Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)

We are the CCNY student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM). We want to help foster a sense of community among math enthusiasts at CCNY. We organize various events with the Math Club including group meetings, invited speakers, and community outreach. Our goal is to have students and faculty interact outside of the classroom and to form a support system for each other.

Announcements

The math club and AWM moved, and are now located in MR 210.

See below for upcoming AWM/math club events.

Club room

The current location of AWM (and also math club) is Marshak 210.

How to join:

All CCNY students are welcome to join. All members receive complimentary membership in the AWM.

Events and resources are announced in several locations.

• Join our Google Group to receive emails.
• Follow our Instagram.
• Join our AWM and Math Club Discord.

We're always excited to get ideas and help with events! If you're interested in getting more involved with planning, email us at awmccny@gmail.com or talk to one of our board members.

2023-2024 Executive Committee:

• President:
• Vice President: Tabitha Ramirez
• Secretary: Veronica Koval
• Treasurer: Victor Pena

We're a student-run organization, so our board is always changing as people graduate. If you're interested in being a board member, we'd love to have you! Email us at awmccny@gmail.com or talk to a current board member if you're interested.

Upcoming Events

• End of semester party (Tuesday May 7th 2024, 12:30-2:00, Location TBA

Past Events

• Talk: The Švarc-Milnor Lemma by Adrian Cabreja (Tuesday April 16th 2024, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

Geometric Group Theory explores group properties by examining the geometric spaces these groups act on. Essentially, when a group G acts on a space X, X's topological and geometric structure significantly reveals G's structure. An example of this with respect to finitely generated groups is the Švarc-Milnor lemma. This proposition states that if a group G acts 'nicely' on a metric space X, then G is finitely generated; it also shares a deep geometric resemblance to X. In my talk, I'll delve into the Švarc-Milnor lemma, both proving and unpacking it, along with introducing the foundational ideas necessary to grasp this great mathematical statement.

• BEAM Summer Employment Info Session (Thursday April 4th 2024, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A)

• Talk: How the Iterative Local Transitive Model on a Graph Affects its Zero Forcing Sets. by Nhat Nguyen (Tuesday March 26th 2024, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

• Talk: Operations Research by Jack Theurer (Tuesday March 19th 2024, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

• Pi Day Party (Thursday March 14th 2024, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A)

Come join us for an afternoon of pie, plus an integral competition!

• Talk: TBA, by Axel Kodat (Tuesday March 5th 2024, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)
• Women and Math Conference (Saturday March 2nd 2024, 10:00-5:00, CUNY Graduate Center 4102)

See the following link for registration information: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/events/mina-rees-ny-women-and-math-conference . Please register as soon as possible--it'll help the organizers plan.

• Talk: Symbolic Dynamics of Geodesics, by Tabitha Ramirez (Tuesday February 20th 2024, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

• Mathematical Crocheting (Tuesday February 6th 2023, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A)
  

  Welcome back! Come meet new students, say hi to your returning friends, and learn to crochet!

• Study With Us! (Tuesday December 13th 2023, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A)
  

  Finals are here! Come study with us this Tuesday in the club room!

  * The heat equation on finite graphs with timescale considerations, by Luis Lopez (Tuesday November 28th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: Regarding Selberg's Central Limit Theorem, by Eli Amzallag (Tuesday November 14th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  In a standard probability course, the Central Limit Theorem is often discussed. Recall that this theorem (in a certain sense and with adequate hypotheses) implies that certain sums of random variables can be approximated by Gaussian random variables. In number theory, Selberg’s Central Limit Theorem formally establishes how this idea can be used to describe the behavior of the Riemann zeta function along the critical line Re(s) = 1/2 in the complex plane (where all of the nontrivial roots of the Riemann zeta function are conjectured to fall). We discuss Selberg's Central Limit Theorem and explain some results in connection with this theorem.

