This project is addressing the challenge of incorporating real-world problems that can be developed into effective teaching tools. The tools being developed and implemented are modules that offer faculty a new, innovative platform for the instruction of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They are being integrated into mathematics courses such as topology, graph theory, and discrete mathematics, and in courses from other STEM areas such as computer science and industrial and systems engineering. The teaching modules are being packaged independently and offer faculty in mathematics and other STEM areas the flexibility to implement modules and topics of their choice.
Intellectual Merit. The teaching modules being developed and implemented highlight cutting-edge, real-world interpretations of mathematics. Students are engaged with topics on the frontiers of science, technology, and engineering. These modules focus on powerful applications arising in graph theory, topology, or discrete mathematics. Actual problems from industry are being included.
Broader Impacts. The integration of the modules into an undergraduate mathematical curriculum is providing undergraduate students with a window into the industrial world. Among the benefits is that these modules expose students to the numerous occupations and companies that use mathematics on a daily basis. Technological innovations that are being integrated into this project include: analyses of airline flight routes (JetBlue Airways); fiber-optic telecommunications networks (Level 3 Communications); 3-D surface reconstruction (Microsoft Research); wireless networking (Cisco Systems); and robotic guidance systems (Department of Defense).
