The Pacific Undergraduate Research Experience in Mathematics (PURE Math) is a dual-tiered, academic mentoring program targeting U.S. Pacific Islanders and other underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. This collaborative 5-year MCTP program will be housed at the University of Hawai?i at Hilo (UHH) and administered, staffed, and managed by 4 faculty members at UHH and Sam Houston State University (SHSU). PURE Math will have a lasting, positive impact on 114 STEM undergraduates interested in the mathematical sciences and several junior faculty members who wish to engage students in research. PURE Math has two primary goals. The first is to increase the number of native Pacific Islanders earning degrees and pursuing careers in the mathematical sciences; PURE Math will focus on mentoring these students through their transition from computational problems to more theoretical concepts. The second goal is to provide valuable and lasting mentoring experiences to junior faculty at UHH, who will be trained in directing undergraduate research.
PURE Math will offer an innovative, two-tiered advanced mathematics program over five summers that consists of an Interns program and a Residents program. The Interns program is a 5-week advanced mathematics workshop in which 60 lower-level undergraduates will discover topics not typically included in an undergraduate mathematics curriculum. The Residents program is an 8-week summer undergraduate research experience introducing 54 upper-level undergraduates to active fields of mathematics led by seasoned researchers. These summer experiences will allow PURE Math student participants to transition effectively from lower-level computational work to upper-level abstract work, and from undergraduate research to graduate work. PURE Math will ultimately encourage a lasting environment of undergraduate mathematical research in the Pacific Islands. Furthermore, it will add to the growing infrastructure of research and atmosphere of mathematical collaboration between undergraduates and faculty.
