Nearly 300 students from 34 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico, will make their way to UNL for the 16th annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

The conference is one of the largest and oldest of its kind in the country. It will offer outstanding undergraduate women mathematicians at all stages of their careers opportunities to discuss their research and to meet other women who share their interest in mathematical sciences.

The plenary speakers are Cynthia R. Phillips and Gigliola Staffilani. Their lectures are open to the public.

Staffilani, professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will discuss “From Disorder to Order: How a Mathematician Sees Life and Work,” after the conference opens at 3:40 p.m. Jan. 31 in the auditorium of the Nebraska Union, 14th and R streets.

Phillips’ presentation, “Sensor Placement for Municipal Water Networks,” is 3:10 to 4:05 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Regency Ballroom BC of the Embassy Suites hotel, 1040 P St. Phillips is a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.

The conference also includes two poster sessions featuring student research. The sessions are 2 to 3 p.m., Feb. 1, and 8:55 to 9:35 a.m., Feb. 2 in Embassy Suites Regents Ballroom A.

Conference participants will have an opportunity to learn about life in graduate school from the perspective of current women graduate students and panel discussions will be held featuring representatives from government and private companies who will talk about their careers.

For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/7wsz.

The conference is sponsored by UNL and its Department of Mathematics and Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education; the National Science Foundation; and the National Security Agency. In 2013, the conference earned national recognition from the American Mathematical Society when it was chosen for the AMS Program that Makes a Difference Award.