by Brian Simanek
Mathematics is a fundamentally collaborative discipline and as such, travel to conferences and workshops is an important part of any young mathematician's professional development. The only catch is that travel can be expensive (especially when leaving the country). Most graduate students I know have limited resources so the obvious question arises of how to pay for travel expenses.
First of all, many conferences (indeed most conferences I know of) offer travel support. Generally it is true that the younger the participant, the more likely they are to receive travel funding. Sometimes the support offered by a conference does not meet the full expense of the travel so I will mention some alternatives to consider.
To start, I would like to remind people of this earlier post by Kareem Carr with AMS travel grant information. This is an excellent resource for those who are eligible.
Many universities have travel stipends available for graduate students. Ask the graduate Dean’s office if they can help with your travel expenses. You can also talk to you advisor. It is possible that he or she has an external funding source that can help pay for your travel or that your department has money designated for this purpose.
As a final thought, don’t let the potential cost of traveling to a conference intimidate you or prevent you from attending. If you look in the right places and ask the right questions, you can probably find the necessary funding.