This REU is a collaborative effort between Clemson University and Spelman College. Undergraduate students who have a solid background in mathematics are invited to apply for an eight-week research experience in computational algebraic geometry, number theory and combinatorics to be held at Clemson University. Preference for up to four of these positions will be given to qualified applicants who have roots in the Southeastern United States. In addition, two of the participants will be undergraduates from Spelman College. The participants will be offered up to $500 in travel support, a dorm room to be shared with other participants in the REU, up to $800 for meals and a stipend of $3,400 in return for their participation in this program.
Participants will be introduced to various tools, techniques and problems from computational algebraic geometry, number theory, and combinatorics. Faculty will present several potential research problems the first week of the REU. The participants will divide themselves into teams of two to four participants and pick one of the problems presented on which to focus for the remainder of the REU. The goal of the program is to help students attain a higher level of independence in mathematical research by giving them the opportunity to take part in a significant and interesting research project. Guidance will be provided on giving effective presentations, applying to graduate schools, and other topics of interest to the participants. The teams will write up a final report summarizing their research findings before leaving the program. They will also be encouraged to publish papers based upon their work when appropriate. Students will be encouraged to attend appropriate conferences and present their work. In addition to the faculty research mentors, our program provides vertical integration as graduate students will help mentor the undergraduate students. As a complement to working on their research, students will attend a weekly lecture series. These lectures will be given by faculty that been recognized as leaders in the various fields related to the students' research problems and who have demonstrated the ability to clearly communicate mathematical ideas to audiences of varying levels of mathematical maturity.
was conducted at Clemson University in the summer of 2012 and 2013. Four advisors including the PI Dr. Jim Brown, Co PI Dr. Mohammed Tesemma, Dr. Kevin James, and Dr. Neil Calkin were participating in the program. Since we have already a project outcome report for the summer of 2012 I am going to focus on the summer of 2013. This time we admitted 13 students and one additional private sponsored participant. The students were introduced to five different research projects on Computational Algebra, Extension of Local Fields, The Eta-Subspace of Modular Forms of Integral Weight, Configuration of Kings, and Product of Graphs. Several talks on these topics and additional related subjects were given by the advisors, Clemson PhD students and external invited speakers. Once the students choose a group they started focusing on their research. In addition each participant is required to do a chalk-board presentation on a topic of their preference, a Beamer presentation on a topic of their choice, as well as weekly progress report on their research. At the end of each presentation we give them a one on one feedback about their presentations. The advising faculty also give a presentation about graduate school and information how to apply as well as career as a mathematician. We believe that all participants had a great and all rounded experience in terms of mathematics and general information. All the five groups wrote a report of their findings at the end of the eight week time. Most of the groups also prepared and submit their work in mathematics journals. In the computational algebra group I was the advisor along with a Clemson PhD student Sara Anderson. We had three students in our group Andy Smith (Carnegie Mellon), Peter Stewart (Clemson), and Jeremy Usatine (Harvey Mudd). Their research was on the topological properties of initial algebras that come from ring of multiplicative invariants. These initial algebras are motivated by the fact that they are the analogue to initial ideals in Grobner basis theory. They showed that the topological space for a special class of these initial algebras is homeomorphic to the Cantor set. We submitted the result (a 14 page manuscript) to the journal Topology and its Applications on Nov. 2013. It is currently under review. From our 14 participants in the REU program eight of them were women and two of the women are African American students from Spelman College and Savannah State University.
