May 2005

A Calculated Approach to Closing the
Gender Gap

Entering Its 11th Year, the Summer Program for Women in Mathematics Seeks to Encourage Women to Pursue Careers in Mathematics

By Kathleen A. Kocks

This summer, 16 undergraduate women from colleges around the country will share an experience at The George Washington University that will probably change their lives forever. From July 2 through Aug. 6, they will participate in the Summer Program for Women in Mathematics (SPWM), sponsored now for 11 years by GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Taught by women professors, with assistance from women guest lecturers and teaching assistants (TAs), the five-week program could be described as a combined boot camp/sorority rush, being both intensive and nurturing. Mathematical skills are challenged through five courses, while minds are opened to career opportunities and spirits are encouraged to follow their dreams of a mathematics profession. Since SPWM began in 1995, more than 150 students have attended the program, which generates feedback like this:

I wanted some direction to my future, as well as a better ability to articulate what I love about math and what mathematicians do. This program addressed my main concerns and much, much more. It was amazing.

I feel the strongest part of this program was the interaction between us the students with faculty, guest speakers, and TAs. I have learned so much from it and it has made this experience one which will have a strong impact on my life hereafter.

My impressions of the program… . I think it was one of the most important things I ever did. I needed to be with other girls who were math majors. There were a lot of things we had in common that I didn’t get to share with people at my own university.

How does a summer math program get such rave reviews? The person with the answers is GW Professor of Mathematics Murli Gupta, who has loyally served as SPWM’s director since its start.

“Our program grew out of a very successful program for undergraduate women mathematics majors at Mills College in California. The college wanted to replicate the program countrywide and, around 1995 it invited professors from various colleges to a conference. I and other GW professors attended, liked the idea, and sent in a proposal to do something here,” Gupta says.

Program support came from an unexpected source, the nation’s top intelligence specialist, the National Security Agency (NSA). However, NSA is the largest employer of mathematicians in the world, and it opted to support the program as a way to introduce more diversity into the mathematics profession and into its workplace.

“They love our program and continue to support it,” Gupta adds. “A field trip to NSA is a standard part of every summer program.”

Program participants are treated to two two-week and two three-week math courses, taught by preeminent women professors invited to the program. The students work individually and in group study sessions, and also get help from two women teaching assistants, who are graduate math students invited to participate in the program. Many TAs attended the program when they were undergraduates.

“Which topics we teach depends on who we get to teach, but our courses are not covered in undergraduate work, so our students have no exposure to these topics,” Gupta says. “The participants are eager to learn and by the end of the courses, they understand the topic enough to make presentations, explaining their work to each other and outsiders. Sometimes they have written presentations and we present them with a bound copy of the presentation, along with other information about their summer program.”

SPWM also includes guest lectures from various mathematics professionals, who present a prepared talk, followed by open discussion that gives participants a real-world perspective of the lecturers’ career paths and day-to-day activities. Also included are weekly field trips, where students visit women math professionals in the workplace. Besides NSA, field trip destinations have included the US Census Bureau, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Northrop Grumman, and Science Applications International Corp.

“Our program has evolved over the years, and we’ve learned that some components are crucial to its success,” Gupta says. “One is having the students, faculty, and TAs living in the dorms, so they can see each other informally all the time.”
This aspect is very important according to two former program participants, Anna Varvak and Angela Gallegos, who attended the 1998 session and later came back as TAs.

“There is a lot of awe and mystery around the mathematics profession. You hear stories of people who have succeeded in mathematics and they are often very esoteric, and if that’s all you hear, you get the impression that this is what you need to succeed. From my perspective, the program provides honest information about mathematics careers, and the interaction with other female mathematicians is a big component. The program encourages everyone to not just talk about math, but also why we are interested in it and what you can do with a math career,” says Varvak, who finished her doctorate thesis at Brandeis University and now has a tenure track professorship at Soka University.

“All my undergraduate professors were men, very aloof, and they didn’t seem to realize a world existed outside of math. I couldn’t imagine being like them to have a math career. Then I learned about GW’s all-woman summer program and I found the women were intense lovers of math, but also liked other things and had outside lives,” relates Gallegos, who is completing her doctorate at University of California Davis and will become, this fall, a tenure-track professor at Occidental College.

“The program was a lot of fun and a lot of work. You really got to know the professors, TAs, and other students. You would not get this kind of opportunity anyplace else. People I met there are still some of my best friends. The faculty within the program, especially Dr. Gupta, is definitely vested in looking out for you; the professors have helped me get work at other summer programs and temporary positions. We really have a strong network.”

Gupta and his team keep track of former participants, using a Web site, E-mails, and newsletters to foster continued communication and networking. The program has also sponsored reunions of its participants since 2000, financially helping them to attend the Joint Mathematics Meeting, the annual meeting of several mathematical associations and societies.

The summer program is open to women math majors who are completing their junior year, have taken certain math courses, and are contemplating graduate school. SPWM pays for their travel, room and board, plus they get a $1,500 stipend. (Instructors and TAs are also paid and receive travel, room and board allowances.) This year’s students are coming from Carleton College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stanford University, James Madison University, University of Chicago, Pennsylvania State University, Louisiana State University, and Wellesley College.

“There are two big benefits of our program,” Gupta concludes. “First, we help the participants see how many opportunities are available to them. Our participants from small colleges and even large universities are often not aware of those opportunities. Second, many undergraduate women in mathematics think graduate school is out of their reach, but we help them see this is not the case. We give them information and open their eyes.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu