During 8 weeks in the summer, 12 students will work on open research problems, satisfactory solution of which would involve results publishable in standard journals. SUMaR has established a track-record of identifying such problems, which nevertheless are accessible to undergraduates. Problems are offered in areas including number theory, analysis, PDEs, quantum computing, and mathematical modeling. All project mentors have established (and except for postdoctoral fellows, well-established) programs of research related to the proposed undergraduate research projects. The vast majority including the PI and co-PI have extensive experience in mentoring undergraduate research, and those lacking this will be mentored in mentoring by the PI and co-PI.
Besides research, the project will involve student participants in a variety of mathematical and professional development activities - including math subject GRE preparation; introduction to computational, typesetting, and presentation software commonly used in mathematics; a talk about how to prepare effective talks for different audiences; a panel on graduate school in mathematics; a panel on NSF graduate scholarships and semester long off-campus programs; and social activities, many joint with other REUs. Each year, half of the participants will be female, half will be either minority, students who started out at a community college, or students belonging to another group identified by the McNair program (first generation in college or economically disadvantaged background). Outreach to veterans of the U.S. Armed Services will be made through the grantee institution's Office of Veterans Affairs. Efforts will be made to select students from small regional public and private colleges without a graduate or Ph.D. program in mathematics.
