Established with the aim of increasing the number of African American PhD students in the mathematical sciences, the David Harold Blackwell Summer Research Institute hosted its inaugural cohort of undergraduate researchers in Summer 2021.

The program is led by Simons Institute Senior Advisor Jelani Nelson (UC Berkeley EECS), along with Todd Coleman (Stanford Bioengineering) and Wilfrid Gangbo (UCLA Math). The Simons Institute provides convening space and logistical and communications support for the initiative.

In this episode of Polylogues, we sat down with Shaniya Peart and Alayt Issak, two of the institute’s first students, to learn about their experiences in the program.