Report for the academic year - Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

The Mentoring Program for Women in Mathematics was held May 30-June 9 at the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The program, organized by Chuu Lian Terng,
Professor, Northeastern University and Karen Uhlenbeck, Professor, University of Texas,
Austin, had 36 registered participants from the fields of mathematics and computer
science. In addition, many of the lectures and seminars were attended by mathematicians
from the local area. The topic of the Women's Program undergraduate course was Com-
putational Complexity Theory; the graduate course for the Women's Program was in the
related subject of cryptography.
Joan Feigenbaum from AT&T organized the graduate course. Tal Malkin and Rebecca
Wright, also from AT&T, assisted her in giving the lectures. Yael Gertner, a graduate
student in computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, ran the graduate problem
session. The graduate course covered basic ideas and applications and could be followed
by all the participants.
The undergraduate course on computational complexity theory was given by Judy Gold-
berg from the computer science department at the University of Kentucky, with the assis-
tance of Sara Mocas from Portland State.University. The course was attended by all par-
ticipants, including the graduate students (except those who chose to concentrate only
on cryptography). The core group of students who followed the course read papers and
gave presentations during the last two days.
Also included in the program were a research seminar, presenting work from many areas
of computer science and algebra, and a participant seminar of expository papers.
Three colloquium-style lectures were given. Maria Klawe, University of British Colum-
bia, spoke on designing software for middle school math education, Lenore Blum of
Carnegie Mellon University gave an introduction to the ideas of real complexity, and Avi
Wigderson, of the Institute for Advanced Study and the organizer of the PCMI summer
program, gave an overview of complexity theory which tied into both the undergraduate
and the graduate courses.
The Women-in-Science Seminar, organized by Karen Uhlenbeck, had two discussion
sessions. In one, the participants introduced themselves and spoke about their present
concerns; in the second, specific problems of women-in-science, especially competition,
were discussed. Two seminars featured visitors Maria Klawe and Lenore Blum, who
offered advice and practical information. Karen Collins, a computer science professor
from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, discussed the early history of computer
science, and a panel of local women professors dealt with balancing research, teaching
and service. Judy Goldsmith organized a session for participants to practice job inter-
views. Throughout the program, there were many discussions about the differences
between research in academia and industry.
Because the students from computer science and mathematics at all levels were involved
in the same mathematical undertaking, there was a great deal of formal and informal
mentoring within the scientific program. The mixture of computer science and mathe-
115