Eight undergraduates will be supported by this Research Experiences for Undergraduates renewal award. It is an activity which articulates closely with the institution's own project-based undergraduate research program. The three faculty advisors are well-versed in the philosophy of undergraduate research participation. Excellent results achieved during the past four REU sites amply demonstrate their capabilities. Students will work in teams in one or more problem areas. Typical of these include studies of highly irregular graphs, edge domination numbers of graphs, Hamming distances, pseudo-Boolean functions and excess problems related to birigid graphs. Much of the research involves a degree of computer experimentation which will be integrated into the early stages of the program. All students will be required to communicate their completed work as well as work in progress both orally and in writing. Finally, they will be encouraged to present their results at an appropriate academic meeting and to revise their reports for journal submission where significant progress has been made.
