Intellectual merit of the proposed activity: The overall goal of this PRISM-funded project is two-fold: to recruit mathematically talented undergraduates into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and at the same time to integrate mathematics more thoroughly into the introductory STEM curriculum, especially in the life sciences. Our program takes advantage of two key undergraduate programs that are already well-established at MU: the Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) that are centered in the Freshman residence halls, and the Life Science Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (LS-UROP). A new Mathematics in Life Sciences (MLS) FIG with 20 entering freshman (the MLS scholars) per year will be established in the Discovery residence hall; the students will live together during their freshman year and take an integrated curriculum of three courses developed by the MLS faculty in their first semester. That curriculum, in conjunction with a weekly Proseminar and other FIG activities and services, will create a learning community encompassing both faculty and scholars, with salutary effects on student retention and level of academic engagement. Building on that learning community, students will pair with faculty (both MLS faculty and other professors) for mentored independent undergraduate research projects that will start in the summer under the LS-UROP (with grantfunded internship stipends) and continue through both semesters of the Sophomore year. Admission to the MLS program will be in the form of a scholarship, which will include automatic enrollment in the MLS FIG, the summer stipend, and in some cases academic year funding for all four college years. Although the MLS academic activities proper will end at the end of the scholars' sophomore year, their subsequent progress will be followed closely in order to assess critically the degree to which the program is successful in recruiting students who go on to get a degree in a STEM discipline. The program includes a vigorous effort to recruit students from underrepresented groups, exploiting for this purpose collaborative relationships MU in general and the MLS faculty in particular have establish with high-needs high schools over many years.
Broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity: Mathematics is becoming increasingly integral to all STEM disciplines, especially life sciences. If successful, the MLS program would demonstrate how learning communities like MU's FIGs can be used to integrate mathematics more thoroughly into the introductory STEM curriculum, and enable beginning students to engage in a scientific enterprise in which mathematical facility is a core skill. We are betting that programs like this will be outstandingly successful not only in attracting able students who might otherwise choose non-STEM majors, but also in encouraging those students to complete STEM degrees. The assessment component of the MLS program will provide rigorous measures of the degree to which this aspiration is realized in fact.
