diversity & inclusion

Our Commitment

Mathematics is a human activity. We believe that in order to maintain our legacy of excellence in research and education, it all comes down to people – embracing and celebrating our different experiences, cultures and perspectives.

For this reason, we are deeply committed to achieving equity and enhancing diversity among our faculty, students and staff. We foster diversity and inclusion within our department and community, including persons of varying abilities/disabilities, age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, geographic region, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.  Our department is dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of talented faculty, students and staff specifically from historically underrepresented groups.

2022 - 2023 diversity efforts in action

  • The Department will continue the outreach program in collaboration with CSU Northridge, CSU San Bernadino, and Cal State Los Angeles. The objective of the CSU Math Summer Bridge Program is to contribute to the ability and motivation of high-potential Cal State students to apply to PhD programs in math. The five-week program includes an intense review of advanced undergraduate math, followed by short courses of guided reading and problem solving that offer a first taste of the more open-ended research that PhD students undertake.

    The program accepts six students each year on the recommendation of faculty at their home Cal State institutions. The program ran online in 2020 and 2021 but was able to hold in-person classes on the UCLA campus this Summer 2022. Several students from the first years of the program have now moved on to highly-rated math PhD programs at universities including Minnesota, Rice, and UCLA itself.

  • Professor Itay Neeman has been selected to be the Department’s ombudsperson, an independent person (with a less official role) who may act as a mediator for any grievances, instances of discrimination, or sexual harassment. Please reach out by emailing ombuds@math.ucla.edu. For more information about the role of an ombudsperson, please visit: http://www.ombuds.ucla.edu/FAQ.htm 
  • The Department has formed a new committee for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) comprised of faculty, postdoctoral scholars, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Its task is to initiate and coordinate EDI efforts by working to improve the departmental climate and create more inclusive physical and virtual spaces. The committee is the point of contact for everybody in the Department who wants to bring forward concerns or mention ideas and suggestions related to EDI and information policy. Please submit your suggestions/feedback to our Feedback Form.
  • The Department hosted the 2021 WimSoCal Symposium for Women in Mathematics. WimSoCal is hosted by a different University each year with the goal of bringing together women mathematicians from the Southern California region in order to nurture collaborations and provide a framework for mentoring. More details will be announced shortly.

  • The Department’s new David Harold Blackwell Summer Research Institute took place on the UCLA and UC Berkeley campuses this Summer 2022 after being held remotely in 2021. This six-week competitive summer activity is designed to provide research experience to talented undergraduate students who aspire to obtain PhD’s in the mathematical sciences, and guide them to a path towards the most competitive graduate programs in the country. This program is a collaboration between the UC Berkeley EECS department, the UCLA Math department and the Stanford bioengineering department.

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE​

The UCLA math department joins math departments across the country in condemning the horrific killings, by police, of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and of others. We acknowledge that these killings cause particular pain for Black mathematicians and students, and for communities of color generally. We want to express our support for these communities, to the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as to all individuals experiencing exclusion and violence.

Mathematics is a human endeavor, and can not be separated from the flows of history and society. It is no secret that the barriers for entry to careers in math are particularly high in communities of color. We celebrate the work of Black mathematicians and students at UCLA, and across the United States. As a department we are committed to the work of creating an inclusive space for everyone, and particularly for individuals who face discrimination or exclusion, on the basis of their skin color, ethnicity, background, gender or sexual orientation.

We encourage all members of the department — its faculty, staff and students — to involve themselves in initiatives that help to redefine and reshape the mathematical community and to combat racism, and to make mathematics inclusive to everyone. We have constituted a committee that will work toward this goal by examining our department climate, our admissions and student support, and our hiring and professional development processes. We welcome all feedback and suggestions on how to ensure an inclusive space in our department. You can come to one of our faculty office hours, or contact us through our Feedback Form.

To everyone who has doubted that they belong in math or at UCLA, we say: You matter. You belong. You are valued.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

Women in Math (WIM) at the UCLA math department is an informal group of women graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and visitors.  They regularly hold lunches, dinners, and other social gatherings with the goal of fostering community and providing support for the women in the department.

