RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
Why are We in the RUME?
Page: 1291
Academic disciplinary conferences are critical sites of professional and intellectual development, yet motivations for attending—and barriers to participation—remain under-researched. This study investigates how members of the undergraduate mathematics education research community perceive the SIGMAA on RUME Annual Conference, focusing on intellectual and social dimensions of belonging. A survey distributed at the 2025 conference and via the RUME listserv collected 165 responses about participants’ backgrounds, initial and current reasons for attending, and barriers to participation. The most frequently selected “most important” reasons for attending were being part of a warm, welcoming community (41%), feeling the conference is an intellectual home (38%), and networking (34%). Ninety-one respondents reported at least one barrier, most commonly lack of belonging, financial constraints, topic relevance, imposter syndrome, and workload conflicts. Results highlight SIGMAA-RUME’s role as both intellectual and social community, and the ways in which these aspects can present barriers to participation.