| NSF Org: |
DMS Division Of Mathematical Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 27, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | February 27, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1852001 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Tiziana Giorgi
DMS Division Of Mathematical Sciences MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | March 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $180,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $180,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1600 CAMPUS RD LOS ANGELES CA US 90041-3314 (323)259-1414 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA US 90041-3314 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | WORKFORCE IN THE MATHEMAT SCI |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
Participating in research as an undergraduate is an important experience for students as they learn how to think deeply about problems that require them to synthesize material learned across many classes as well as specifically for the research project. Many undergraduates attend institutions that do not afford them the opportunity to participate in research. This project establishes a Research Experience for Undergraduates at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The site will host nine undergraduates each summer, split into teams of three, to work on research problems in data science, game theory, and number theory. An emphasis will be placed on recruiting a diverse group of participants in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, as well as type of undergraduate institution being attended. In addition to the research conducted, the mentors will work with the students to improve their public speaking skills and their technical writing skills. The mentors will conduct panels on ethics, graduate school, and career opportunities in mathematics.
The program offers a blend of computational investigation with theoretical pursuit of open research problems in data science, number theory and positional game theory. The problems to be investigated in this REU fit into the faculty's own research programs and are at the cutting edge of these fields. As such, the results will be of interest to others in the field and often lead to peer reviewed journal publications. The goal of the program is to help students attain a higher level of independence in mathematical research by having them take part in significant and interesting research projects. The participants will learn what it is like to be a professional mathematician. They will be introduced to various tools, techniques and problems from data science, number theory, and game theory and will work on important and often difficult problems that are suitable for undergraduate work. The faculty have a history of interest in working with undergraduates and success in choosing problems at an appropriate level for undergraduate work. The participants will be able to begin investigations almost immediately on computational aspects of the project, giving them an opportunity to spend the entire time at Occidental working on meaningful research. Students will produce reports summarizing their research for the summer; these reports will be posted on an REU website that is to be developed. Upon departing the REU, they will continue to work with their faculty mentors to produce journal publications when appropriate as well as to attend conferences to present their results.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project supported a Research Experience for Undergraduaetes at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two summers.
During the first summer (2020) we hosted (virtually) nine undergraduates that were split among three projects. The research areas were data science, number theory, and positional game theory. The REU was conducted virtually due to the covid-19 pandemic. The students were given a significant research experience that resulted in a final write-up from each group. This REU group has produced one paper that has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Number Theory and another paper that has been submitted.
The second summer (2021) was held in person with all students vaccinated and required to wear masks when indoors around others they were not rooming with. During this summer there were only two mentors, so we hosted only eight students that were divided into a project on coding theory and a project on numerical analysis. Both groups produced a final project report. The group in coding theory produced a paper that has been submitted for publication.
During each REU, every student gave a 20 minute board talk and a 20 minute beamer presentation on topics of their choosing with mentors providing feedback. We also hosted a virtual REU conference with other REU programs and each of our groups presented their results in the conference. The participants learned about ethics in research as well as about graduate school and other potential careers in STEM. The students left the program with strong communication skills that will serve them well in their future pursuits.
A goal of our REU was to help promote diversity in STEM. During summer 2020 of the nine participants we had four students that were currently or had in the past been a full time student at a community college, one student that was a veteran, six females, two under-represented minority students, and one disabled student. Of the eight participants in summer 2021 we had four females and five under-represented minority students.
Last Modified: 04/04/2022
Modified by: James L Brown
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