The main goal of the VIGRE program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is to advance the mathematics enterprise through innovative, integrated activities in teaching and research. The Department of Mathematics is one of the largest and most active mathematics departments in the world. The University's strength, particularly in engineering and the sciences, creates a huge demand for mathematics courses; the Department of Mathematics teaches mathematics to about 10,000 undergraduate students each year, and has 200 students enrolled in its graduate programs. The VIGRE program at UIUC has three components: strengthening the graduate program through curricular reform and instructional innovation improving the undergraduate program through the introduction of new research and teaching opportunities in seminars and courses expanding the postdoctoral program in correlation with the faculty's research interests, and providing the postdoctoral associates with training in teaching and research.
Moreover, graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral associates are linked with faculty in different types of peer groups to facilitate communication, to promote professional development, and to vertically integrate our activities.
In graduate education, innovative new courses introduce the graduate students to the research of the faculty and postdoctoral associates. Graduate students will run their own seminars, giving them autonomy in their mathematical studies. VIGRE fellowships give the graduate students independent study time and allow them to mature more rapidly in their chosen mathematical specialties.
Some of these fellowships are specifically designed to foster interdisciplinary research activities. At the same time, the faculty members give graduate students supervised teaching experiences that prepare them for the classroom environment.
In undergraduate experiences, special survey courses provide new insights into the role of mathematics in the many disciplines represented at the UIUC campus. Research experiences for undergraduates give the undergraduate students a clear picture of the nature of mathematical research and of its role in interdisciplinary studies. Special teacher training experiences with faculty mentors help undergraduate students to develop their classroom instructional skills.
The postdoctoral positions supported by VIGRE will enable UIUC to integrate recent Ph.D.s into the research and instructional activities of the Department of Mathematics. The Department provides the VIGRE postdoctoral associates teaching opportunities at both the graduate and the undergraduate level. Faculty members also mentor the VIGRE postdoctoral associates in their own research areas.
Over all of the three professional levels, there is a mentoring structure that involves the regular faculty with graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral students. There are two types of mentoring peer groups formed, Across Level Peers groups (ALPs) and Research Among Peers groups (RAPs). The ALPs consist of undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral students and faculty members; ALPs run independently and develop their own group seminar and discussion agendas. The RAPs include advanced graduate students, postdoctoral associates and faculty members with specific mathematical interests in common; RAPs also run autonomously and plan their own seminar and research activities. Funding for this activity was provided by the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the MPS Office for Multidisciplinary Activity.
