EMSW21-MCTP: eCIR: The expanded Center for Interdisciplinary Research

扩展的跨学科研究中心（eCIR）将使统计学，应用数学和计算数学的本科生-与跨学科的教师研究人员团队合作-体验跨学科研究的兴奋。 这项工作扩展了圣奥拉夫学院跨学科研究中心（CIR）在以前的NSF资助下的支持。 学生从该中心学习统计如何作为与其他学科研究人员的接口，特别是生物学，心理学和社会科学。应用和计算数学也提供了一个自然的接口与其他学科在自然和社会科学。两名应用或计算数学博士后将在eCIR的主持下接受指导。该项目针对三个过渡点：从早期本科生到本科研究员;从本科研究员到研究生;从研究生院到教学。eCIR项目的一个明确目标是大幅增加传统上代表性不足的群体中参与跨学科本科研究的学生数量，然后继续进入数学科学研究生院。在自然科学中，本科生的研究是行之有效的;在数学科学中，它正在增长，但仍然受到各种因素的限制，如教师的专业知识和研究问题的识别本科生访问。该项目的关键组成部分可转让给其他机构，项目计划包括有意传播。我们期望，我们从认真的评估和评价中学到的东西可以对本科研究的功效的全国对话作出重要贡献。

The expanded Center for Interdisciplinary Research (eCIR) will enable undergraduate students in statistics, applied mathematics, and computational mathematics - working in teams with faculty researchers across the disciplines - to experience the excitement of interdisciplinary research. This work extends the St. Olaf College Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CIR) supported under previous NSF grant. Students learn from the center how statistics serves as an interface with researchers in other disciplines, especially biology, psychology, and the social sciences. Applied and computational mathematics also provide a natural interface with other disciplines in the natural and social sciences. Two post-doctoral associates in applied or computational mathematics will be mentored under the auspices of eCIR. This project targets three transitions points: From early undergraduate student to undergraduate researcher; From undergraduate researcher to graduate student; From graduate school to teaching.An explicit goal of the eCIR project is to substantially increase the number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups who participate in interdisciplinary undergraduate research and who then go on to graduate school in the mathematical sciences. In the natural sciences, undergraduate research is well-established; in the mathematical sciences, it is growing but still limited by a variety of factors such as faculty expertise and the identification of research problems accessible to undergraduates. The key components of this project are transferable to other institutions and plans for the project include intentional dissemination. We expect that what we learn from careful assessment and evaluation can make important contributions to the national conversation on the efficacy of undergraduate research.