PRIMES hosts third annual Yulia’s Dream conference

The third annual Yulia’s Dream conference brought together Ukrainian high school mathematicians living in Ukraine, Europe, and the United States with MIT Mathematics community members.

“The third annual conference of Yulia’s Dream program was a wonderful success,” says MIT PRIMES’ director Slava Gerovitch PhD ’99.

Thirteen exceptional Ukrainian high school students gave research and expository talks on abstract linear algebra, combinatorics, graph theory, group theory, and knot theory. Distinguished professor of mathematics Rostislav Grigorchuk (Texas A&M University) delivered the guest lecture “How Groups Grow and Double.” Two MIT students were volunteer mentors: graduate students Alina Harbuzova of EECS and IDSS/LIDS’ Sasha Voitovych.

Yulia’s Dream, an initiative under MIT PRIMES launched in 2022, is a free online math enrichment and research program for exceptional high school students (grades 10-11) from Ukraine.

Yulia’s Dream is dedicated to the memory of Yulia Zdanovska, a 21-year-old graduate of the National University of Kyiv, a silver medalist at the 2017 European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, and a teacher for the “Teach for Ukraine” program who was killed by a Russian-fired missile in her home city of Kharkiv. 

Under this program, students meet online once a week in small groups to study advanced math topics beyond high school curriculum or work on math research projects under the guidance of academic mentors from MIT and other universities in the U.S. and Europe. The instruction is available in Ukrainian, English, and Russian.

Admissions open in July; the application includes an entrance program set.

The program is also seeking student mentors from MIT, with a preference for those who speak Russian or Ukrainian.

Donations to this program are always welcome.

Also see: “Yulia’s Dream” to support young, at-risk Ukrainian students of mathematics (MIT News, March 30, 2022)