Mathematics Mini-courses for Students at the SACNAS Conference

该项目包括两个数学迷你课程，作为2003年10月2日至5日在新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基举行的奇卡诺和美洲原住民科学促进会(SACNAS)2003年会议上增强的数学活动的一部分。每个迷你课程将由两位讲师讲授六堂一小时的课程：一位是在研究、指导和教学方面有着出色记录的知名数学家，另一位是初级数学家，他在开展杰出的研究和教学计划时表现出了非凡的指导能力。迷你课程的主题是“编码理论”和“数学生物学探索”。每个迷你课程的目的是让大量的少数族裔学生(高级本科生和研究生)接触到一个关于应用数学或纯数学的主题，特别强调解决问题的不同方法，以及与其他数学领域或其他学科的联系。迷你课程预计将达到这样一个点，即有可能发展为研究生研究项目的开放问题可以在背景下陈述。这是为了鼓励学生继续读研究生，并通过让他们意识到，即使在这个阶段，他们也能够理解激励性问题的本质，从而增强他们的信心。

This project includes two mathematics mini-courses to be part of an enhanced group of mathematics activities at the 2003 Conference of the Society for Advancement of Chicano and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) to be held on October 2-5, 2003 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Each mini-course will consist ofsix one-hour lectures by two instructors: an established mathematician with an excellent record of research, mentoring and teaching, and a junior mathematician who has demonstrated exceptional mentoring ability while carrying out an outstanding research and teaching program. The mini-course topics will be"Coding Theory" and "Explorations in Mathematical Biology."The purpose of each mini-course is to expose a large number of minority students (advanced undergraduates and graduate students)to a topic in applied or pure mathematics with particular emphasis on diverse approaches to problems, and connections to other areas of mathematics or other disciplines. The mini-courses are expected to reach a point when open problems that have the potential to grow into graduate research projects can be stated in context. This is designed to encourage students to continue on to graduate school and boost their confidence by making them realize that, even at this stage, they are able to understandthe nature of motivating questions.