From Feb. 11-12, NYU Abu Dhabi hosted its first Women in Mathematics Conference, aimed at discussing and celebrating the role of women in the field and in STEM. The two-day event included various lectures, a movie screening and a photography exhibition open to high school students in Abu Dhabi.

In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the conference started off with a breakfast which hosted and honored female NYUAD faculty and students from the field. The opening of the conference saw the inauguration of the photography exhibition, Women of Mathematics Throughout Europe. The project is a traveling exhibition, which has documented the stories of 13 female mathematicians through interviews and photography to “[serve] as role models to stimulate young women scientists to trust their own strength.”

Elena Beretta, visiting professor of mathematics and organizer of the conference, opened the exhibition to female students from various high schools in Abu Dhabi, particularly Raha International School and the American Community School, as a way of promoting this message. NYUAD students from the Mathematics Student Interest Group and weSTEM provided a guided tour of the exhibition for the students on the second day of the conference.

“The nice thing about the exhibition is that you could see different way[s] of reacting and answering ... the question, depending on [the women’s] cultural background and also geographical origin,” said Professor Beretta.

Alison Waterman, Class of 2020, was one of the students who helped with the organization of the exhibition and worked as a tour guide for the visiting high school students.

“It’s good for these students to have these role models and … learn more about people who are in their field that maybe they can identify with in a way that they maybe can’t identify with some of the people they’ve been taught about in their classes,” said Waterman. “Historically, there’s been a large, you know, gender disparity, especially … with women going into mathematics, so it was ... inspiring to see … here are all of these women and the different things they’ve achieved and the ways that they’ve gone about it.”

The conference also featured various lectures on topics relevant to female mathematicians presented by a guest speaker. June Barrow-Green, professor of mathematics at the Open University, gave lectures on the history of the gender gap in mathematics and on Sofya Kovalevskaya - a Russian mathematician and pioneer in the theory of partial differential equations and mechanics.

The conference also hosted a panel discussion on the competitive advantages of women in STEM, featuring Marta Losada, dean of science at NYUAD, Professor Barrow-Green and Elena Bonetti, a mathematician and the Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family. During the discussion, Bonetti spoke about her experience as a mathematician in politics.

“She said that … the scientific background is very important also to face politics. Sometimes, having, you know, this attitude...that one scientist has is very important also in politics,” said Professor Beretta about the minister’s lecture. “She was … pointing out that the gender gap is still a big problem, because, yeah of course you can make a career in the university but still, to get to the very top, for a woman, is still very, very difficult.”

The final component of the conference drew attention to female mathematicians through film. A preview of the documentary on Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian immigrant who became a professor of mathematics at Stanford University and winner of the prestigious Fields Medal, was screened at the conference, as well as the 2016 film Hidden Figures, centered around female mathematicians and their contribution to major NASA operations during the space race.

In the spirit of promoting women in the field of mathematics after the end of the conference, Professor Beretta is aiming to have the photography exhibition moved to the A2 building, where the mathematics faculty reside, so that the exhibition can remain open to the wider NYUAD community.

“This event should help students to understand that … you can make a career in research while you’re a woman. There’s a place for everyone,” said Professor Beretta regarding the aim of the conference. “These women [show that] — though they had many obstacles because they were, for example, from very poor countries — if you really desire to achieve something, you can do it … it’s possible.”

“Don’t let … gender or self-doubt or any aspect of your identity, … get in the way of the things that you want to achieve, because I think we live in a place where — here at NYUAD, like, people are very supportive of … anything you want to do,” said Waterman, capturing the spirit of the conference.