Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics

本科生数学研究中心(CURM)在学年期间为本科生研究课程提供资金和培训，这些课程是在两年制或社区学院和授予学士学位的机构之间合作开展的。由CURM资助的教职员工接受针对早期职业生涯学生的包容性和支架式研究指导方面的培训，为支持学年期间的研究活动和合作提供资金，以及将学年本科生研究制度化的模式。CURM还为在撰写拨款方面经验较少的教职员工制定一份强有力的CURM建议提供指导。智力优势包括对研究的贡献，在会议和研讨会上的演讲，以及在数学的多个子领域发表研究论文。更广泛的影响包括让学生及早接触高影响力的研究实践，提高两年制和社区学院学生的转化率，以及在美国各地的数学教师中培养强大的研究和研究指导技能。CURM解决了以前在两年制和社区大学本科研究中发现的障碍。为教职员工提供资金有助于解决教学负担高和差旅资金不足的问题。基于学分的课程研究机会有助于解决学生对研究机会缺乏认识的问题，也有助于解决学生工作量问题。跨机构实践社区有助于解决两年制大学生在四年制院校缺乏学生意识、缺乏归属感以及可能进入两年制大学的时间较短的问题。最后，在研究领域对教师进行培训，为早期职业学生提供丰富的研究项目选择，有助于解决教师在如何找到并有效指导适当的研究项目方面的不确定性。我们将为那些研究领域的教师提供研究沉浸体验，包括数据科学、图论、数学建模和数学教育。这样做也将增加参与机构的研究专业知识。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM) provides funding and training for undergraduate research courses during the academic year that are carried out in collaboration between a two-year or community college and a bachelor's-granting institution. Faculty members funded by CURM receive training in inclusive and scaffolded research mentoring for early-career students, funding to support research activities and collaboration during the academic year, and models for institutionalizing academic year undergraduate research. CURM also provides mentorship for developing a strong proposal to CURM for faculty with less experience in grant writing. Intellectual merits include contributions to research, presentations at conferences and workshops, and publishing research papers in multiple subfields of mathematics. Broader impacts include early exposure for students to the high impact practice of research, increasing transfer rates for two year and community college students, and development of strong research and research mentoring skills in mathematics faculty across the US. CURM addresses previously identified barriers to undergraduate research at 2-year and community colleges. Providing funding for faculty helps address high teaching loads and lack of travel funding. Credit-bearing course-based research opportunities help address lack of student awareness of research opportunities, and also student workload issues. Inter-institutional communities of practice help address lack of student awareness, lack of sense of belonging at 4-year institutions for 2-year college students, and the short time students may be enrolled at 2-year colleges. Finally, training for faculty in research areas with rich selections of research projects for early career students helps address faculty uncertainty about how to find and effectively mentor an appropriate research project. We will offer a research immersion experience for faculty in those research areas, including data science, graph theory, mathematical modeling, and mathematics education. Doing so will also increase the research expertise in participating institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.