Canada/USA Mathcamp is an intensive five-week summer program for mathematically talented high school students. Every year, Mathcamp brings together 110-120 exceptional teenagers from the United States, Canada, and around the world, and creates an environment where they can "live and breathe mathematics". Both intellectually and socially, it is a life-changing experience for many of these students, most of whom have never had a true peer group before coming to Mathcamp. The program takes place on a different college campus each summer; working mathematicians are recruited from across all specialties (and ranging from postdocs to superstar researchers) to visit for a week and participate in the mathematics instruction. Access to working mathematicians at Mathcamp helps meet an intellectual need for the students, many of whom do not have the mathematical resources at home to pursue their interests.
This award has two components. The first component of the award is a "Research in Pairs" program, which will support visits to Mathcamp by pairs of mathematical collaborators. In addition to teaching a class, these visitors will work on their research during their stay, with two main goals: (1) achieving progress on research, and (2) making the production of new mathematics visible to our students. The second component of the award provides scholarships for U.S. students from target outreach groups (girls, underrepresented minorities, and students from underrepresented communities of origin, economically disadvantaged backgrounds or underperforming schools). Taken together, the two components of this award will allow talented students from target outreach groups to interact with role models engaged in active research at Mathcamp.
