This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Each year nine students will work in groups of three for nine weeks under the direction of three faculty at Valparaiso University. The target audience will be rising sophomore and junior students at primarily undergraduate institutions, with additional attention given to the recruitment of first generation college students and minority students. In particular, we will provide a first research experience for students who are undecided about attending graduate school at the time of participation.
By modeling the research experience of a mathematician, the program will produce students engaged with, and prepared to join, the mathematical community. In each proposed project, the participants will investigate open questions of interest to the larger mathematical community, and therefore yield potentially publishable results. The program will emphasize the professional development of the students not only through the new material the students will learn while conducting their research, but also by gradually developing the presentation and writing skills of the participants. We expect that the students will be more likely to pursue careers in mathematics and other sciences as a result of their participation in the program.
