Transcript Document

The Mathematics Ph.D.
Program at Iowa
David Manderscheid
Professor and Chair
Department of Mathematics
University of Iowa
The National Bureau of Economic Research
January 14, 2005
Underrepresented Minorities
• Definition of underrepresented minorities
(“URMs”): U.S. African Americans,
Hispanic Americans, American
Indians/Alaskan Natives/U.S. Native
Pacific Islanders
• July 2003 U.S. Census estimates: 27.1%
of population
Percentages of 2000–01 science and
math degrees given to US URM’s
Bachelors
13.8%
Masters
9.5%
Doctoral
6.9%
12.5%
8.6%
6.1%
Comp. science
17.0%
12.4%
5.7%
Biological
sciences
Engineering
16.0%
11.6%
7.5%
13.1%
10.3%
7.8%
Mathematical
sciences
Phys. sciences
Source: Science and Engineering Degrees by Race/Ethnicity of Recipients:
1992–2001, Susan T. Hill and Jean M. Johnson, NSF 04-318
US Mathematics Ph.D.’s 2003-04
Native
American
African
American
Hispanic
American
Total PhDs
Male
Female
Total
3
2
5
12
6
18
12
2
14
296
145
441
Percentages
•
•
•
•
•
•
8% of Ph.D.s to URM’s
1041 Ph.D.s total
4% of total Ph.D.s are URM’s
URM’s probably overreported
URM’s not uniformly distributed
Sources: AMS and NSF data, Abbe
Herzig, Bob Megginson
Department Facts At A Glance
• Teach 7,000 students per year, 120
graduate students and 200
undergraduate majors.
• Graduate an average of 12 Ph.D.s each
year.
Department Facts At A Glance
• 97% of the department’s graduate students
currently supported through teaching or
graduate assistantships or fellowships.
• Over the past five years, 100% of the
Department’s Ph.D. graduates secured
positions.
UI Mathematics Department
URM Enrollment
30%
20%
10%
0%
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
UI Mathematics Department
Primary Grant Sources
US Department of Education
Graduate Assistance in Areas
of National Need (GAANN)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
National Science Foundation
UI Mathematics Department Initiatives
• A three-week intensive Summer Institute for incoming
students
• Weekly help sessions throughout the academic year
• Intensive mentoring, a community of mentors
• Senior teaching assistants as peer mentors in first
year graduate courses.
• A year long weekly seminar: “Introduction to the
graduate program”
• Summer preparatory courses for Comprehensive
Exams
• Multi-year offers
• Faculty led effort
Louis Beaugris
•
•
•
•
Hometown: Queens, NY
Undergrad: CCNY
Status: Ph.D. May 2002
Research Area: Algebraic
Coding Theory
• Assistantships / Internships:
GAANN fellowship and
Teaching Assistantship
• Current Position: Assistant
Professor of Mathematics,
Kean University, NJ
Sharon Lima
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Undergrad: Loyola Marymount
Status: Ph.D. student,
postcomps
Research Interest: Ring Theory
Assistantships / Internships:
GAANN Fellow, teaching
assistant; research assistant,
Sloan Fellow
Aspirations: To be a university
professor who can balance
research and teaching. Wants to
become involved with diversity
issues. “I feel that I would be
able to help other minority
students to succeed at the
university/college level.”
Dandrielle Lewis
• Hometown: Elizabethtown,
NC
• Undergrad: Winston Salem
• Status: Ph.D. student,
precomps
• Area of Interest: Pure
Mathematics
• Assistantships / Internships:
GAANN Fellow, AGEP
Fellow
• Aspirations: Hopes to
develop a math and science
program that increases
abstract thinking & reasoning
skills among students,
particularly minorities.
Abukuse Mbirika
•
•
•
•
Hometown: Bronx, NY
Undergrad: Sonoma State
Status: 1st year Ph.D. program
Areas of Interest: Number
Theory and Representation
Theory
• Support: Univ. of Iowa
Presidential Fellowship
• Aspiration: Professor at a
research university
Success Facts: Program’s Success
To Date
• The change in composition of the graduate
student population has created significant
change in the Department's culture.
• Majority students have availed themselves of
many of the initiatives initially created to help
minority students, such as closer mentoring
and greater interaction with classmates,
faculty and staff.
• Friendships and close working relationships
have sprung from these interactions.
Success Facts: Program’s Success
To Date
• Cultural, ethnic and gender inclusion
have become the norm
• The new environment has become a
successful recruiting tool for the
department – 58% of Ph.D. students are
US citizens and 44% are women
Success Facts: Program’s Success
To Date
• 5 URM Ph.D.s, 3 expected this year,
anticipated steady state of 3 per year
• Of the students who did not complete the
program, the substantial majority have
received MS degrees and many are in
doctoral programs in other STEM fields
Lessons Learned
• The academic community of a predominantly white
institution has a strong, yet largely unexamined cultural
component.
• Students from varied backgrounds have varied
expectations of the graduate school experience.
• Students can be chosen on the basis of potential and
work ethic, not traditional measures. You must meet
them where they are at, however.
• Everything is easier when one out of every four of your
graduate students is a URM.
URM’s in STEM Graduate
Programs
• We must build “regions of diversity.”
• We must understand and respect the hopes
and aspirations of the students whom we
serve.
• We must build close working and personal
relationships with minority-serving institutions.
Institutionalization and Growth
• Institutionalized at math department level
• Iowa AGEP
• NSF-Iowa Alliance for the Production of
African American Ph.D.s in the
Mathematical Sciences
NSF-Iowa Alliance for the
Production of African
American Ph.D.s in the
Mathematical Sciences
(APAAPMS)
APAAPMS GOALS
• Identify students at participating HBCUs who have the
potential to obtain an advanced degree in a mathematical
science or a field employing mathematical skills and
methods.
• Provide mentoring, nurturing and research experiences
for these students throughout their undergraduate careers.
• Build bridges between participating HBCUs and
majority institutions to provide a seamless transition to
graduate school.
The APAAPMS Scholars Program
• Scholars are assigned two mentors: one from their
undergraduate institution and one from an Iowa Regents
Institution.
• Iowa Regents mentors visit the Scholars’ undergraduate
institutions several times each year and maintain close
contact via telephone and e-mail to develop individualized
courses of study and research projects.
• Scholars are encouraged to spend at least one summer at
an Iowa Regents university.
• Scholars and their mentors participate in an annual
Alliance Conference at one of the HBCUs.
• Scholars receive an annual stipend of $5,000 for which
they must perform assigned projects.
APAAPMS Summer Research Experience
• An opportunity for 24 students to spend 8 weeks during the
summer at one of the three Iowa Regents Institutions to
conduct research and prepare for graduate school.
• Students learn about the variety of research areas and career
paths available to them
• Students are introduced to life and work at a large, majority
university.
• Provides opportunity for interaction between students and
professors from both minority and majority institutions.
• Provides students with exposure to distinguished minority
scholars and other supporters of minority scholarship.