  • The Women in Math Mentorship Program provides undergraduate women who are interested in or pursuing careers in mathematics with access to advising by current female graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
  • The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1971.  The AWM currently has more than 3500 members representing a broad spectrum of the mathematical community — from the United States and around the world. They offer resources for mathematicians at all levels including K-12 students and teachers, undergraduate students, graduate students, post docs and academics.
    • List of AWM Research Networks: https://awmadvance.org/research-networks/

Women in Combinatorics and Representation Theory Virtual Workshop – May 2021. Register here: https://sites.google.com/g.ucla.edu/ucr-diversity-2021/ 

Mathfest is a conference that has some undergrad-aimed sessions usually: https://www.maa.org/meetings/mathfest
 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosts a conference for undergrad women every year: https://www.math.unl.edu/~ncuwm/23rdAn

GROW is another undergrad women’s conference: https://mathematics.uchicago.edu/grow2020/

NAM has an undergraduate Mathfest aimed at undergrads from HBCUs, but all are welcome: https://www.nam-math.org/mathfest.html

INVOLVEMENT AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

We were represented at the 2019 SACNAS Conference (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) as one of the two mini-courses of the Modern Math Workshop. SACNAS is the largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity event in the country; a 3-day conference which serves to equip, empower, and energize participants for their academic and professional paths in STEM.

Our department was also represented at the 2019 Field of Dream Conference, hosted by The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. This annual conference brings together faculty in the mathematical sciences with students from backgrounds underrepresented in those fields.

Additional Resources

Student organizations that support students from all backgrounds flourish within the division of Physical Sciences:

Data Science Union

The Data Science Union at UCLA is a organization whose prime aim is the further the intuitive knowledge of individuals interested in Data Science.

Queers in STEM (qSTEM)

QSTEM is a student-run organization based out of UCLA. It has become a space for diversity & inclusion advocacy centering LGBTQ+ and intersecting communities.

Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)

Fostering the success of science students, postdocs and professionals by providing a forum for academic, social and community activities and services.

STEM Transfer Community

Informs, empowers, and unites STEM transfer students at UCLA.

Undergraduate Mathematics Student Association

Open to anyone interested in mathematics.

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For the full list of student organizations within the Physicial Sciences division, visit: https://www.physicalsciences.ucla.edu/physical-sciences-student-organizations/. 

Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Discrimination Prevention and Title IX teams
Student Affairs Programs and Resources

For the full list of campus resources, please visit: https://equity.ucla.edu/programs-resources/campus-resources/. 

  • The Center for Minorities in the Mathematical Science (CMMS) was created by a small but passionate group of minority mathematicians united towards achieving the following goals for minorities in the mathematical sciences through sharing information, ideas, and resources. https://minoritymath.org/
  • Lathisms (Latinx and Hispanics in the Mathematical Sciences) was founded in 2016. Its goal is to provide an accessible platform that features the multifaceted and diverse nature of the Latinx and Hispanic mathematics community and inspire the younger generation of Latinx mathematicians. https://www.lathisms.org/
  • Math Alliance‘s commitment is to build a national community of students, faculty, and staff who will work together to transform departments, colleges, and universities into institutions where all students are welcome. Their mentors come from a variety of schools all over the country through their Alliance Scholars program. https://mathalliance.org/
  • Mathematics Sin Fronteras (MSF) is a Pan-American (virtual) bilingual (English-Spanish) extracurricular weekly math outreach lecture series spread over a 3-month period. The goal of MSF is to introduce (1st and 2nd year) undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds across South, Central and North America to mathematics and its applications in an engaging and inclusive way that complements the usual university/college math curriculum.
  • MATHAD is dedicated to promoting and highlighting the contributions of members of the African diaspora to mathematics, especially contributions to current mathematical research. https://www.mathad.com
  • The National Association of Mathematicians (NAM) is a non-profit professional organization in the mathematical sciences with membership open to all persons interested in promoting excellence in the mathematical sciences and promoting the mathematical development of all underrepresented minorities. https://www.nam-math.org/
  • Spectra is a resource that arose from a need for recognition and community for Gender and Sexual Minority mathematicians and their allies. http://lgbtmath.org/