Summer Research in Pure and Applied Mathematics (SUREPAM)

At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, we will have an 8-week undergraduate research program for Summer 2009.
The program will run from May 25 through July 20.

The faculty for the program are professors Elgindi, Howe, Shamsedine, Tong, and Walker (for more
info, click on the Faculty link on the left).

The deadline for applications is February 20, 2009.   Click on the How to Apply link for application instructions and forms.

Undergraduate student participants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions.  One of our goals is to increase the participation of women and historically disadvantaged minorities in mathematics.  We encourage such students to apply.   Applicants must have at least a B average and have completed two mathematics courses beyond Calculus.

Overview of Program

Imagine spending a summer in a beautiful river valley in which the days are mild, it stays light until well after 10 p.m., and where you are a short drive from a major metropolitan center (the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul).  Now imagine that, in this fantastic place, you get to spend your time engaged in mathematical research. This is the environment in which students will be engaged in the UWEC SUREPAM program. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is the Center for Excellence for Faculty and Undergraduate Student Research Collaboration for the Wisconsin
System of Universities, so our faculty have expertise in working on research projects with undergraduates.

Student Activity

Students will participate in a variety of activities designed to familiarize them with their specific research problem early, pursue the actual research, communicate and discuss their findings in formal and informal settings, and document their findings with a finished product. Each student will be a member of one of the research teams led by the faculty advisors. The teams will meet regularly, with ample time set aside for discussion and questions.

In addition to presenting their ideas to each other within their team, the students will present their work to the entire group at semiweekly seminars. At each meeting, one or two teams will present material. These meetings will have several benefits; the students must have the material well organized and connected in their own minds in order to effectively communicate their ideas to others, the presentations help prepare the students for speaking at conferences, the meetings help foster a sense of camaraderie among the different teams, listening to presentations from other teams may help a non-presenting team with its research and the non-presenting students can add their insight to the problems of the presenting teams, and finally, students often make significant progress under the pressure of preparing their talks.

The work will progress in loosely bounded stages. During the preliminary phase students will be sent background material to read as soon as they are accepted into the program. We will enlist the support of a faculty member at the home institution to help the student during this phase. Students will then clarify their background understanding, explore examples or search for counterexamples and formulate conjectures during a two week foundations phase (possibly using computers). During the research phase students will generalize their examples or counterexamples and work on the proofs of their conjectures.  During the final phase of the project students will organize their results into a finished product and concentrate on communicating their results by writing a final report or paper and preparing a conference presentation.  Some students may require an epilogue phase when they make revisions in their manuscripts after they return to their home institutions. We will again enlist the support of a faculty member at the home institution to encourage and help motivate the student during this phase. Of course, there will certainly be considerable overlap between these phases.

Seminars

Students will participate in three seminars, for a total of 3 credits (transferable to your home institution).  These seminars will acquaint students with research in applied analysis and biomathematics, and research tools such as MatLab and LaTeX.  For more information, click on the link REU Seminars on the left.

Guest Visitors

Guest visitors will be an important component of the program.  The visitors will give traditional ``math talks'' aimed at the students' level, and have informal mathematical discussions with the students and mentors about their research. Such interactions should provide fresh insights into their research problems and preliminary results, possibly posing other related conjectures or ways to extend the results. Several guests will talk on professional development topics such as; attending graduate school, the mathematics profession, other summer programs (Carlton-St.\ Olaf, Park City, etc.) and professional opportunities in academia, business and industry. Many distinguished mathematicians have visited our department and have expressed an interest in returning; Dr. Joe Gallian, University of Minnesota-Duluth; Dr. Gail Ratcliff, East Carolina University; Dr. Ruth Gornet, University of Texas-Arlington, Dr. Stephen Benson, Argonne National Laboratory; Dr. Steven Krantz, Washington University-St. Louis, Dr. Vic Reiner, University of Minnesota; Dr. Amelia Taylor, St Olaf College; Dr. Mohamed El-Gebeily, King Fahd University, Dr. Georgia Benkart, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Dr. David Manderscheid, University of Iowa, Dr. Man-Wah Wong, York University, Dr. Dongming Wei, University of New Orleans, Dr. M. Z. Nashed, University of Central Florida.

Summer Workshop

For the past several years The Department of Mathematics at UW-Eau Claire has sponsored a week long summer workshop featuring invited speakers along with regional mathematicians talking on a variety of loosely related topics.  We anticipate that the students will speak at this conference. Depending on availability we also hope to attend regional mathematics conferences that often occur at such institutions as UW-Madison and the University of Minnesota. We also are planning field trips to local industries that employ mathematicians such as Cray Research and Extrusion Dies Industries.

Recreation

Eau Claire lies in the heart of Wisconsin's resort country at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers, giving the campus, city and surrounding countryside a distinctive beauty.  Scenic rivers, lakes, bike trails and state, county and city parks offer countless outdoor activities that we will tailor to the interests of the students. We also plan on several social events such as pizza parties and working lunches.  Eau Claire is only a short drive from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul with many fine cultural and entertainment attractions.