GRAC-M stands for “Graduate Research Assistance Chats - Mathematics”

It is hosted by the Portland State Student Chapter of SIAM (the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics).

GRAC-M is a group meeting for graduate students at Portland State University to share their research with each other. We are hoping to include all graduate researchers who do anything that involves math and statistics. If you aren’t sure if that includes you, please see the list of departments and majors we are hoping to include below. Our goal is to find out what each other are working on, and have an opportunity for those who want to talk out something they might be stuck on or need ideas from those who could actually help. If it helps, think of us like rubber ducks that can help untangle your math.

These meetings are focused on grad students sharing and getting help on their research from other grad students.  Each meeting, speakers who have signed up in advance will have the opportunity to present something they have been working on. We have two presentation modes; formal, where you are presenting like at a conference with minimal interruptions and questions at the end, or informal, where you would like a more conversational, brainstorming type discussion with active involvement throughout. Each presentation is allotted up to 20 minutes, with 5 additional minutes for questions and feedback.

While the focus is on graduate student research, we aren’t forbidding undergraduates or faculty advisors from attending.  But please be aware that a 20 minute talk and 5 minutes for questions doesn’t leave a lot of room for teaching prerequisite concepts or defense-style long questioning, so please plan accordingly. We really mean you are welcome to come and listen, but basically, act like a graduate student during the meeting.