IPAM and Diversity

Encouraging the careers of women and minority mathematicians and scientists is an important component of IPAM's mission.

Recruiting Organizers, Speakers, and Participants
IPAM places high priority on the representation of women and underrepresented ethnic groups in IPAM programs as speakers, organizers, and funded participants.

We emphasize our commitment to encouraging the careers of women and minorities on every program’s web page and promotional flyer, as well as in our quarterly electronic newsletter, annual newsletter, and advertisements we place in SIAM News, AMS Notices, and other publications.

IPAM makes significant effort to have female and/or minority representation on the organizing committees of both long programs and workshops. The Director and Associate Director work closely with the chair of the organizing committee to choose the members. Similarly, IPAM strongly encourages organizing committees to recruit women and underrepresented minority speakers.

IPAM subscribes to the newsletters of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), the Association of Women in Mathematics (AWM), and National Association of Mathematicians (NAM). These resources help us identify women and minority researchers for our programs.

Special attention is given to women and minorities who apply for funding to attend a long program, summer program or workshop.

Leadership and Governance
IPAM endeavors to maintain sufficient representation of underrepresented groups on its boards and its scientific staff. We value diversity on both the Science Advisory Board, which reviews proposals for scientific programs, and the Board of Trustees, which governs the organization. We ask board members to nominate women and minorities, and the director actively researches possible candidates. We also value diversity in the scientific leadership of IPAM, which is composed of the director and two rotating associate directors. We publicize director and associate director positions in the AWM, NAM, and SACNAS newsletters and websites, and always state our desire for applications from women and minority candidates.

Support for National Programs for Underrepresented Groups
IPAM supports events targeting or serving women or minority groups. In November 2004, we hosted and sponsored the Blackwell-Tapia Conference and Prize Presentation, and will do so again in 2014. We have co-sponsored two workshops organized by the Anita Borg Institute at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. We hosted the Conference for African American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS) in 2005 and 2011. IPAM was host and cosponsor of the 2010 Infinite Possibilities Conference, a national conference designed to promote, educate, encourage and support minority women interested in mathematics and statistics. Finally, we sponsored the Women in Mathematics Symposium in 2011, in cooperation with AWM.

Finally, with the other NSF Math Institutes, IPAM supports AWM MentorNet (The Electronic Network for Women in Science and Engineering) and co-sponsors the Modern Math Workshop every year at the SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting.

RIPS Summer Program
IPAM successfully recruits undergraduate women and minorities to participate in our undergraduate summer program, Research in Industrial Projects for Students. IPAM targets women and minority groups in our marketing efforts. We routinely send literature to HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and HACU (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities) member institutions. We also send literature to a number of women’s colleges. IPAM board members have helped us promote RIPS to the African American and Hispanic communities.

Services and Resources
IPAM offers assistance for workshop and long program participants with young children. IPAM’s child care resources webpage and program staff helps them locate and arrange child care. The housing coordinator also works closely with them to find accommodations that suit their needs. Additionally, a gift from the Berland Foundation has made it possible to offer "child care scholarships" to participants with primary parenting responsibility for young children, so that the parent can fully participate in the IPAM program.