MCTP: Mathematics Mentoring Partnership Between Arizona State University and the Maricopa County Community College District

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project will develop a recruitment network for mathematically talented students in community colleges in Maricopa County, Arizona, to help facilitate their successful transitions to baccalaureate programs in the mathematical sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). This project, in addition to serving students in the Phoenix area, will serve as a model for universities elsewhere hoping to implement a successful transition program for community college students in the mathematical sciences. Summer enrichment programs will be offered at Scottsdale Community College that will introduce students to topics in set theory and proofs, mathematical finance and biology, and computer graphics. An 8-week summer research experience will be offered at ASU to qualified mathematical science majors, including alumni from the summer program at Scottsdale, to provide pre-professional experience to make them competitive for careers and selective graduate programs and associated fellowships in the mathematical sciences. In addition, ASU mathematics faculty will develop "project seminar" courses, to be offered during the academic year, on mathematical problems related to weather prediction and atmospheric dynamics; image processing and Fourier analysis; network dynamics and graph theory; and mathematical models of cancer (especially brain and prostate cancer). This award is designed to provide opportunities to undergraduate mathematics majors to work as part of a team on an interdisciplinary problem; read journal articles to gain some background on a new subject quickly; analyze open-ended problems using computer simulation as a discovery tool; and present a talk or poster on their work at an appropriate workshop or research conference.Arizona State University has one of the largest undergraduate mathematics programs in the United States. This 5-year pilot project will engage approximately 38 mathematically talented students in the Maricopa County community colleges and 12 mathematics majors at ASU each year. It seeks to provide a national model for other partnerships between community colleges and 4-year institutions to increase the number of undergraduate students with advanced training in mathematics and scientific computation. Special efforts will be made to recruit students who are first-generation college students as well as students who are female and/or members of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. All student participants will be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.