![Courtney Gibbons](https://www.hamilton.edu/assets/mmlibrary/images/185x/gibbonsc14.jpg)
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Courtney Gibbons was an invited speaker in the AMS-AWM Special Session on Commutative Algebra at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) held Jan. 6-9 in Seattle.
She presented “A Ring without a Boij-Soederberg Theory,” a paper in progress, with Luchezar L. Avramov and Roger Wiegand of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The talk was a companion to “The Search for Indecomposable Modules,” presented by Gibbons at MathFest last the summer.
Gibbons also participated in a panel discussion organized by the Joint Committee on Women. The panel, “Success in graduate school (and the rest of your life),” was intended for female students in (or considering) graduate school, as well as professional mathematicians who want to see more women succeed in the field.
Her main message to the students in the audience was “reframe your perspective to focus on your successes, not your failures.” To those with more power to change the institution of mathematics, she suggested making accessibility a fundamental criterion for assessing programs and policies. She said the decision to drop dependent coverage on student insurance policies, for instance, reduces the accessibility of a graduate degree for parents, especially women.
Finally, the students Gibbons worked with last summer at the Willamette University REU (research experience for undergraduates) presented the group’s work during an undergraduate poster session.
The Joint Mathematics Meetings combine the annual meetings of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).