AWM Symposium
The UManitoba student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) will be hosting a symposium on November 16, 2023. This hybrid symposium will take place in Armes 205 at the University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
This symposium aims to celebrate and connect women, gender-diverse folx and allies from a wide range of mathematical disciplines. The program will include a plenary talk from Dr. Karen Meagher, a mathematics professor from the University of Regina and the current chair of the Canadian Mathematical Society Women in Mathematics Committee. To learn more about Dr. Meagher, please see below.
We will also be featuring regular talks (20-minutes), lightning talks (10-minutes), poster presentations, as well as a panel discussion.
Here is the schedule of the program and the book of abstracts.
Plenary Speaker: Dr. Karen Meagher
I am a full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Regina. I have been at the U of R since 2007. I hold a B.Sc. in Honours Math from the University of Alberta, a Masters in Math from the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa.
My research area is in discrete math, focusing on algebraic graph theory and extremal problems in combinatorics. I have around 35 published papers and I wrote an entire book just on my favourite math theorem (the famous Erdos-Ko-Rado Theorem). I have supervised many graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and I teach classes at all levels in the Math Department.
I have been the chair of the CMS Women in Math Committee for around 3 years, in this role I have helped organize several national events to promote women in math. I have also been on several other Women in Science or Math groups. My goals with these groups is to build a community that I want to be part of and support math folks in achieving their goals.
Panelists
Our panel discussion features four people dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion: Dr. Avleen Kaur, Dr. Ayush Kumar and Hermie Monterde. This will be moderated by Dr. Darja Barr.
Dr. Avleen Kaur is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia, with prior experience as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Saskatchewan's Numerical Simulations Lab. She earned her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Manitoba in 2022.
Dr. Kaur's research interests encompass classical and numerical linear algebra, numerical analysis of partial differential equations, software development related to matrices, and stochastic rounding techniques. She is also a member of the AWM Membership and Community Portfolio Committee. Her work is driven by a deep passion for mathematics and computational science, and she loves teaching and contributing to the advancement of women and gender-diverse individuals in mathematics.
Dr. Ayush Kumar is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba. He is currently the Associate Dean - Strategic Initiatives in the Faculty of Science.
His research interest include study of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. He also studies prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in environment including drinking and source water from First Nation communities in Manitoba.
Ayush was the President of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) in 2020-2021. He was also the inaugural Chair of the CSM Equity, Diversity, Inclusion subcommittee.
Hermie Monterde (she/her) a PhD student at the University of Manitoba. Her research involves applications of techniques from algebraic and spectral graph theory to problems in continuous-time quantum walks.
She is passionate about SOGIESC rights and gender equity in STEM; and is involved in events organized by equity-seeking groups within the mathematics community. She has been invited to give talks as well as serve as a panelist on discussions about the current status of women and SOGIESC-diverse people in mathematics. Currently, she serves on the CMS Women in Mathematics Committee and sits as the president of the Graduate Mathematics Society (an association of math graduate students at the University of Manitoba).
Outside of mathematics, she is active in migrant and labor rights grassroots movements in Manitoba.
Originally from New Brunswick, Dr. Davidson obtained her first degree from Mount Allison in 1991. She came to Manitoba in 1994, and began work on her graduate studies at the University of Manitoba. She obtained her MSc in 1996, and her PhD in 2005. She joined the faculty in 2008, and has since been promoted to Senior Instructor. She served as the departments Associate Head Undergraduate from July 2016 to July 2019. She is currently serving on Senate as well as the Faculty committee on student standing.
Sponsors
We are grateful to the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences for the generous support.
