We aim to attract a diverse pool of bright mathematically inclined rising juniors and seniors with demonstrated aptitude for modeling, imaging or cell biology and provide them with 1) a common grounding in existing and emerging neuro-imaging modalities and the subsequent computational challenges that arise from the analysis, synthesis and eventual guidance of such experiments, 2) a closely mentored experience of the joy of discovery in a field of research with clear intellectual reward (no one with a brain lacks in wonder of their brain) and potential for broader impact on the fields of biology, health, and mathematics, and 3) a common grounding in the best practices of oral and written communication of science.
Our participants will receive an advance mailing comprising 1) a common reading text, 2) imaging and modeling tutorials, and 3) detailed project descriptions. They will spend the first of their 10 weeks in tutorials with ample time to interact with our mentor pool at Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. This will permit them to make an informed choice of mentor and project by the close of the first week. Sample projects include: 1) Mathematical modeling of the biochemical basis of memory, 2) Computational Modeling of Cochlear Mechanics, 3) Electrophysiological, computational and functional imaging approaches to processing of visual information in the cerebral cortex of alert behaving primates, and 4) Neural mechanisms of time perception.
Young, mathematically inclined students of science, mathematics and engineering were challenged, in a closely mentored vertically integrated program, to develop and apply mathematical and computational methods in the analysis and design of imaging experiments in neuroscience. Students were introduced to the most salient mathematical methods, given hands-on exposure to neuro-imaging at the molecular, cellular and systems levels, and given detailed instruction in, and the frequent opportunity to exercise, best practices in oral and written presentation. Although mathematics is broadly used in Neuroscience, undergraduate training has not kept pace. We provided a model program for an undergraduate pipeline into the broadly interdisciplinary, and evermore quantitative, field of neuroscience. Mathematics has served and been invigorated by neuroscience since the dawn of the latter just over a century ago. A program like ours, centered in a university mathematics department, but with solid two-way training and research links to outstanding neuroscience laboratories, contributed to strengthen the connection between Mathematics and Neuroscience by training individuals to develop and apply insights from one side to the other. Our Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site has been active over four summers (2008-11). All indications point to a resounding success in terms of recruitment, feedback from the participants and the subsequent career choices of the REU alumni. Our REU Site program elicited much interest in the targeted undergraduate U.S. population. Over these four years, we received applications from 125 different institutions. The applicants were put through a rigorous selection process by the admission committee. Many of our alumni have gone on to pursue graduate studies in a variety of disciplines. Many of our alumni also went on to win prestigious student awards and scholarships. Several of our alumni were authors on publications resulting from their work during our summer program. Hence, the overall goal of the program to introduce undergraduates to the interdisciplinary field of computational and theoretical neuroscience was fully achieved during the period of the project.
