This Research Experiences for Undergraduates award provides support for an eight student project run jointly by Hope and Calvin Colleges. Seven faculty at these institutions will supervise research in diverse areas of mathematics and statistics including analysis, topology, dynamical systems, geometry and combinatorics. To provide a common activity, students and faculty will conduct a seminar on polynomial invariants and links during the term of the first year's program. Examples of individual research projects include the embedding of finite lattices in the recursively enumerable degrees, determinantal rings associated with 5x5 and 6x6 symmetric matrices, sums of multiplicative operators on spaces of continuous functions and pseudo-orbit shadowing of dynamical systems. Each project lends itself to computational experimentation and rigorous mathematical analysis. During the final weeks of the program, students will present their results. They will be encouraged to continue their studies during the academic year, develop publishable manuscripts and to seek opportunities to discuss their work at regional mathematics meetings.
