For Graduate Students & Postdocs

The AWM Mentor Network offers support to women at all stages of their careers. Sign up to be a mentor, a mentee, or both!

While not specifically for women, MentorNet pairs students who are studying engineering or science at participating colleges or universities with professional scientists and engineers working in industry, and helps them form e-mail based mentoring relationships.

If you are in a college or university setting, AWM Student Chapters offer a way to get involved locally. For ideas, check out the sites for women in math at various graduate programs, including WIM at the University of Maryland, The Noetherian ring of UC-Berkeley , and Women in Mathematics at UPenn.

Being a grad student can be tough. Here are resources!

I got my degree — now what?

  • PhD + epsilon: Early-career AWM mathematician Beth Malmskog blogs about her experiences and challenges.
  • The AMS has a collection of  career and employment related articles at Advice for New PhD’s.

Many of the programs listed on this page are dependent on NSF funding, so check the individual websites for the current status of each.

  • AWM Travel Grants provide full or partial support for travel and subsistence for a meeting or conference in the applicant’s field of specialization.
  • AMS Graduate Student Travel Grants support travel to the Joint Mathematics Meetings and AMS sectional meetings.
  • SIAM Student Travel Awards are given to help students gain the experience and exposure that comes from attending and presenting at SIAM conferences.

  • The National GEM Consortium is a national network of universities and employers which promotes the participation of underrepresented groups in post-graduate science and engineering education and the technical workforce.
  • The American Association of University Women offers Selected Professions Fellowships are awarded to women who intend to pursue a full-time course of study at accredited U.S. institutions during the fellowship year in one of the designated degree programs where women’s participation traditionally has been low (including mathematics).
  • The Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship of the American Statistical Association supports women who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada and who are admitted to full-time study in a graduate statistics program by July 1 of the award year. Women in or entering the early stages of graduate training (MS or PhD) are especially encouraged to apply.
  • Clare Booth Luce Fellowships support undergraduates and graduate students at thirteen educational institutions including Boston University and Mount Holyoke College, plus other institutions which vary by year.
  • The NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program provides students with financial support and cost-of-education allowance. U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent resident aliens at or near the beginning of research-based graduate studies in the mathematical sciences are eligible to apply.
  • The NPSC Graduate Fellowship is: open to all US citizens; lasts for up to six years; provides a $20,000 expense allowance; covers tuition; allows a fellow also to hold a research or teaching assistantship; including one or two paid summer internships with a government agency; provides a mentor and the opportunity for a lasting relationship with the sponsor.
  • National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships are awarded to applicants who will pursue a doctoral degree in, or closely related to, an area of DoD interest within fifteen disciplines, including mathematics. It is open only to US citizens or nationals.
  • The Krell Institute manages the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship:  The DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) is funded by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Science. The NNSA also funds the Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (SSGF).

  • The NSF Graduate STEM Fellows in K–12 Education (GK-12) Program supports fellowships and training for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to improve communication and teaching skills through interaction with teachers and students in K–12 schools. Project locations across the US are listed on the GK-12 website.
  • NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program provides funding to institutions of higher education to provide scholarships, stipends, and programmatic support to recruit and prepare STEM majors and professionals to become K–12 teachers. Search the Noyce website to locate projects that offer Noyce scholarships and to read profiles of Noyce scholars.
  • Knowles Science Foundation Teaching Fellowships are designed to support beginning high school teachers. Selection criteria include at least a bachelor’s degree (or the equivalent) in a discipline related to the subject they intend to teach.

  • AWM Workshops at JMM and SIAM give new PhDs a chance to present their research in a professional setting.
  • MAA’s Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a professional development program for new or recent Ph.D.s in the mathematical sciences. It addresses all aspects of an academic career: improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in research and scholarship, finding exciting and interesting service opportunities, and participating in professional activities. It also provides the participants with a network of peers and mentors as they assume these responsibilities. Since 1994 there have been over 1700 Fellows, who have appeared in all capacities in the academic mathematical profession.
  • AMS-AAAS Congressional Fellows  spend the year working on the staff of a Member of Congress or a congressional committee, working as a special legislative assistant in legislative and policy areas requiring scientific and technical input. The program includes an orientation on congressional and executive branch operations, and a year-long seminar series on issues involving science, technology and public policy. The AAAS Science & Technology Fellowship program is designed to provide a unique public policy learning experience, to demonstrate the value of science-government interaction, and to bring a technical background and external perspective to the decision-making process in the Congress.

Postdocs

Don’t forget to check our On Women in Math page for information on the status of women in mathematical fields.

For other programs, see the AMS Listing of Programs for Graduate Students and Recent PhDs.