  * Halloween Party (Tuesday October 31st 2023, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: A comparison of invariants in knot theory, by Nhat Nguyen (Tuesday November 7th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: Introduction to symbolic dynamics, by Dr. Tamara Kucherenko (Tuesday October 24th 2023, TBA, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: An Alternate Proof of Quillen's Theorem A, by Sevan Bharathan (Tuesday October 17th 2023, 4:00pm, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: Graph C* algebras, by Adrian Cabreja (Tuesday October 10th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  This talk aims to introduce attendees to the foundational aspects of C*-algebra theory. We will commence with a discussion on Banach algebras and their fundamental properties, setting the stage for the introduction of C*-algebras as a natural extension. Key concepts such as * involution, the Gelfand-Naimark theorem, and spectral theory will be discussed.

  * Student Seminar: Phase transitions and one-sided shift spaces, by Elliot Kimbrough-Perry (Tuesday September 12th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  A phase transition is a sudden change in the equilibrium of a dynamical system. I will introduce the definition of a phase transition, a shift space, and some related notions such as topological entropy, then sketch the construction of a potential on a one-sided shift that exhibits one phase transition.

  * Student Seminar: Computability of equilibrium measures, by Emma Dinowitz (Tuesday September 19th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A) * Student Seminar: Higher order Jacobian matrices, by Tabitha Ramirez (Tuesday September 26th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A) * Math Department End of Semester Party (Tuesday May 16th 2023, 12:00-2:00, NAC 8/133)

  It's time for the math department end of semester party! Come celebrate all the hard work you've done this year and send off the students who are graduating! There will be food, drinks, music, and we're hoping to get a good turnout of both faculty and students!

  * Welcome Back Party (Thursday September 7th 2023, 12:30-2:00, Marshak 308A)

  Come say hi to your returning friends and meet new students! There'll be (free) snacks and drinks.

  * AWM Talk: The BHK Interpretation of Proof and the Curry-Howard Correspondence. by Sevan Bharathan (Thursday May 11th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  The Brouwer-Heyting-Kolmogorov interpretation of proof, initially ideated by L.E.J. Brouwer in the early 1900s and later formalized independently by both Arend Heyting and Andrey Kolmogorov, suggests that a proof of a theorem is a construction of a certain mathematical object. This revelation, when seen through the lens of computer science, tells a different story: that a proof is a typed computer program, and that the resultant theorem is the type of its output, i.e., the Curry-Howard Correspondence. I will provide a history and statement of the correspondence and prove that intuitionistic natural deduction is in correspondence with lambda calculus. I will also discuss some more recent generalizations of this idea, namely Homotopy Type Theory and categorical semantics in general.

  * AWM Talk: The Prime Number Theorem and Chebyshev’s Functions by William Taylor (Thursday May 4th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  A key step on the way to the proof of the Prime Number Theorem was Chebyshev’s introduction of arithmetic functions on the primes and their powers that compensate for their decreasing densities, and which should therefore grow approximately linearly. Proving this fact is equivalent to the PNT, but related statements bounding the growth of these functions can be obtained without complex analysis. This talk will explore these functions and hint at the remaining steps needed to prove the PNT.

  * AWM Talk: Cohomology and shifts of finite type by Elliot Kimbrough-Perry (Thursday April 27th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  A (finite) shift space is a type of measure theoretical dynamical system in which the underlying set is the countable product of a finite set, called an alphabet, with itself. Such a space is typically equipped with a measure (typically either a Bernoulli or Markov measure), and the shift map. In 2003, P. Walters produced a necessary and sufficient condition for a continuous function on a two-sided shift to be cohomologous to a continuous function on a one-sided shift. I will introduce this result as well as some related results, and, if time permits, discuss applications to subshifts.

