This project builds upon the successful Phase 1 project, STEM Real World Applications Modules. New modules are developed which are closely tied to classroom concepts with mathematics used in industry. The team of investigators includes leaders in the mathematical research and educational communities, and mathematicians with years of industry experience. The overarching goal of this team is to show undergraduate students that strong mathematical skills leads to more employment options and greater chances of success.
The dissemination plan has three main components. The project impacts students and faculty members nationwide through distribution of effective teaching materials. A key part of the dissemination starts with 12 faculty members at 7 additional institutions beta testing the developed modules. After beta-testing, the modules are made available on the project website. Finally presentations about the modules and their effect on student learning are given at conferences, and articles about the modules are submitted to educational and research journals.
Cooper and Lu has developed six modules for undergraduate students to learn, to master, and even to start doing research on discrete mathematics. Different modules have different focuses. Some modules aim to promote undergraduate students' interests in learning discrete mathematics, while other modules aim to attract undergraduate students to do research in discrete mathematics. The first module "Learning Graph Theory through Pagerank" is an education module that provides an alternative approach to teach the basic concepts of the Graph Theory and the Probability Theory to the undergraduate students. The second module "Graph Theory Networks, Degree Sequences and the Power Law" is an education module that provides undergraduate students a chance to collect graph data and study their properties. The third module "Routing Number of Graphs" is a research module to study the routing number of graphs. It provides the background, several conjectures, and the references. The fourth model "Application of de Bruijn Cycles to Neuroimaging" is a research module to study the deBruijn sequences. It provides the background, several conjectures, and the references. The fifth model "Applications of Discrete Multiobjective Optimization" is a research module to study the extensions of the Partial Ordered Sets. It provides the background, several conjectures, and the references. The last model "The Complexity of Col and Some Generalization" is a research module to study the Col Game and its variations. It provides the background, several conjectures, and the references. The modules have been tested on some undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina. The project has supported five undergraduate students doing summer research in Discrete Mathematics.
