Conferences for Undergraduate Students

Posted on May 1, 2025

A short blog post today to share my experience attending the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (HRUMC) for the first time. My primary motivation was to support my DRP mentee, who was giving his very first math talk! (It went well, and I was incredibly proud!) A secondary motivation was the chance to reconnect with members of the Union College math department–many of whom I had not seen in over five years, since my senior year was cut short by COVID. (It was really lovely to catch up with several faculty who helped shape me into the mathematician I am today–including Leila Khatami, who taught me how to write proofs! I am forever grateful for their guidance.)

Overall, I was extremely impressed with the conference. Most of the talks were given by undergraduates, with a few by faculty who often presented projects involving student collaboration. I was genuinely struck by the level of work being done by undergrads! You may know that you can hear the shape of a drum (under mild assumptions), but did you know you can hear the shape of an elliptic curve? One of my favorite talks, by Grace Newcombe, involved audializing specific Fourier series built from reducing elliptic curves modulo various primes. Another standout was a computational project by Amy Geng, which analyzed how the surjectivity of the reduction mod p map for elliptic curves over Q changes as the rank increases.

I especially recommend this conference to DRP mentors in the greater New England area. According to the conference website:

The goal of HRUMC is to provide undergraduates with the experience of attending and/or presenting at a professional mathematics meeting designed primarily with the student in mind.

I think the organizers really succeed in that mission. The conference offers a fantastic opportunity for DRP mentees to present their work, learn how to prepare and deliver a math talk, and connect with a welcoming community. I started this blog to highlight travel opportunities and showcase how impactful conferences can be–and based on my experience, HRUMC definitely deserves a feature!

Below is a list of conferences designed to engage undergraduate students. If you know of any other conferences aimed at undergrads, please let me know and I will add it to the list!

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