BRIDGES

Building Relationships for an Inclusive and Diverse Group of Emerging Students

June 7–10, 2022, Salt Lake City, Utah

This conference is aimed towards early graduate students and advanced undergraduate students interested in algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, geometric group theory, and number theory.

The goal of this conference is to:

Foster a sense of community amongst underrepresented groups in mathematics,
Introduce possible research areas,
Expose the participants to role models and possible mentors.

You can register for the conference here. Please note that the deadline to apply for funding has passed.

This conference is part of the RTG: Algebra, Geometry and Topology at the University of Utah funded by the NSF RTG grant #1840190. You can also check out the website for BRIDGES 2021. If you're looking for the interdisciplinary conference on connections between mathematics and art, please visit www.bridgesmathart.org/b2022.

Schedule

Below is a tentative schedule for the conference. All times are Mountain Daylight Time.

Time	Description	Room
Tuesday, June 7th
8:30-8:55	Check-In	JFB 102
8:55-9:00	Welcome	JFB 102
9:00-9:50	Lecture 1: Marissa Loving	JFB 102
10:15-11:05	Lecture 1: Daniel Hernández	JFB 102
1:00-3:00	Problem session	TBA
3:10-3:00	Lecture 1: Angela Robinson	JFB 102
Wednesday, June 8th
8:55-9:00	Daily Introduction	JFB 102
9:00-9:50	Lecture 1: Angela Gibney	JFB 102
10:15-12:15	Problem Session	TBA
2:10-3:00	Lecture 2: Marissa Loving	JFB 102
3:00-4:00	Panel	JFB 102
4:00-5:00	Poster Session	TBA
Thursday, June 9th
8:55-9:00	Daily Introduction	JFB 102
9:00-9:50	Lecture 2: Daniel Hernández	JFB 102
10:15-11:05	Lecture 2: Angela Gibney	JFB 102
11:30-12:20	Lecture 2: Angela Robinson	JFB 102
2:00-4:00	Problem Session	TBA
4:10-5:00	Lecture 3: Marissa Loving	JFB 102
6:30-8:30	Dinner	TBA
Friday, June 10th
8:55-9:00	Daily Introduction	JFB 102
9:00-9:50	Lecture 3: Daniel Hernández	JFB 102
10:15-11:05	Lecture 3: Angela Robinson	JFB 102
11:30-12:20	Lecture 3: Angela Gibney	JFB 102
12:20-12:30	Closing	JFB 102

Speakers

Angela Gibney, University of Pennsylvania

Angela is a Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania specializing in algebraic geometry.

Lecture Series: A combinatorial introduction to curves of genus zero and their moduli
Abstract:

Daniel Hernández, University of Kansas

Daniel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas specializing in commutative algebra. Daniel was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, a vibrant city along the Mexican border, in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. He is proud of his hometown, and working-class roots. Growing up, he enjoyed every class that he ever took, and as a junior in college, inspired by an introductory course in linear algebra, he left engineering behind to focus on math. He still finds it hard to believe that he is able to support himself as a professional mathematician. He feels lucky to have had amazing mentors at each critical stage of his life, and perhaps because of this, he feels a deep sense of responsibility and desire to help others succeed. To help cope with the frustration that comes with being a mathematician, he regularly runs and participates in group exercise classes. He has a life-long love of basketball, and plays as often as he can.

Marissa Loving, Georgia Tech

Marissa is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Hale Assistant Professor in the School of Math at Georgia Tech. She graduated with her PhD in mathematics in August 2019 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and an Illinois Graduate College Distinguished Fellowship. Marissa was born and raised in Hawai'i where she completed her B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Mathematics at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. She is the first Native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in mathematics. She is also Black, Puerto Rican, and Japanese. Her research interests are in low dimensional topology and geometric group theory, especially mapping class groups of surfaces (of both finite and infinite type). Marissa is also deeply invested in making the mathematics community a more equitable place. Some of her work includes mentoring undergraduate research (through programs such as Summer@ICERM, MSRI-UP, and the Georgia Tech School of Math’s REU) and co-organizing initiatives like SUBgroups and paraDIGMS.

Angela Robinson, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Angela Robinson is a mathematician in the Cryptographic Technology Group of the National Institute of Standards and Cryptography. She completed her Mathematics B.S. at Baylor University and Mathematics PhD at Florida Atlantic University under the advisement of Rainer Steinwandt. Her existing research includes cryptanalysis and quantum-resistant algorithms. Her current research is focused on the decoding performance of moderate-density parity check matrices under iterative decoders.

Registration

If you are interested in attending BRIDGES in 2022, please fill out the registration form here. Registration will be open until May 1st, 2022. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Local

Travel

Salt Lake City International airport is the closest airport. It is conveniently located a 25 minute drive from the University of Utah. From the airport there are several options to reach the University Guest House. The cheapest option is to take Trax, Utah's light rail system which can be paid for with cash, card, or the RideUTA app (this is the easiest option). To help plan transit, you can use either Google Maps or the Transit app. As you exit the airport, follow the signs for ground transportation and walk all the way to the left of the platform to get on the Trax Green Line at the Airport Station. Take the Green Line until Courthouse Station and transfer there to the Red Line heading to the University Medical Center. Get off at Fort Douglas Station, cross Mario Capecchi Drive and head northeast to the Guest House. Please be aware that last Trax leaves Courthouse at 11:01pm and so you would need to catch the Green Line at 9:52pm to make your connection. The other option for transportation is either by Taxi or Uber/Lyft.

Accommodations

All funded participants will be staying at the University Guest House. Unfortunately, we cannot offer unfunded participants a conference rate at the hotel, but we are happy to try to help arrange for roommates - please email us if you would like us to connect you with potential roommates.

Food

There are several options for food around University of Utah:

Student union: Panda Express, Jamba Juice, University Cafeteria
Cafe at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on campus
Restaurants on 1300 E: Indochine, B&D Burgers, the Pie Pizzeria, Osteria Amore, Rio Grande, Subway
Downtown: There are lots of options for dining downtown that can easily be reached via public transit
Coffee: Some coffee and snacks will be provided, but if you find yourself needing more you can find Two Creek, a local coffee shop, in WBB and a Starbucks in the Campus Store

Restrooms

The University of Utah LGBT Resource Center has an inventory of single-stall and/or gender-free restrooms on campus that you can find here. The locations that will be most convenient to the conference are in the Biolodgy Building (BIOL), the James Fletcher Building (JFB), the Marriott Library, and the Student Union.

Wifi

If you are affiliated with a College or University you can use the eduroam network using your login from your instution. Alternatively you can log onto the network UGuest following the instructions.

Activities in and around Salt Lake City

Hiking: There are several trails easily accessible from the Guest House. The living room trail is particularly popular.
Natural history museum.
Great Salt Lake: Antelope Island State Park is about an hour drive away.

Organizers

For the organization of this conference we created a committee in the AWM student chapter at the University of Utah.

Contact

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: bridges@math.utah.edu