Mentoring & Service

The EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) program gave me exactly what I needed to pursue a PhD in Mathematics. My unconventional route to graduate school took me away from math content for a few years but the EDGE program gave me an opportunity to get it back. Providing an opportunity to review content, study and present mathematics, and build a long lasting network of strong, brilliant, and powerful women mathematicians, the EDGE program empowered me toward and throughout my PhD program. In the past year, I was asked to return as a mentor for the program where I had a hand in giving to other aspiring mathematicians what I had gotten years ago.

As an undergraduate, I had the privilege of meeting the first ever Native Hawaiian with a PhD in Mathematics. I found it astounding that not only was there only one Native Hawaiian with a PhD in math, but there were no female Native Hawaiians with a PhD in math as well. Fast forward a few years later and I am happy to say that there are soon to be 4 other Native Hawaiians with PhDs in Mathematics and I hope to become the 5th (and just the second female). Throughout my journey I was able to make such strong connections with these Native Hawaiian mathematicians as well as other Pacific Islander mathematicians. Though our community is small, we are passionate and determined to welcome others to be a part of it! ‘A‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia (no task is too big, when done together by all). Visit our website here!

The Directed Reading Program (DRP) is a one-on-one mathematics mentoring program in which graduate students or junior faculty members mentor undergrads in reading and research projects. This year will be my second year serving as a mentor to undergraduate students who are interested in learning about more advanced mathematics. In 2020, my students read through Office Hours with a Geometric Group Theorist (Clay, Margalit) and took an interest to Thompson's Group F and created the following poster. I look forward to continuing to peruse various topics of interest to undergraduates at various stages in their mathematical journeys.