Mathematics Programs That Make a Difference 2017
Citation 2017
This year the AMS recognizes the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences (the Math Alliance) for its programs over the last 10 years promoting participation by groups underrepresented in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences.
National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences
(the Math Alliance)
Now based at Purdue University, the Math Alliance began in 2001 as a partnership of three Iowa State Regents universities and four Historically Black Colleges and Universities and has grown into a national network of institutions and faculty that mentor minority students in both undergraduate and graduate programs. It holds the annual Field of Dreams Conference, attended in 2015 by 174 undergraduates and 130 faculty, from over 115 institutions. In addition, Alliance Mentors work at the pre-doctoral, masters, Ph.D., and post-doctoral level to help students succeed in their studies and progress on to the next level. In 2015–16 the program listed 552 faculty mentoring over 600 active scholars. The Alliance has expanded its network 30-fold over the last 10 years, and has recently been used as a model for a similar program in physics by the American Physical Society.
One of the supporting letters for the nomination, by a former Alliance Scholar, credits the Alliance with helping to “mold an African-American female from rural Louisiana who had never considered going to graduate school into a NSF postdoctoral fellow.” Another, by the chair of a participating institution, describes “a community aspect of the Alliance that is hard to capture in numerical data—an aspect that is best experienced at one of the annual Field of Dreams Conferences or in a department with a nontrivial number of minority graduate students.”
The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences (the Math Alliance) website.
The AMS commends the Math Alliance for its commitment to and success in increasing minority participation in doctoral programs nationwide.
For more information about the nomination process, please contact the Director of Education and Diversity, via aed-mps@ams.org or by telephone at 800-321-4267, ext. 4172.