Hill Day Visits

We regret that we are canceling our Hill Visits while there are still COVID-19 concerns.

In the meantime…

The AMS Office of Government Relations has a page on Advocacy Resources.

Per our 6/26/22 statement, the AWM denounces the Supreme Court’s decision to limit access to healthcare for millions of people within the United States. The AMS page offers the following:

Our advocacy piece in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade makes the case that curtailing the right to abortion, and creating barriers to reproductive services generally, directly affects the ability of women to get an advanced education and participate fully in the research ecosystem.

Go here to find your representative and your senators and feel free to include that one-pager in your calls, emails, & letters.

General visit information:

  • We will train you! We have an hour-long session to teach you about advocacy in general, and about the AWM’s legislative priorities. We even have a script for your meetings.
  • This is a full day event! We start at 9 am with a group photo on the Senate side of the Capitol. You’ll meet with Senate offices in the morning, and House offices in the afternoon. We end with a group dinner to debrief and share stories.
  • We make appointments with the Senate and House offices based on the participants, since elected officials much prefer to meet with their constituents.
  • Send any questions/inquiries to hillvisit@awm-math.org .

General Information

This twice yearly event gives AWM members a chance to meet with the offices of their Senators and Representatives to advocate for legislation affecting women and other underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences and in STEM fields in general.  We seek to put a human face on the issues facing women and minorities in STEM, and to bring awareness to the policies that can make a difference. We discuss issues and provide context for initiatives that connect to our mission of supporting women and girls in mathematics, as stated in our Legislative Priorities.

Who can participate?

  • college and grad students, math majors or not
  • post-docs, adjuncts, faculty
  • mathematicians in industry and government jobs
  • math majors who now do computer science, data science, or consulting
  • anyone who thinks that supporting STEM programs is a good idea

Why do we do this?

We provide the Congressional offices with a nice snapshot of the wide range of careers that mathematicians can have, and give them a chance to hear personal experiences of the impact of the legislation that they pass can have.

We build relationships with staffers and elected officials.  By introducing ourselves to others working on these issues, AWM has served as a source for information regarding bills that impact women in STEM.

These events also provide participants with a great networking opportunity for meeting people across sectors and career stages. We encourage people of all mathematical careers and those who support them to attend!

Send us an email at hillvisit@awm-math.org with any questions, and to get on our mailing list!

See these articles on our past visits:

  • Fall2019 Visit: AWM Newsletter article Jan-Feb 2020 AWM’s Capitol Hill Days: Poking Those in Power Since 2015 (Kassie Archer, Lindsey-Kay Lauderdale, & Michelle Snider)
  • JMM 2019 Visit:
  • Spring2018 Visit:
  • Fall2017 Visit: AWM Newsletter article Jan-Feb 2018  Advocating for STEM: A Capitol Idea! (Michelle Snider)
  • Spring2017 Visit: AWM Newsletter article Nov-Dec 2017 Get Involved in AWM’s Hill Visits! (Karoline Pershell)
  • Fall2016 Visit:
  • Spring2016 Visit: AWM Newsletter article Jun-Aug 2016 AWM Visits to Capitol Hill (Karen Saxe & Talitha Washington)
  • Fall2015 Visit (the first!): AWM Newsletter  article Nov-Dec 2015 AWM Goes to MathFest … and Capitol Hill! ( Victoria Kelley, Kirsten Morris, & Katie Sipes)

In a Capitol Hill hearing on a collection of bills, including “Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019”, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson gave  a shoutout to AWM! Use this link to go to the video of the hearing, scroll down the page to the large embedded video. AWM is mentioned at minute 34.

The benefits of students visiting Congressional offices is twofold: in addition to giving you a chance to learn about and be a part of the legislative process, the staffers in the offices love meeting you and hearing your personal stories shows how the legislation they work on affects your life.

How does this work? 

  • We will work with you to set up a day for the event.
  • We will teach you what to expect and how to prepare.
  • We will help you set up meetings with the Senators and Representatives for your districts.
  • We will recruit local professional mathematicians to join you.
  • The day of, we’ll provide all the materials you’ll need for your meetings.

This experience is also a great thing to put on your resume!

If your student chapter would like to do a Hill Day Visit, or join us at the 2019 Joint Math Meetings in Baltimore,  fill out our Hill Day Interest Form and we will contact you with more information. 

  •  Capital Currents –News from the AMS Office of Government Relations. 
  • Capitol Hill visits basics:
    • The American Education Research Association (AERA)’s Advocacy Toolkit  includes a slide presentation on advocating on Capitol Hill, and a great Advocacy Handbook.
    • Phi Beta Kappa offers pointers on how to Meet Your Legislator.

  • AMS-AAAS Congressional Fellowship: The American Mathematical Society (AMS) will sponsor a Congressional Fellow from September 2018 through August 2019.  The Fellow will spend the year working on the staff of a Member of Congress or a congressional committee, as a special legislative assistant in legislative and policy areas requiring scientific and technical input. 
  • AMS-AAAS Mass Media Fellowship: The American Mathematical Society (AMS) sponsors a Mass Media Fellow each summer through the Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship program organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It is a highly competitive program designed to improve public understanding of science and technology by placing advanced science, mathematics and engineering students in newsrooms nationwide. Fellows work with media professionals to improve their communication skills and increase their understanding of the editorial process by which events and ideas become news.