  * AWM Talk: Factoring the Dedekind-Frobenius Determinant by Gabriela Brown (Thursday April 20th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  In the early 1900s Dedekind asked Frobenius a question about groups that lead to the creation of character theory, and began the field we now know as representation theory. The question he posed was this: consider the multiplication table of a group as a symbolic matrix. If you take the determinant symbolically, can you factor it? This talk will summarize the work of Frobenius on this classical question, and if time permits consider how the approach changes if the question is instead asked about a semigroup, an algebraic object with much less structure.

  * AWM Talk: Martingales and Abracadabra, by Julio Diaz (Thursday Mar 30th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  Martingales are the mathematical abstraction of a fair game that have numerous applications in probability theory. The name originates from a class of betting strategies from 18th century France. In this talk, we will introduce martingales and Doob’s optional stopping theorem, and then use these tools to calculate the expected time for a monkey to type the word ABRACADABRA. If time permits we will also use martingales to prove Cayley’s formula for the number of spanning trees of a complete graph.

  * Pi Day Party (Tuesday Mar 14th 2023, 12-2, Marshak 308A)

  Friends! It's once again that time of year when we gather to celebrate pi. (And also our favorite pies: apple pie, pizza pie, pie charts). There will be food, drinks, music, and games (including another round of our integral competition). Be there or be square!

  * AWM Talk: What are Thompson's Groups? by Adrian Cabreja (Thursday March 8th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  Thompson’s group F was first defined in 1965 by Richard Thompson. It has since been studied in the context of algebraic topology, category theory, computer science, shape theory and other mathematical fields. The group itself is very interesting since it has properties that appear to be paradoxical. For example:

  1. F contains the direct sum of infinitely many copies of itself, yet it is finitely presented. 2. F has exponential growth but contains no free groups of rank 2.

  The purpose of this talk is to define Thompson’s group F in both its analytic and geometric interpretation, while also presenting some of its interesting properties.

  * Resume Workshop (Thursday Feb 9th 2023, 12:30-1:30, Marshak 308A)

  Are you applying for jobs, internships, or grad school? This Thursday from 12:30-1:30 we're running a resume workshop! If you've never made one before, we'll have templates for whatever kind of resume/CV you need. And if you do have a resume, bring it in and we'll give you feedback on how to highlight your skills and experience. This event will also be a Zoom event, so join us in person in MR 308A, or on video for members on our mailing list.

  * ENYGMMa seminar supporting gender minorities in mathematics (Friday Feb 10th 2023, 12:30-4:15, at the CUNY Graduate Center)

  This seminar is joint-organized by several NY universities, and will have a catered lunch, talk by Prof. Moira Chas (Stonybrook), and a panel on careers in Math. The event is happening at the CUNY Graduate Center on Friday, February 10 2023 from 12:30-4:15. RSVP here!

  * Welcome back coffee and tea! (Thursday Jan 26th, 12:30-1:30, Club Room)

  Welcome back everyone! We'll be having coffee/tea and donuts during club hours this week to kick off the beginning of the semester. Say hi to the friends you haven't seen all break, and welcome new classmates! See you Thursday 12:30-1:30 in Marshak 308A.

  ### Opportunities: NYC Regional Math Alliance RAMMP Summer Program

  The program is open to all undergraduate students in the NYC area who will have completed mathematics courses requiring the writing of rigorous proofs. Students will receive a stipend for the eight weeks of the program, June 1 - July 23, which will take place at City College of New York. During the course of the program, groups of 3-4 students will work closely with their faculty mentor on research projects.More details are provided on the NYC Math Alliance website.Please send any questions on the program to nycmathalliance@gmail.com.

  Math GRE Subject Test

  If you are interested in taking the Math GRE subject test and want to join a study group, AWM and Math Club are organizing review sessions. The test is offered three times a year. If you want to take the test in New York City, register early - spots fill up very quickly.

  See registration information here.

  ### Additional Information Links to scholarships that may be of interest: * CCNY Math Department Rich Scholarships. * City College Fellowships. * Woodrow Wilson STEM Teaching Fellowships.

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