Mathematical Sciences: Cornell's Summer REU Program in Mathematics

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Each summer (1997-2001) for 8 weeks, 10 undergraduate students will work with 3 faculty mentors on research projects related to the faculty members' research interests. These projects will be chosen carefully so that they are within the students' ability and there is reasonable chance that the students' work will be of interest to the mathematical research community. It is expected that some of the results will be incorporated into publishable papers, either by the students alone or jointly with the faculty member, and that the collaboration will continue beyond the summer period. Because of the short period of time and the inherent risks involved in any serious research effort, the students will be prepared to accept a favorable outcome that does not include publishable results. The two types of research projects that will be included are: 1) Computer exploration projects, in which the students begin by writing programs or using existing software to work out examples, and formulate conjectures. To the extent that they are able, the students may also participate in attempts to find proofs and conventional mathematical explanations for the experimental results they have generated; 2) Projects in geometry and combinatorics, that do not require extensive background knowledge to begin working on, and for which cleverness and insight are the keys to progress. For the summer of 1997, the faculty mentors will be R. Strichartz (P.I.), K. Pilgrim and R. Ehrenborg. Strichartz will direct projects of type 1) on analysis on fractals, Pilgrim will direct projects of type 1) on dynamics of rational maps, and Ehrenborg will direct projects of type 2) on combinatorics. For future summers, the mentors will include the P.I. and 2 others chosen among Cornell faculty and visitors.