University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu’s Dr. Kamuela Yong organized special sessions celebrating the work of Indigenous people in mathematics at an annual international conference last month in Washington.
The “Indigenous Voices in Mathematics” sessions were part of the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM), a conference held Jan. 8 to 11 in Seattle. JMM, hosted by the American Mathematical Society (AMS), is “the world’s largest annual mathematics meeting,” according to the AMS website.
“Indigenous Voices in Mathematics” highlighted the research of Indigenous mathematicians, showcasing the breadth and depth of their contributions across various mathematical disciplines — from math education to theoretical and applied mathematics, as well as industry applications at companies like Desmos and Intel.
“This was the largest gathering of Indigenous mathematicians ever held,” noted Yong, a Professor of Mathematics at UH West O‘ahu.
There were three sessions held over two days, with a total of 11 hours of talks featuring 20 speakers — people from different backgrounds, with unique perspectives, all using mathematics in a variety of ways, Yong said.
“Sessions like this are essential — not only to make our presence known within the broader math community, but also to build support among ourselves,” he said.
Yong continued, “Many in my profession have never met an Indigenous person in mathematics. In fact, before building this community, many of us had only ever met one or two others.”
He shared that for years, the only other Indigenous mathematician he knew was his mentor and friend, Dr. Rebecca Garcia, Professor of Mathematics at Colorado College.
“At (previous) Joint Mathematics Meetings, I would search for her among thousands of attendees,” Yong said. “But this year, we had 20 Indigenous mathematicians in attendance.”
Yong noted that to date, he has identified just over 50 Indigenous people who have a doctorate in math, so having 20 Indigenous mathematicians attend the event is significant.
“We have come so far, and this is just the beginning!” he said.
Following the three sessions that were part of the formal JMM conference, session participants attended a special event held at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.
“We had a chance to get to know each other and talk more about future collaborations, as well as what we want to do as a community,” Yong said. “We invited families to this event so we could meet the people who have supported us. We had everyone from babies, siblings, spouses, and even an elder was present.”
