VIGRE: Department-Wide Infrastructure: Widening the Pipeline for Mathematical Sciences

VIGRE：全系基础设施：拓宽数学科学的渠道

• 批准号: 9977354
• 负责人: Albert Boggess
• 金额: $ 230.82万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-06-01 至 2005-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9977354&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: VIGRE; Department; Wide; Infrastructure; Widening

9977354The department's primary goal in implementing a VIGRE program is to broaden the training of our mathematics undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to enable them (a) to carry out mathematical research at the highest levels; (b) to communicate effectively with a broad community; and (c) to use modern computational techniques in their teaching and research.Expected measurable outcomes include (1) a substantial increase in the number of well-trained undergraduate students who will seek further study in the mathematical sciences; (2) a significant decrease in the time graduate students take to complete a Ph.D. degree in mathematics; (3) an increase in the number of first-class research mathematicians produced through our postdoctoral training program.Top European universities have a stratified seminar system that encourages active participation from undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professorial faculty. Our proposal for the vertical integration of research is a modification of this model, with research seminars playing a key role.Each of our six core research groups currently runs a dedicated seminar; approximately half of the speakers are from outside the department. These "upper" seminars are attended by regular faculty, postdoctoral faculty, and senior graduate students. We propose that each participating research group run a new "lower" seminar in conjunction with the upper one. Participants in the lower seminar will be undergraduate and beginning graduate students, who will receive course credit, as well as senior graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and permanent faculty. Students will work collaboratively on projects, and they will use the seminar as the reporting mechanism for their results. To expand the number of participants in the lower seminar, we are introducing an accelerated option in our undergraduate program to encourage strong sophomore students to enroll in upper-level courses, traditionally taken by juniors and seniors, that form a prerequisite to beginning research. Students involved in this research track will also enroll in the lower seminar for at least three semesters during their junior and senior years. The most able students will be invited to participate in the more intensive summer research seminar; the VIGRE award will allow us to pay these undergraduate students a research stipend. In a related initiative, the department has developed a five year combined B.S.-M.S. degree program, which will begin in Fall 1999.The lower seminar is a key feature of our plan to broaden the exposure of undergraduate students to mathematical research. Senior graduate students and postdoctoral faculty will help the students enrolled in the lower seminar with research projects; and at the same time, they themselves will be mentored by senior faculty through the upper seminar. We view this interaction of researchers at different levels as an important learning experience for all parties.The Department of Mathematics is heavily involved in interdisciplinary research and educational activities around the campus. These are fostered through established interdisciplinary programs, joint appointments, joint seminars, collaborative research, and co-advising of students. Scientific areas involved include materials science, distributed parameter control, robotic control, and large-scale scientific computation. We envision that the VIGRE award will allow us to expand these important activities through our seminar system, which is highly conducive to interdisciplinary research.Texas A&M University in College Station has the largest undergraduate enrollment of any single-campus university in the United States. The Department of Mathematics, which teaches over 25,000 students annually, has a considerable responsibility. Developing and maintaining a diverse student population is a priority of both the Department of Mathematics and Texas A&M University. Demographic projections indicate that the school-age population in Texas will consist of a majority of non-white children by early in the 21st century. There is a critical and urgent need to tap into the talent pool among the various ethnic groups within Texas that are historically under-represented among mathematics majors and graduates. We propose to greatly expand existing cooperative arrangements with sister universities in the Texas A&M University system whereby they can act as "feeder" schools for our graduate programs. Students from these institutions will come to the College Station campus after obtaining a bachelor's degree or in some cases a master's degree at a regional university. We will work with faculty at these sister institutions to help them structure their curricula to better prepare their students to succeed in our Ph.D. program.Through the VIGRE initiative, the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M University will address a national need by increasing the quality and quantity of students who choose to pursue a career in mathematical research.

9977354该部门在实施VIGRE计划的主要目标是扩大我们的数学本科生和研究生和博士后研究员的培训，使他们（a）进行最高水平的数学研究;（B）与广泛的社区进行有效的沟通;及（c）在教学及研究中采用现代电脑技术。预期可衡量的成果包括：（1）大幅增加水井数目，受过训练的本科生谁将寻求进一步研究数学科学;（2）研究生完成博士学位的时间显着减少。数学学位（3）通过我们的博士后培养计划培养出的一流研究数学家的数量有所增加。欧洲顶尖大学有一个分层的研讨会系统，鼓励本科生、研究生、博士后研究员和教授教师积极参与。 我们的垂直整合研究的建议是对这种模式的修改，研究研讨会发挥了关键作用。我们的六个核心研究小组目前都有一个专门的研讨会，大约一半的演讲者来自系外。 这些“上层”研讨会由正规教师，博士后教师和高级研究生参加。 我们建议每个参与的研究小组与上层研讨会一起举办一个新的“下层”研讨会。参加较低的研讨会将是本科生和开始研究生，谁将获得课程学分，以及高年级研究生，博士后研究人员和永久教师。 学生将在项目上合作，他们将使用研讨会作为他们的结果报告机制。 为了扩大参与者在较低的研讨会的数量，我们正在我们的本科课程中引入一个加速选项，以鼓励强大的大二学生报名参加高级课程，传统上由大三和大四学生参加，这是开始研究的先决条件。 参与这一研究轨道的学生也将在低年级和高年级期间至少三个学期参加低年级研讨会。 最有能力的学生将被邀请参加更密集的夏季研究研讨会; VIGRE奖将使我们能够支付这些本科生的研究津贴。 在一项相关的倡议中，该部制定了一项为期五年的综合学士学位- M.S.学位课程，将于1999年秋季开始。较低的研讨会是我们计划扩大本科生接触数学研究的一个关键特征。 高年级研究生和博士后教师将帮助参加低年级研讨会的学生进行研究项目;同时，他们自己将通过高年级研讨会接受高级教师的指导。我们认为这种不同层次的研究人员之间的互动对各方来说都是一种重要的学习经历。数学系积极参与校园内的跨学科研究和教育活动。 这些都是通过建立跨学科课程，联合任命，联合研讨会，合作研究和学生的共同建议培育。 涉及的科学领域包括材料科学，分布参数控制，机器人控制和大规模科学计算。 我们设想，VIGRE奖将使我们能够通过我们的研讨会系统，这是非常有利于跨学科的研究，扩大这些重要的活动。得克萨斯A M大学在学院站有任何单校区大学在美国最大的本科招生。 数学系，每年教超过25，000名学生，有相当大的责任。 发展和保持多样化的学生群体是数学系和德克萨斯A M大学的优先事项。 人口预测表明，到世纪初，德克萨斯州的学龄人口将由大多数非白人儿童组成。 有一个关键和迫切需要挖掘到人才库中的各个种族群体在得克萨斯州是历史上代表性不足的数学专业和毕业生。 我们建议大大扩大现有的合作安排，与姐妹大学在得克萨斯州A M大学系统，使他们可以作为“支线”学校为我们的研究生课程。 这些院校的学生在获得地区大学的学士学位或硕士学位后，将来到学院站校园。 我们将与这些姐妹机构的教师合作，帮助他们构建课程，以便更好地为学生在我们的博士学位中取得成功做好准备通过VIGRE计划，德州农工大学数学系将通过提高选择从事数学研究的学生的质量和数量来满足国家的需求。