We are living in an increasingly inter-connected world that requires the successful employment of quantitative skills in real-world applications. The sciences encompass a broad spectrum of academic fields, with most sub-disciplines having mathematical and statistical analysis as an integral component of their process. Students majoring in mathematics are well served to broaden their perspective by engaging in interdisciplinary studies. And, conversely, students majoring in the sciences should be encouraged to obtain a strong training in mathematics. Because the demand for quantitatively skilled scientists with interdisciplinary training will increase in upcoming years, UNCG developed an interdisciplinary quantitative REU site.
The objectives of our REU are to 1) provide interdisciplinary undergraduate research experiences (URE) for students and 2) to advance the research programs of our faculty mentors. Each year, eight (8) students will investigate problems at the intersection of mathematics and the sciences. The interaction of diverse faculty members and students will lead to innovative mathematical solutions for scientific investigations and a rigorous sense of realism in the mathematical models. We are committed to recruiting and training a diverse group of participants, improving their critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and communication skills. We expect that participants in our REU program will present their work at local, regional, and national STEM meetings and anticipate our research will lead to faculty and undergraduate student co-authored peer-reviewed manuscripts.
This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.
The primary focus of this program is undergraduate student training and education related to research within STEM fields. In total, 28 student participants worked in research labs of faculty mentors, and developed and completed their own research projects. The projects were often interdisciplinary, spanning areas of mathematics, statistics, biology, chemistry and physics. The students were trained in all aspects of the research, and were provided with a research experience that begins with creating testable hypotheses and literature search, through project specific research techniques, and concludes with a public presentation (written and oral) of the new knowledge gained. The students' work resulted in 10 manuscripts (9 published or accepted, 1 under review) and 47 conference (including 11 presentations at international conferences). Our students won 4 awards for their presentations (at MathFest 2009, Entomological Society of America meeting 2009, NC Academy of Science meeting 2010 and 2011). We exposed students to career options in academics, industry, and government and increased their awareness of graduate school opportunities and the preparation needed for graduate school. Out of 15 student that graduated, 6 are in the grad school and 4 did not get to the school of their choice and will reapply again (they currently work as research associates/interns at research institutes/scientic consulting firms), 5 decided not to go into grad school for now. The REU helped to create a truly intrdisciplinary culture within UNCG. Thanks to this project, a group of faculty from Biology, Mathematics and Statistics, Chemistry and Physics department regularly work together on interdisciplinary projects.
