From One, To Many, For All: Building a Community for Indigenous Mathematicians
By Kamuela Yong, PhD
I am all too familiar with being the only one in the room who looks like me. As a Native Hawaiian in mathematics, my academic journey has taken me from my home in Hawai‘i to California, Iowa, and Arizona. Every step along the way I felt welcomed in various communities, but it never felt as if they were fully my communities.
Luckily, I had great supporters along the way. My undergraduate mentor believed in me and inspired me to pursue a graduate education. Even once I was in graduate school and beyond, she continued to mentor me through difficult times. My peers in graduate school were a diverse group of students so I didn’t constantly feel like an outsider, but I still felt like I was missing something.
In 2009, at the suggestion of another mentor, I attended my first Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference. When I arrived, I met Rebecca Garcia, a Chamorro mathematician, and more importantly, the first Pacific Islander that I had ever met with a PhD in math. Instantly, she made me feel like I belonged, and the entire experience made me know I belonged in mathematics. For many years, I would look forward to the SACNAS conference, where I would get a chance to reconnect with Rebecca.
Of all the conferences I attended, I would look forward to this annual meeting specifically. Just us two Pacific Islander mathematicians in a sea of thousands of scientists.
Shortly after becoming the first Native Hawaiian to earn a PhD in applied mathematics in 2012, I worked at a research experience for undergraduates (REU) where I met Kyle Dahlin. He was the first Native Hawaiian undergraduate math major that I had met. Months later I was introduced to Marissa Loving and Alyssa Loving, Native Hawaiian undergraduate math majors attending the Field of Dreams Conference. 2012 was a great year, meeting Native Hawaiian undergraduate mathematicians, however, it would be a long time before I would see any other Pacific Islanders in math again.
This led me to thinking: Are there more Indigenous Mathematicians out there? Where are they?
Finding the Data
The Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences, which began in 1959, keeps data on doctoral recipients in the mathematical sciences. However, for many years (decades) data for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NH/OPI) were aggregated with the Asian population. Only in 1996, did the questionnaire begin to include boxes for NH/OPI.
According to this survey, you can count on one hand the number of each “American Indian or Alaska Native” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” earning a doctorate in mathematical science each year.
These people should be out there and visible! However everyone I have talked to didn’t know who these people were, and I wanted to find them.
If You Build It, Will They Come?
As time passed, our numbers slowly grew nationally and on October 31, 2019, at the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM conference in Honolulu, our small group decided to hold the first ever gathering of Pacific Islanders in Mathematics. Co-organized by Rebecca Garcia and myself, four other speakers at various points in their careers shared their research during a STEM/scientific symposium during the conference.
For the first time in our careers, the speakers (myself included) looked at each other and realized what had been missing all these years — a room of mathematicians who look like us. Growing up, we did not have a clear picture of what an indigenous mathematician could be, leaving us to shoulder the responsibility of representing our people and culture. This session allowed us to find the beginnings of this small, but mighty community at SACNAS. A sense of calm and accomplishment was palpable that day.
The fact is, Pacific Islanders exist in math, Indigenous Peoples in mathematics exist! For me, knowing that these people are out there is essential to my persistence in my career.
Even in the middle of a pandemic, I remain focused on identifying more people to join our community. I attended SACNAS’ Virtual Conference in 2020, and the online experience still generated what many call the “power of SACNAS” or “the SACNAS effect”. This is the ability to find people you connect with and instantly feel a sense of welcome and belonging. Over time, you come back to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in 10 years. Knowing this, I used SACNAS’ attendee directory to continue my search for more indigenous mathematicians.
What Comes Next?
We have all shared the feeling of being the only one. However, indigenous mathematicians are growing in numbers. Over the last year, I have been slowly adding to my personal network. To date, I have identified 15 people in the US who identify as indigenous and have earned a doctorate in the mathematical sciences, including one new doctorate in four of the last five years.
We thank our friends in the Black and Latinx communities for welcoming us into their spaces, but it is now time for us to come together and build our own community both with and beyond SACNAS.
It is time for indigenous mathematicians to be seen, heard, and known. I am proud to introduce you to our new website, http://indigenousmathematicians.org.
This is a place where indigenous mathematicians can come to build community with each other, while learning about our history and those who came before us. We offer a place where other indigenous people, who wish to follow in our footsteps, can network and build relationships.
If you identify as an indigenous mathematician, or you know someone who does, we would love to hear from you at indigenous.mathematicians@gmail.com
All people are encouraged to visit our website to learn more about indigenous mathematicians and other resources that will become available.
Finally, to hear more about and connect with indigenous mathematicians, watch SACNAS’ webinar on Indigenous Math: Teaching, Sharing, & Building Community. Watch for free at sacnas.org/webinars.
About the Author
Dr. Kamuela Yong is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu. He is the first Native Hawaiian to earn a PhD in applied mathematics.
