Participant Testimonials
This workshop impacted my research by giving me an opportunity to learn about many areas of number theory that I was quite unfamiliar with therefore expanding my knowledge in this field. My particular project in the group I worked with had only a small overlap, and I was able to learn about quite a different branch of number theory altogether, yet still having connections to my research. I had worked with each of the participants in my group for the first time, creating previously nonexistent contacts. Our group hopes to produce a few papers related to the work we began during this workshop. My job prospects have certainly been increased. I learned about industrial positions that I was largely unfamiliar with, which have a great similarity to academic jobs. Overall, it can't be emphasized enough how amazing it is to work with strictly women in the field for a week. It is such a pleasant atmosphere that is rare to be involved in. In fact, I have only been in such situations at WIN1 and WIN2.
Although I am just a graduate student, I hugely profited from this experience. It was valuable to get to know experienced researchers but also fellow graduate students, where some future collaboration might evolve. I was pointed towards possible research directions in my field by our group leaders. It was also very interesting to get some insight in other projects and fields which are not so much related to my subject.
The BIRS WIN2 workshop was wonderful. BIRS provides a phenomenal environment for doing research, especially in small collaboration groups, so it was ideal for the format of our workshop. At this workshop I co-led a new collaboration group to address an open problem in arithmetic intersection theory. Our group consisted of myself and 2 NSF postdocs and 2 graduate students from Harvard, MIT, and Brown. We were trying to prove that the Bruinier-Yang and Lauter-Viray arithmetic intersection formulas agree. During the workshop, we partially proved this result under some extra assumptions. We came up with a plan of how to extend the proof and lift these assumptions, and we plan to continue the collaboration over the next few months to finish the proof. This collaboration will result in a joint paper which will either be submitted to a journal or will appear in the WIN2 proceedings volume. This paper will help the group members' careers and job applications, especially the students. I think the collaboration group will help empower the students and the postdocs and may lead to further collaboration projects between group members. For example, after the last WIN workshop, one of my group members did an internship at Microsoft Resarch working with me, which resulted in two additional papers. This time I expect one of the postdocs to visit me next summer at MSR to start another project. A number of students from other groups also asked me about internships at MSR and about how to get funding to continue their WIN collaboration groups. We also used some time in the evenings at the conference to meet and plan for future conferences and the extension of the Women In Number Theory network. We selected organizing committees for future WIN conferences, selected editors for the proceedings volume, and got volunteers to set up the WIN web page, distribution list, and discussion group. It was great fun! Thank you so much for hosting this conference and for the memorable opportunity to take advantage of the BIRS research environment!
Cryptography, Microsoft Research
The Banff WIN II provided an excellent opportunity for me to meet so many good female number theorists, in particular some young talented ones. As a female mathematician, I know it is not easy to survive in a world which is still largely dominated by males. The Banff WIN II helped us to know each others' areas, to build a good connection that is helpful for finding jobs or promotion. It also helped me to introduce my research program to a boarder audience. I am very delighted to work with my group. I am sure the collaboration we started last week is just the rich beginning.
Mathematics, Iowa State University
New contacts, research project and collaborations. Useful informations on job prospects. Got support for the choice of pursuing an academic career.
The week at BIRS was very good for me to think about new problems, (remember the format for this was different than the usual conferences) focus on getting to know the state of the art and see what possible progress could be made. It is fantastic that such facilities with international participation is available in this part of the world.
As a result of the WIN2 conference, I have started a collaboration with new collaborators on an important project in my current research area. We already have some new results, and many new ideas for further results. These collaborators are people I wouldn't have otherwise worked with, but they bring important new perspectives and insights from related but slightly different fields to the project. I expect the collaboration we have started to result in several papers.
