussion, which have continued well beyond the 5-day workshop. At the end of the workshop, the groups presented reports. During two of the evenings there were panel discussions on building the tools to succeed: from professional development to work-life balance. Outcomes of this workshop include two journal publications, one preprint, and numerous ongoing collaborations. A no-cost extension was requested (and subsequently granted) to enable travel for continuing research collaborations started at the workshop. Funding from this grant supported five research projects during 2012-2013. To build on the momentum generated at the workshop, two participants organized a well-attended special session "Algebraic Combinatorics and Representation Theory" at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in January 2013. The session organizers and half the invited speakers were involved with the 2011 workshop. The session provided a forum for reporting on recent research developments, for sustaining contacts, and for expanding the network of researchers. The response to the Algebraic Combinatorixx Workshop was overwhelmingly positive, and many participants expressed interest in attending similar events in the future.
