CSUMS: A Computational Training and Interdisciplinary Research Program for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences at the University of St. Thomas

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DMS-0802959 The project features a year-long, combined educational andresearch experience for a cohort of 9 to 12 students during eachof the five project years. Participants are recruited from theinstitutions of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC)and perform their coursework and research under the mentorship offaculty at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in St. Paul, MN andfaculty at other ACTC institutions. Participants benefit from acourse developed to support the learning and use ofcomputationally intensive methods in mathematics and statistics. The cohort participates in a variety of workshops, seminars,conferences, and field trips. In small groups, cohort studentscontribute to research projects requiring the computationalskills acquired in the course and share their progress withfellow students and project faculty. Students periodicallypresent their results in the larger professional community. Theintellectual merit of the project is the result of the followingachievements. Students become proficient using computationalmethods and learn to apply this knowledge to perform research onproblems whose solutions require the use of these methods. Through interaction with local academicians and industrialists,students see how their computation research methods are used inother areas of research and in real-world problems. The broaderimpact of the project is felt at four levels. At UST, studentslearn how to perform research using computational methods andfaculty gain experience teaching a new course that emphasizescomputational methods. On a larger level, these same impacts arerealized by students and faculty at other ACTC institutions. Local industries that utilize computational methods benefit fromgraduates of ACTC schools who enjoy a high level of proficiencyin scientific computation. Finally, student presentations andsponsored conferences promote to a national audience theinnovative curricular elements developed and researchadvancements made by cohort members. Computing power continues to grow at an incredible rate. Asa result, scientists can use the computer to create highlysophisticated models for use in solving complicated mathematicalproblems. In addition, computational methods developed decadesago that were once intractable in practice due to the lack ofcomputing facilities can now be employed to model and solveproblems. It is imperative that undergraduate mathematicsstudents at universities in the United States receive thetraining they need in order to make the utmost advantage of theworld's ever-increasing computing resources and remaintechnologically competitive with scientists on a global level. Towards this end, mathematics and engineering faculty from theUniversity of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and mathematics facultyfrom other institutions in the Associated Colleges of the TwinCities engage undergraduate students in research groups under theauspices of the National Science Foundation's ComputationalScience Training for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciencesprogram. For each of the next five years, a group of 9 to 12mathematics majors forms a cohort and participates in a year-longprogram to learn about computational methods used in mathematicalresearch and put the knowledge they have accrued to work as theyjoin with faculty mentors to perform research on problems withapplications to areas such as cancer treatment, image compressionand analysis, tornadic storm detection, the behavior of thinfilms, and directed cell movement. Students visit localindustries in the Twin Cities to further learn how scientificcomputing is used to solve real-world problems and presentresults of their work at national conferences. Students leavethe program armed with both the tools required and experiencenecessary to continue work at a high level either in industry orgraduate school on problems requiring an expertise in scientificcomputation. The project is supported by the MPS Division ofMathematical Sciences, the MPS Office of MultidisciplinaryActivities, and the EHR Division of Undergraduate Education.