The Career Mentoring Workshop: A Second-Generation EDGE Program

Abstract

The EDGE program, originally founded to provide support for women entering doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences, has had a dramatic, positive impact on the mathematics community well beyond its program participants. Many of the women who have participated in the EDGE summer sessions have not only successfully earned doctorates in the mathematical sciences, but have subsequently assumed leadership roles in new outreach efforts aimed at diversifying the United States mathematics community. In this paper, we examine in more detail the impact of the author’s—an EDGE alumna and current Associate Professor of Mathematics—efforts to diversify the mathematics community by way of founding the Career Mentoring Workshop (CaMeW) for women completing their math doctorates. Lessons learned, including challenges and successes, will be shared for others who may consider initiating similar outreach efforts. CaMeW is an example of a “second-generation EDGE program,” that is a program founded by an EDGE alumna who is actively working to diversify the math community.