2023 Women and Mathematics Delved Into Patterns in Integers

The 2023 Women and Mathematics Program took place from May 21–26, bringing together 31 students, educators, and researchers from universities around the world to participate in a series of lectures, problem sessions, research seminars, and special talks around the theme "Patterns in Integers." It was the first since the inaugural director of the program and current Visiting Professor Wei Ho began her five-year appointment.

The program’s Terng Lecture, named after Chuu-Lian Terng, past Member (1979, 1997–98) and one of the founders of WAM, was given by Lilian Pierce of Duke University. The lecture was titled "The Circle Method" and explored the method initially developed by G.H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan that asks how many ways a given integer may be expressed as a sum of s perfect k-th powers. Specifically, Pierce discusses its relationship to Ergodic Ramsey Theory.

Tamar Ziegler of Hebrew University gave this year’s Uhlenbeck Lecture, named after current Distinguished Visiting Professor and founder of WAM Karen Uhlenbeck. It was titled "Ergodic Ramsey Theory” and provided an introduction to the field.

This year’s program was organized by Michelle Huguenin and Wei Ho, Institute for Advanced Study; Lillian Pierce, Duke University; and Dusa McDuff, Barnard College, Columbia University.

Beginning as part of the Park City Mathematics Institute in 1993, WAM was established at IAS in 1994 under the leadership of Uhlenbeck and Terng, with support from then IAS Director Phillip Griffiths. Since then, it has dedicated itself to forming fruitful research relationships, encouraging a mentoring network in order to support women in mathematics, and countering the imbalance and attrition rate among female mathematicians compared to their male counterparts. In 2019, the program was recognized for its impact with the American Mathematical Society (AMS) “Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference” Award.

WAM continues its mission to recruit and retain more women in mathematics through new and sustained initiatives with the help of generous support from the National Science Foundation, Lisa Simonyi, and Princeton University Department of Mathematics.